How to feed and care for a wild baby bird

She took her lady's bicycle with a metal mesh basket attached to the front, opened the bag that was there and showed a tiny black chicken sitting quietly between the packages and bundles.

Seals who were interested in the chick.

- I was turning hay in the meadow, and he clung to me. I tried to drive it away - it was useless, I had to take it, otherwise, inadvertently, they would be crushed by any transport. I will release to my chickens - let them grow. nine0005

Perforated chick (corncrake).

The fact that this little one has nothing to do with chickens, I understood right away. And he clearly imagined that the first cat that came across would devour him, no matter what. Even if village cats are trained not to touch domestic chickens and ducklings, then this foundling is just a game for them, like a mouse or a sparrow.

I had to leave my affairs, and I returned home, clutching a black fluffy ball to my chest. Didn't feel much joy. But pity for this tiny creature was stronger than other feelings. nine0005

Adult corncrake chick.

The chick was very hungry and apparently hadn't eaten anything since the day he was born. The villagers know that the first chicken food is a finely chopped hard-boiled egg, millet groats and, of course, water. I planted my purchase on such a “table”: the chicken joyfully ran in circles all over it and did not peck at anything. This means that in nature such “children” are first fed from a “spoon”, they are given food in their mouths. For me, this was not news, and I used the usual medical tweezers. nine0005

He clamped a small piece of egg white with tweezers and brought it to the chicken's beak. He grabbed and swallowed it so deftly and quickly, as if he had done this for the first time. The chicken did not really like the egg yolk, and he did not react to the cereal at all. But the squirrel ate plenty, took two sips of water (by forcibly immersing its beak in a glass of water) and calmed down, sitting in the palm of its hand.

The problem with the "kindergarten" appeared immediately. The chicken, planted in a small cardboard box, squeaked heart-rendingly, demanding my constant presence. And besides, he turned out to be bouncy for his age and constantly jumped out of it. nine0005

We have cats in our house and in the garden (two cats and three cats), which were a potential threat to the life of my ward. Given this circumstance, I had to replace the box with a taller and more spacious one. And on top I covered it with a fine metal mesh. And although the squeak did not become less - I calmly sighed that the chicken is now safe, and you can go about your business.

I had to feed the chick very often: in 30-40 minutes the baby was hungry like the first time. The main food was ant eggs-pupa of not yet hatched worker ants (smaller white eggs) and female settlers (larger brownish eggs). This is the most complete food for a growing bird's body and, probably, the most delicious, since any bird is crazy about it. nine0005

In one sitting, the baby killed up to 20 or more of these pupae, and began to refuse chicken eggs more and more often. Between feedings, he constantly ran around the box and jumped up, trying to get out to freedom.

It was a real chicken, in any case, outwardly it did not differ much from domestic ones. Only it didn’t come out in size - the size of a matchbox, it easily fit in a clenched fist. And the fluff, and the legs, and the beak, and the beady eyes - everything was black - a kind of avian Negro child. But his legs were a little longer than those of domestic chickens. nine0005

Whose chick this is - no one could determine. Initially, it was assumed that this was the child of a marsh hen, which also has a black color. But her paws are slightly webbed, which my chicken didn't have. Quail and partridge disappeared by themselves, as there were experts on this game. The most likely version was suggested by a neighbor: perhaps this is a chicken of pheasants, which are still found in our area.

Because of the tight feeding schedule, I was not allowed to leave home for long periods of time. Once, I was late for an hour and a half, I come up and I can’t believe my eyes: there is no one in the box. Rummaged through the entire bedding of pieces of fabric - empty! Not knowing what to do, he began to call the usual "chick-chick-chick-chick." And suddenly my chicken jumps out from under the neighboring hive and rushes to my feet with a joyful squeak. Well, thank God, alive and well! It didn't take long for him to figure out how he managed to get out. But an hour later, right in front of my eyes, the chicken demonstrated its unique ability to gain freedom. The fact is that the fruit box in which he was located had 4 ventilation holes with a diameter of 2 cm. Only the head of my ward could fit in them. And the whole trick was that this little one incredibly stretched into a string and, with the help of wings and legs, with difficulty, but crawled through such a small hole ... nine0005

The summer was unusually hot. At lunchtime, when the thermometer started to go off scale, we took a break for one and a half to two hours: it was a little cooler in the house at that time. While I was having lunch, the chicken ran around my legs, then I fed him, and together we lay down on the sofa in front of the TV to watch the news. The little Negro child would sit on my chest and only here would he show his fatigue. First, he sits down, then crawling (on half-bent legs) moves into the recess between the pillow, neck and shoulder and begins to doze. After about five minutes, he again crawls to another place, then to a third ... And after 30-40 minutes he already unbearably wants to eat, and he begins walking on his chest and stomach, asking for ingratiating chirping and examining my nasal openings and auricles for food resources. You have to get up and feed this fidget. nine0005

The chicken did not want to spend the night in its box and squealed heart-rendingly even in a dark room. I had to take him to my place without any box and put him against the wall of the sofa on his personal sheet. He liked this place right away: he calmed down and sat silently until the morning.

The "child" turned out to be surprisingly clean: from eleven at night until morning, he never once soiled either his bedding or my bed. The same thing happened at lunchtime, sitting on me, and at any other time, when he was in my arms. The instinct of self-preservation in wild species works flawlessly - the resting place should not have any smells! But this rule did not apply to the one running around the room, and every 5-10 minutes the chicken gave out a white "blot". Such cleanliness is not typical for poultry. nine0005

On the third day, I found the sides of the box bloodied: the chicken knocked on them so hard that he broke the tip of his beak, and blood constantly oozed from there. I had to urgently change the place of his daytime stay. I bought a meter-long plastic mesh with the smallest mesh and built a small enclosure around the drying dogwood bush, a little more than one square meter in size. From the scorching sun, he covered this structure with a shading net in three layers. I dug up a piece of meadow turf with soft grass on one side, set up a bird's drinker with automatic water supply from a glass jar and put my ward there. nine0005

In order not to attract the attention of cats, I wrapped the side walls of the enclosure with a light non-woven covering material forty centimeters from the ground. Free left only one far corner. But because of the constant squeak, the whole cat family opened a real hunt for this tiny creature - they had to apply extreme measures of “training”: they took the hunting “beast” by the withers, lifted it so that it could see the chicken and painfully whipped it in the face with a soft rag. Such study was enough for the cats to bypass him. nine0005

In the new environment, the chick was still trying to get free, trying to get through the cells, but they were so large that only the beak passed. Due to the endless protrusions above the beak, a bald patch soon formed, which did not affect his well-being in any way. And the tip of the beak is now no longer injured and soon healed.

After a week or more, the baby began to take food on his own, and the need for tweezers disappeared. He drank water surprisingly rarely, which cannot be said about domestic chickens. And the drinking procedure itself was completely different. If the pets first draw water into the beak, and then tilt their head up so that the water rolls inward, then this baby dips the beak and, with the rotational movements of the tongue, sucks the water into itself. nine0005

The chicken was growing up, and ant eggs became too small food, and harvesting them was not a very pleasant experience. By this time, a new generation of grasshoppers had noticeably grown in number in the meadow, which, on succulent feed, increased in size by leaps and bounds. They have now become the main food and really liked the baby.

I have a special device for getting grasshoppers. In the past, I worked for a long time on my collective farm as an agronomist-entomologist, or, more simply, as a plant protection agronomist. The main tool in this profession is an agricultural entomological net, which determines the species and quantitative composition of harmful insects on a particular crop. nine0005

The diameter of the net is large and is about 30 cm. Working with it is called mowing (from the word - to mow). You go, for example, into a flowering field of peas and start “mowing”: you wave from right to left and vice versa so that the metal rim touches the upper part of the plants and shakes off all insects located there into a cloth bag. Hunting for food with such a tool takes a matter of minutes: a handful of grasshoppers can be “mowed down” in five to ten minutes. And try to catch the same amount with your bare hands - it will take at least an hour of tedious work. nine0005

It was interesting to watch how my chicken skillfully put grasshoppers in his mouth. His tongue seemed to rotate 360 ​​degrees, and he always turned any grasshopper in his beak head first to make it easier to swallow. He did the same with pieces of egg white, trying to swallow with a thin edge first.

When it was raining and in very damp weather I carried a chicken with me. With such dimensions, he freely fit in the breast pocket of a summer T-shirt and sat quietly in the warmth and dryness and, probably, dozed off until the next desire to eat. In this case, he would get up, stick his head out and squeak plaintively, pleadingly. If I had to work with slopes, I put the chick in my bosom, and there he cruised, depending on the position of my body, around the entire perimeter of the shirt. And not once in such a situation did he stain my clothes! nine0005

The first feathers appeared on the chest, then on the wings - flapping, the largest. Their design was very beautiful: a very dark reddish-gray middle with a light thin border along the edge of each feather. The female pheasant has exactly the same plumage from the illustration of the encyclopedia "Birds" edited by V. Flint. Everyone was waiting for my chicken to start growing a long tail.

As the feathers grew, the chick began to spend a lot of time on hygiene. Having sat down for the night, he endlessly combed with his beak all the places where real feathers make their way. After each such procedure, a mass of translucent scales remained on his sheet. nine0005

Since the chicken began to feed on its own, I have less and less taken it in my hands. He now put the half-strangled grasshoppers in the fence. He was very fond of chasing jumping and crawling insects. He also fed earthworms, which, wriggling and crawling, aroused special delight in the chicken. Every day, the sweltering heat dried up the earth more and more, and by mid-July the earthworms had almost completely disappeared.

Sometimes he treated his child to drone brood larvae from the apiary. White, fat and soft larvae in domestic chickens always cause a real stir: they stuff so many of them into themselves that the goiters begin to blow out strongly from under the fluff, exposing the delicate, bare skin. And my "wild" did not really like this delicacy. It will eat 3-4 larvae and that's it, the next time it will touch them no earlier than tomorrow. nine0005

Two weeks later, from the moment of "adoption", the chicken stopped squeaking from loneliness, and this made me especially happy. Now, after feeding, he sat down at an open corner and studied through the grid cells a piece of the free world. And in this place he had perfect cleanliness: traces of vital activity were visible throughout the other territory, but not in a place of permanent rest. Another resting place was a patch of meadow grass dug in the middle of the enclosure: here it merged with the surroundings and was almost invisible. nine0005

Due to the small size of the mesh enclosure, the chick could not train to fly. But when, after sunset, he found himself in the house, here he finally spread his no longer small wings and made running “flights”. At lunchtime, the chicken climbed onto the chair without any help, then on my shoulder and settled down near the neck to rest. If I walked around the rooms, he ran after me, and I had to try not to step on this "dog". He liked very much when he was stroked on the neck and tickled under the beak. From happiness, he closed his eyes and could sit like that indefinitely, as long as I had the patience. nine0005

In addition to cats, the baby was in danger of being crushed during the night. Try as I might, one night he crawled under me and was nearly strangled to death.

It should be noted that "from the cradle" for my ward was observed one interesting habit. When he was interested in something, and this “something” was hard to see because of the barrier, he stretched himself “to the side” and could stand in this position for a long time. At first I did not attach any importance to this, similar behavior is observed in domestic chickens. But they are all short-lived. And with my savage, this was more the rule than the exception. nine0005

At one month old, my chick is fully feathered into her gray outfit. However, the tail did not grow and did not think. Sitting in a patch of meadow grass, he surprisingly resembled a children's paper boat. Small neat upturned ponytail. The wings are not pressed to the body, but are slightly apart and rest on the ground. And the joyful trembling of the whole calf during a conversation with him. He began to shy away from me more and more, and in the afternoon heat he now sat in his fence. After sunset, I caught him with great difficulty and let him out into the room. Here he first trained his long gray wings with a brownish underside, then ran around the room around the perimeter, pecked at all the gaping flies and spiders and sat down behind the bedside table in such a way that, stretching forward, watching me. It seems to me that the chicken learned to understand my speech, because at the words "Come on, let's go to bed, chick-chick-chick" he calmly left his secluded place. Although with a dissatisfied look, he was given into his hands and went to his "bed". If at the very beginning of his stay the baby slept at night, putting his head on the sheet, then lately the overnight stay looked like a rest in constant "combat" readiness for any surprises. nine0005

As the chicken matured, his eating habits changed: he completely refused egg white, but 1-2 times a day he ate plenty of yolk, which at first he could not stand. Millet was still indifferent to him.

One afternoon, escaping from the unbearable heat, I again took out the encyclopedia and began to look through it. I read about the bittern and did not find anything in common with my fosterling. Again I re-read the whole detachment of the Chicken-shaped ones and again nothing of the kind. And then Figure 9 caught my attention.0003 Crake in his signature upright stance. Well, of course, I have a crustacean! I had absolutely no idea that my chicken was not a chicken at all, but a real crane! According to the classification, the corncrake belongs to the Cranes-like order and the Shepherd family.

The most interesting thing is that everyone in the village knows the voice of the corncrake, but almost no one manages to see it live. Few people even know the name of this bird, and its local name is “dyrkach”. From the second half of May or a little earlier, when the grass in the flooded hay meadows grows up to 30-40 cm, the mating season of these invisible birds begins. And then, in all the meadows, even near human habitation, in the evening, inviting rude “quacking” songs of the corncrake sound. All the time I thought that this was the voice of wild ducks, until an experienced hunter explained who it really was: “This is how small waders cry - holes. And few people saw them in the eyes. nine0005

Now I know who is, and I will never forget how he looks both as a baby and as an adult. The Latin name for the corncrake is Crex crex (crex crex). Approximately so (cre-cre-cre) adult birds cry in their short mating season on the eve of summer.

Corncrake is a bird of twilight and night, and during the day it sits in secluded places. These birds move so quickly and silently on the grass that it is not possible to notice them. Corncrakes do not really like to fly and do it in the most extreme conditions, escaping from the chase. Although they fly perfectly, and migration to warmer climes is carried out by flights. They feed on all kinds of insects and invertebrates, and do not refuse the seeds of wild plants. There are no more than 12 buffy eggs with brownish spots in the nest. All chicks are black. nine0005

If in the southern part of our country, a corncrake is called a dyrkach, then among the inhabitants of more northern regions, a corncrake is called a dergach. You will find the mention of this bird, memorable for its creaky voice, in many Soviet writers: M. Prishvin, K. Paustovsky and others. V. Astafiev has a very memorable story from early narratives about nature “Why did I kill the corncrake?”.

“Not adapted to flight, but fast on the run, this bird is forced to fly over the Mediterranean Sea twice a year. Many corncrakes die on the way, especially when flying over the sea. How the corncrake goes, where, in what ways - few people know. Only one city gets in the way of these birds - a small ancient city in the south of France. The coat of arms of the city depicts a corncrake. On those days when corostels go around the city, no one works here. All people celebrate the holiday and bake figurines of this bird from the dough, just like we, in Rus', bake larks for their arrival. ..”. nine0005

How my baby ended up alone in the meadow - one can only guess: the nesting site was mowed down, the parents, apparently, could not gather all the children together, or in general, all died, except for one. Corncrakes are inhabitants of floodplain hay meadows. And the moment of nesting coincides with the harvesting of hay. If, with manual mowing, the birds manage to hide and remain alive, then in the age of civilization and mechanized haymaking, most of them die, and there are fewer and fewer corncrakes. nine0005

I've always been amazed at how fast wild bird chicks grow. Some two weeks - and already teenagers who can fly and look no different from their parents. So my chicken in 3 weeks fully fledged and grew, having increased in size by more than 3 times. Domestic chickens grow much more slowly and become like adults only at 4 months old.

The turning point for my korostelka came after the arrival of the guests. He had to spend the night alone in a non-residential building. This went on for 4 days, and during such a period he probably managed to wean himself from me, although everything else was unchanged. After the departure of relatives, the chicken suddenly began to eat less and especially inanimate food, i.e. grasshoppers, which had to be strangled before feeding, otherwise they would all have evaporated outside the enclosure. He ate earthworms more readily, but they were no longer to be found. And then July 26 came, when he almost stopped eating, although he looked cheerful and chased flying and crawling insects. nine0005

My chicken has grown! He no longer needs a mother. He needs freedom!

The kostelka spent the last night no longer sitting on his sheet, but climbing onto the back of the sofa above me. He stayed on his feet all night. I also slept badly. At dawn, I tried to feed him, but he refused inanimate food. I put it in my bag and we were on our way. Thirty minutes at a brisk pace across the meadow away from human habitation and closer to the river, where one could quench one's thirst in this hot summer. I released him on the bank of a very shallow river, on both sides of which there was an open grassy area with many grasshoppers and other insects. Farewell two frames in the photo, and my chicken quietly went into the sedge thickets on the shore, sat down in a secluded place and hid. nine0005

He will probably sit here all day. And in the late afternoon it will come out in search of food and its relatives. As long as it is warm and there is enough food, the kostelka will grow up a little more, its wings will get stronger, it will learn to fly well in the wild and, I hope, will survive to return to its native places next spring.

Be happy, my kostelka!

I didn't want to take pictures of my chick often for one reason: young wild bird chicks usually don't survive indoors. And I consider it blasphemy to make a photo show of a “child” who has lived for several days or weeks. Yes, and I was just afraid to jinx it. Filmed only 3 times. The first - after 6 days from the moment of appearance in order to determine whose chick it is. The second is a fully fledged teenager and for the same purpose. Only a few days later, based on the drawing in the encyclopedia and these pictures, I finally realized who I really am. And the third time - farewell two shots. nine0005

Author - Mikhail Chernousov. Photo of the author. Source: Animal World Magazine 2012, No. 8.

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06/30/2022 18:44:48

How I envy you that you managed to feed the chick. And I died the other day. Incredibly sorry. They picked him up on the path to the spring, brought him home, gave him drink, fed him cottage cheese, and an hour later he died. Gradually weakened as they carried home, but there was quite a vigorous chick. What can they blame themselves for feeding with cottage cheese grains, and not with an egg (((Next, I just wonder why he died. The mouth constantly opened, reacting in this way to the touch of the cinema. Maybe he was still hungry and had to be fed several times in two hours "But he refused cottage cheese. Eh .. What a pity.

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Instructions: How to care for found chicks

suitable for certain types of birds.

On the eve of spring and the expected fall of the chicks, PanARMENIAN.Net decided to share some recommendations that will help you navigate in the situation of saving your feathered friends. nine0005

PanARMENIAN.Net - From the very beginning, let's make a reservation that each species of bird has its own peculiarities of nursing chicks.

Most often, fledglings come across - these are chicks that have just begun to fly out of the nest and stand on the wing (sparrows, crows, magpies, starlings, etc. ). If they are in a safe place, they do not need to be touched, as this is the natural process of becoming a young bird. The chick's parents are always there: they feed and protect them until they acquire all the necessary skills. This point, however, does not apply to swifts. By about 40 days after hatching, swift chicks themselves fly out of the nest - their parents do not have to teach them to fly. If you find a swift, try to help it fly up, because due to the peculiarities of their structure, swifts cannot take off from the ground (long wings and short legs). To do this, lift it above your head and toss it slightly. nine0005

If the bird cannot fly, then it is either sick or it is a chick that has fallen out of the nest. By the way, nursing swifts is a very specific process due to their rather delicate structure and diet.

A separate issue is the chicks that have fallen out of the nest. As a rule, they themselves fall by negligence or are blown away by the wind. These chicks are small, their plumage is not developed or poorly developed: they do not have a tail, and tubules predominate on the wings. Dropped chicks do not show normal activity, but, as a rule, lie on the ground and squeak. Most often, such chicks are injured when they fall and will not survive in nature, because. need emergency treatment and long-term rehabilitation. nine0005

You can do a little test to determine the age of a bird: try putting it on your finger. If the chick confidently grabs onto it, then most likely it is a fledgling.

If the bird has difficulty flapping its wings, it is most likely injured. Also, if the bird is trembling, it may indicate that she has an illness or dehydration.

And yet, if you decide to breed a chick, be sure to find out what not to give him, as some foods are not suitable for certain types of birds. For example, most do not tolerate milk. nine0005

Determine the type of bird and, accordingly, its diet. What the chick eats will depend on what its parents eat. For example, finches and goldfinches are granivorous, swifts and swallows are insectivorous, sparrows feed mainly on plant foods, only in spring partially on insects, which also feed chicks, crows eat everything from nuts and berries to insects and small rodents.

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