How much do you feed a baby bird

Guide to Raising a Baby Bird

Hand-rearing a baby bird can be quite difficult and requires feeding every few hours by an experienced foster mom. On the other hand, purchasing just-weaned or about-to-be-weaned birds who have no problems and eat readily can be a very rewarding experience.

How Much to Feed

A baby bird should be eating 10 percent of its body weight per feeding. (A 500-gram bird would need 50 milliliters of formula per feeding). A baby this age should be fed approximately three times per day.

It’s important not to feed your bird if he still has food in his crop (the enlarged portion of the esophagus at the base of the neck) from the last meal. Food in the crop for more than three to four hours is a sign of crop stasis (slowing down) and could be the beginning of a bacterial or fungal overgrowth in the crop that can make your baby bird ill.

If you feed your bird too much at each meal, his crop can become overstretched and will lose its ability to move the food down through the digestive system.

You’ll need to weigh your bird on a gram scale daily. This will help you determine how much to feed your bird and it will help you monitor whether he’s gaining or losing weight, which can be a sign of your bird’s overall health.

What to Feed

Most baby birds thrive quite well on a commercial hand-rearing formula made especially for your species of bird. These complete diets are convenient since they’re easy to prepare. It’s important to mix these preparations as directed; do not add ingredients unless directed by your veterinarian. Formula that’s too thin won’t have the appropriate nutrients, and formula that’s too thick can become a hard ball in the crop and won’t be digested appropriately.

Formula Temperature

Formula should be fed at a temperature between 105 to 110 degrees Fahrenheit. Baby birds won’t eat food that’s too cold. Conversely, many babies have died from novice bird owners feeding formula that is too hot, which causes a severe burn to the crop. As a precaution, use hot tap water and keep a cooking thermometer in the food formula at all times. If you choose to warm the formula with a microwave, remember to stir it very carefully because there can be hot pockets of food within the mix. Take the temperature before and after stirring.

How to Feed

Your bird is used to being fed by his human foster mom at the pet store or the aviary. Ideally, you should receive instructions from this person and copy his or her technique as closely as possible.

Spoon-feeding is just as it sounds. Gently stretch your birds neck straight up and support the head with one hand, with your thumb and forefinger placed gently at either side of the upper beak close to where it comes out of the skin. With the other hand, tilt the spoon of formula. Allow your bird to swallow and continue in this manner until he’s received the appropriate 10 percent.

When syringe-feeding, support your baby bird’s head in the same manner as when spoon-feeding and place the syringe in the side of his mouth, aiming towards the back of his throat. As he opens his throat, give him the formula. Practice with the syringe first because it’s common for too much to squirt out suddenly.

Also remember that your bird has to breathe at some point, so if you’re putting food in his mouth for more than a few seconds at a time, he may aspirate food into his lungs.

Be careful with babies that bob for their food vigorously. It’s easy to injure the back of the throat with the syringe tip when these little ones are aggressively bobbing for food.

feeding-baby-birds | VCA Animal Hospital

General Information

Hand-feeding baby birds is only a substitute for parents raising birds, but it does have certain advantages. Hand-raised baby birds usually make better pets, as they have been completely socialized with humans. Hand-raised babies grow up with less fear of humans or other potential dangers such as cats, dogs and young children. Hand-feeding is a huge responsibility and requires time, patience, and commitment. Hand-fed baby birds are entirely reliant on you for everything. Hand-feeding is a job best left for the experienced bird breeder or aviculturist. If you’re considering hand-feeding a baby bird, you should contact your local bird breeder or veterinarian for help. This handout is designed to provide some basic guidelines on how to hand-feed.

When do I start hand-feeding a baby bird?

A chick may be removed from its parents any time before weaning, but many suggest leaving the babies with the parents for up to 3 weeks. Older birds may prove to be more challenging in their acceptance of hand-feeding.

Where do I keep a baby bird?

Precise temperature and humidity is essential for optimum growth of newly hatched birds. Initially, relative humidity greater than 50% is required. Hatchlings (without feathers) should be maintained at 95°-97°F (35°-36°C). As the chick gets older and develops feathers, it has a greater tolerance for temperature fluctuations.

Generally, the temperature can be lowered by one degree every 2-3 days as feathering progresses. Chicks with new feathers (pinfeathers) should be fine at 75°-85°F (24°-30°C) depending on the development of the feathers. Fully feathered and weaned chicks can be maintained at room temperature. If you are raising a chick, always monitor your bird for signs of overheating or chilling. Wings extended or drooping, and panting indicate overheating. Shivering and cuddling of chicks together indicate that they’re cold.

Poor growth or poor digestion (delayed crop emptying) may indicate poor health (including presence of gastrointestinal tract infections), improper consistency/mixing of hand feeding formula, improper temperature of formula, or improper environmental temperature and humidity. Good quality brooders are available that carefully regulate air circulation, temperature, and humidity. Paper towel, diapers, hand towels, or other soft, disposable products can be used to line the bottom of the brooder and provide secure, clean, dry footing for birds. The bottom liner must be changed frequently to keep birds clean. If the bottom texture is too smooth, chicks’ legs may splay out sideways, leading to permanent deformities. The brooder should be carefully checked to ensure that it does not contain anything for birds to get their wings or legs stuck on or that might cause injury or deformities.

What should I feed my bird?

There are numerous commercially available hand-feeding formulas for baby birds. You should choose one formula and use it until the baby is weaned. Changes in diet may be stressful on the baby's digestion. Be sure to discuss dietary choices with your veterinarian, an experienced bird breeder, or an aviculturist.

How do I feed my baby bird?

All food must be prepared fresh for every feeding. Food retained from one feeding to another is an ideal medium for the growth of harmful bacteria and yeast. Any food prepared or heated in a microwave oven must be mixed thoroughly to ensure that the food’s temperature is uniform and that there are no hot or cold spots. Food temperature should be at 102°-106°F (39°-41°C) throughout the mixture and should be measured with a thermometer. Food that is too hot may cause severe burns to the crop.

Food that is too cold may be rejected by baby birds and may slow down digestion. Hand-feeding formulas have specific directions on the packaging and explain how they should be mixed.

In general, the younger the bird, the thinner the mixture should be. A day-old chick requires a more dilute mixture (90% water), as it is still utilizing the yolk sac as a source of nutrition. Chicks older than one or two days, should have food containing approximately 70-75% liquid.

"All food must be prepared fresh for every feeding."

Syringes are probably the preferred feeding tool, but some bird owners still prefer a spoon with the sides bent up and inward. Accurate feeding volumes can be recorded with the syringe. Charting daily feedings is important. The natural feeding response of a baby bird is to rapidly bob the head in an up and down motion. This action can be stimulated with gentle finger pressure at the corners of the mouth. During this head bobbing, the trachea is closed and large amounts of food can be given relatively quickly.

If the bird is not displaying a strong feeding response, do not attempt to feed as there is an increased chance of aspiration of food into the trachea and lungs which can lead to death. The best time to feed is when the crop is empty. When full, the crop, which is the sac that hangs over the front of the chest at the base of the neck, will be visibly distended.

How often and how much do I feed?

The amount and frequency of feeding depends on the age of the bird and the formula fed. The frequency of feeding for young birds is greater than that of older birds. The following are general guidelines. With newly hatched chicks, the yolk sac is the source of nutrients for the first 12-24 hours post-hatching. Chicks less than one week old should be fed 6-10 times per day (every 2-3 hours).

During the first week of life, some birds benefit from feeding during the night. Chicks that have not yet opened their eyes may take 5-6 feedings per day (every 3-4 hours). Once birds’ eyes open, they can have 3-5 feedings (one every 5 hours). As their feathers start to grow in, they may be fed 2-3 times per day (every 6 hours). Their crops should appear full when they’re done.

Feeding between 10:00 p.m. and 6:00 a.m. is not necessary at that point when birds are sleeping. The best indication of a healthy, growing chick is a good, strong feeding response at every feeding, with the crop emptying between feedings, and the regular production of droppings (feces). Weight gain should be monitored and recorded at the same time each day using a scale that weighs in grams with 1-gram increments to detect subtle increases or decreases. Birds’ weights may fluctuate up and down daily but should trend upward over a period of days to weeks. Birds that are not gaining weight should be checked by a veterinarian as soon as possible.

When should birds be weaned off hand-feeding formula?

Deciding when to wean a bird off of formula is often a difficult decision for both the bird owner and the bird. As a bird gets older and develops a full complement of feathers, it should be encouraged to wean off formula and to eat more on its own. Some babies start weaning themselves by refusing certain feedings.

Birds should be offered a variety of foods including formulated pelleted diets as well as fresh fruits and vegetables to encourage exploration and experimentation. As food introduction continues, hand-feeding may be withheld at certain times, often starting with the mid-day feedings. As time goes on, the morning feeding may be withheld and ultimately the evening feeding. Some birds learn quicker to eat on their own by watching other birds or older babies eat.

Should I be concerned about disinfection?

Baby birds have poorly developed immune systems and are more susceptible to developing infections. The brooder should be disinfected regularly. All feeding utensils must be cleaned, disinfected, and dried thoroughly between feedings. Using separate feeding utensils for every individual bird is recommended.

How do I know if something is wrong?

If you suspect something is wrong with your bird, you should immediately contact your veterinarian. Signs to watch for include:

Chirping or crying all the time
Fussing a lot and not sleeping
Listless, droopy wings or head
Not accepting food
Lack of feeding response
Slow or lack of crop emptying
Poor weight gain
Slow growth
Abnormal posturing or abnormal wing and/or leg positions
Abnormal or lack of droppings
Wetness or food on skin over the crop (indicating a possible burn)

How to feed the found chick, how many times a day

If you find a chick, the first thing you need to do is determine its species. Feeding granivorous, insectivorous and predatory chicks have their own differences. But in the early stages of feeding, you can use the same feeding methods, and then, after finding out what kind of bird you found, transfer the chick to the appropriate feeding.

Here is one of the most common feeding options for granivorous and insectivorous chicks. This nutrient mixture is well used for feeding for chicks and fledglings from the passerine family. To prepare our mixture, we need the following products: Boiled egg, low-fat cottage cheese, raw carrots, meat (beef, chicken, turkey), greens (lettuce, dandelion leaves, wood lice), hamarus and daphnia, Calcium gluconate (shell from boiled eggs) glycerophosphate , children's dry dairy-free porridge or boiled millet (without salt and fat on the water).

Action one. Boil the egg, free from the shell. We free the shell from the shell film. Grind the egg as much as possible, you can use a grater with small holes.

Second step. Boiled meat, it is better to take the pulp from the breast of a turkey or chicken and also chop or divide into fibers. The mixture will require meat 40 (for granivorous) and 60 grams (for insectivorous).

Third step. Take washed carrots of a small size, grate them on a fine grater, then squeeze the juice and we will use the remaining pulp.

Fourth step. We take not sour and not fatty cottage cheese. Cottage cheese should have 0% fat content, anything above is considered fat for poultry. We need 90-110 grams of cottage cheese. Sour cottage cheese must be boiled twice changing the water and then it will be suitable.

Step five. You can use greens to add the mixture, but you can do without it for the chicks. And so you can take the greens listed above, chop and add 1.5 teaspoons to the mixture.

Action six. To the above ingredients, add 1.5 -2 tsp. dairy-free porridge or boiled millet (well boiled, without salt and fat in the water).

Step seven. To the mixture we add the shell from the boiled egg, which must first be ground in a coffee grinder, plus one fourth of the crushed tablet of glycerophosphate. If it is not possible to find glycerophosphate, then you can purchase bone meal and add one fourth tsp. in powder form. At the very least, the shells are enough for now.

Step eight. We take chopped hamarus and daphnia and add about 1 tsp to the resulting mixture. Then we mix everything, it turns out a very thick, crumbly porridge, it should not stick to the fingers. If the mixture is sticky, you can add dairy-free porridge or powdered cereals.

From the resulting mixture we roll small balls no larger than a small pea, focus on the size of the chick's beak. You can feed 2-5 balls at a time and after each feeding drink plain water from an insulin syringe with a removable needle (without a needle) 4-6 drops. A week-old chick should be fed every 1-1.5 hours, older than two weeks of age every 2-4 hours, at three and four weeks of age you can feed 3-4 times a day. Do not forget that the chick is growing and, accordingly, one-time portions of food are growing. A very important point, do not forget to warm the chicks, because at their age they themselves cannot maintain normal body temperature. Warming up promotes better assimilation of feed. Don't forget to control your chick's weight. If possible, show the chick to a specialist. To control the work of the intestines, you can take the litter from the chick for a coprogram, this is an analysis of the digestibility of the feed.

Take care and love your feathered friends and they will love you back.

Veterinarian ornithologist
Chuguevsky VV

Veterinary clinic Bambi.

You can ask an ornithologist on the forum.

How to feed a chick that has fallen out of the nest

Tying materials (7)

Happiness fell on your head?

How not to harm?

How to create all conditions for survival?

Where to settle?

What difficulties will you face?

How to feed a chick?

Chick formula formula

Happiness fell on your head?

Have you suddenly found a chick that has fallen out of the nest in the dacha, near the house or even on the balcony? Is there anything you can do to help this kid? Or is he already doomed? Help the chick, most often you can. And we will tell you how to do it.

How not to harm?

When you find a chick that has fallen out of the nest, do not rush to grab it in your hands. Perhaps there is a chance to return the baby to the nest. But if you take it with "bare" hands, your parents will not accept it back.

Pay attention to how the chick looks. If he is active, mobile and he already has feathers, then most likely you have the so-called “fledgling”. And if you find a fledgling in the park, in the garden, in the country - where he can hide and predators will not find him, then just do not touch. Parents continue to feed the fledglings! He will not be abandoned, he will simply hide, and he will be fed in the same way as the chicks left in the nest. The chick's parents have a much better chance of saving the chick than you.

If you see a nest from which the baby has fallen out, you can carefully take the chick with a handkerchief and put it back into the nest.

If you didn't find the nest, the chick is very small and leaving it where it is found is very dangerous, you will have to take it with you. For such cases - our following instructions.

How to create all conditions for survival?

There are two main factors that determine whether your chick will survive or not. The first factor is age. Chicks under the age of 4 - 5 days, having fallen out of the nest, almost never survive. Do you know how old the chick is? If the baby is still “naked”, without plumage, then he is definitely not yet 8-12 days old. It is very simple to calculate: if at the time of falling out of the nest the chick was 5 days old, then by the 8th day it should already have feathers. It is at the age of 8 - 12 days that the chicks are called "fledglings" - during this period they are very active and often fall out.

The second circumstance is metabolism. Chicks have an incredibly active metabolism. Left without food during daylight hours for 3-4 hours, they literally burn their internal resources. That is, if the baby was on the ground without food before you found him for more than 3 hours, his metabolism is probably already disturbed. You can start feeding him and he will look like everything is fine. But the metabolic disorder will not “pass away”, irreversible processes are already underway inside the small organism, and within 3 days (maximum) the chick will die quite suddenly.

The main conclusion is that the critical period is 3 days. If within 3 days the chick suddenly dies - it's not your fault, and you really could not do anything. It's all about age and metabolism. If the baby has lived with you for more than 3 days, then everything depends only on your efforts. This is especially important if the bird was picked up by children. Explain to them right away that during the first 3 days you should not give the chick a name and place high hopes on its survival.

Where to settle?

Place the chick in a box lined with a soft, lint-free cloth or dry grass. Do not keep the box in the open sun or in a draft. Keeping a box on the floor is a bad idea. If it's cold outside, place a plastic bottle of warm water under the fabric.

What difficulties will you face?

Deciding to take a chick and feed it, you take responsibility for its life and a huge number of worries. Firstly, the chick squeaks almost all the time during daylight hours. Secondly, the chick needs to be fed every 20 minutes. And don't just give him food. And feed enough. When the chick is full, he stops opening his mouth. When hungry, it stretches its neck and opens its huge mouth.

As soon as the chick has eaten, it begins to move backwards. The reflex makes him go all the way to the edge of the nest to stick his butt out and poop. Usually, adult birds pick up the "capsule" and carry it away from the nest. If the nest is soiled with droppings, predators will quickly find it by smell.

By the way, by the litter you can tell if you feed the chick too often. If too often, a protein film - a shell - does not have time to form on the litter. If the litter spreads, and does not resemble a capsule, it is time to feed the bird less often.

How to feed a chick?

Birds feed their young mainly on insects. So, if you have somewhere in the far corner of the kitchen cabinet a bag of cereals in which moths are wound up, the chick is lucky. For the first time, you are provided with worms. Meal worms, ant cocoons, fly larvae are also suitable.

Older chicks can be given boiled egg yolk, cottage cheese and carrots. The yolk should be grated on a fine grater, the cottage cheese should be washed in a sieve under running water, the carrots should be grated on a fine grater. Don't forget about vitamins and minerals. Remember: only insects can feed a chick. Only "regular" products without additives - no.

Food can be given with tweezers. Touch his head, wait for the chick to open its mouth, give it food. The younger the chick, the easier it is to develop a reflex for begging for food. At an older age, he will begin to hide from you with tweezers, and then generally run away. This is fine. Fledgling you will most likely have to force-feed the first few times.