What do i feed orphaned baby birds

What to Feed a Baby Bird

How to provide the right nutrition when wildlife rescues aren't an option

Melissa Mayntz

Melissa Mayntz is a bird expert, certified Master Naturalist, writer, and author with over three decades of experience. She's published in several national magazines, including National Wildlife Magazine, Bird Watcher's Digest, and WildBird Magazine. Melissa has studied hundreds of bird species around the world, traveling to Mexico, Central America, the Caribbean, the central Pacific, the Middle East, and more on birding expeditions.

Learn more about The Spruce's Editorial Process

Updated on 08/26/22

Reviewed by

Kathleen Miller

Reviewed by Kathleen Miller

Kathleen Miller is a highly-regarded Master Gardener and Horticulturist who shares her knowledge of sustainable living, organic gardening, farming, and landscape design. She founded Gaia's Farm and Gardens, a working sustainable permaculture farm, and writes for Gaia Grows, a local newspaper column. She has over 30 years of experience in gardening and sustainable farming.

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Fact checked by

Sarah Scott

Fact checked by Sarah Scott

Sarah Scott is a fact-checker and researcher who has worked in the custom home building industry in sales, marketing, and design.

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The Spruce / Catherine Song

Every backyard birder has seen the "starving baby" act by fledgling birds, when they flutter their wings and call piteously for attention from seemingly hard-hearted, indifferent parents. The desire to nurture those fluffy balls of feathers can be strong, but it is important to understand the special needs of a fledgling's diet and know what to feed a baby bird for the best nutrition.

Do I Need to Feed This Baby Bird?

Baby birds have very demanding dietary needs. Depending on their age and species, baby birds may eat off and on for 12 to 14 hours per day, consuming a diet rich in insects for sufficient protein to ensure healthy growth. No human other than a licensed bird rehabilitator has the proper equipment, food supplements, or endurance to keep up that frantic feeding schedule. If you find a baby bird that appears to need feeding, the best thing to do is not to feed it, but to get it to an appropriate bird rescue organization. In many cases, the begging birds are not abandoned and the parent birds are nearby and tending to their babies as needed, even if they aren't seen.

If you find a baby bird that seems to be unfed, watch the bird closely for a while to see if the parents return to feed it within the hour. Bear in mind that it may take just seconds for a parent bird to deliver a bite to its chick, and inattentive observers may miss several feeding cycles. As the chicks grow, feeding may also be less frequent, and one parent bird may be tending to several offspring in different locations, so parental visits may be uneven. If the baby is being fed, rest assured that the parent bird is able to keep up with its demands, and no intervention is necessary if the baby does not appear injured or ill in any other way.

If the baby bird is not being fed and appears to be growing weaker and more lethargic, the first step should be to find a licensed rehabilitator to provide it proper care. When contacting the rehabilitator, ask for their evaluation of the bird in question before attempting any emergency feeding. If it is recommended that you feed the baby bird, he or she might have specific suggestions in mind as an emergency measure, and those suggestions should be meticulously followed.

If Feeding Is Necessary

If you find a baby bird that needs to be fed but you are unable to contact a bird or wildlife rehabilitator, it is important to know what to feed a baby bird that will provide similar nutrition to its natural diet. While every wild bird has a different diet, several types of food can serve as emergency rations when necessary. At the same time, it is critical to understand that baby birds have very different nutritional needs than adult birds, and foods you would normally feed to your backyard birds are not appropriate for young fledglings.

Good Foods for Baby Birds

Moist dog food
Raw liver (no seasoning)
Hard-boiled eggs
Dog biscuits (moistened)
Dog or cat kibble (moistened)

The Spruce / K. Dave

What Not to Feed Baby Birds

Water
Bread or bread products
Whole birdseed
Milk
Pet bird food
Worms
Kitchen scraps

The more mature a baby bird is, the more "adult" food it can consume without harm, and the longer it can go between feedings.

The Spruce / K. Dave

Tips for Feeding Baby Wild Birds

If it is necessary for you to feed a baby bird, remember:

Offer food that is spongy in texture, not dripping with water that could cause choking or drowning. All dry food should be softened before being offered to a baby bird.
Food should be offered at room temperature only, never warmed or heated, and also never refrigerated or chilled.
Keep bits of food small and in proportion to the bird's size; very small birds need very tiny bites. Cut or crush food appropriately to suit the bird's size.
While feeding the bird, handle it as little as possible to minimize the risk of additional stress or injury. Never force the bird's bill open to eat.

Caring for Baby Birds

Remember that feeding a baby bird should be an emergency measure only. If a baby bird is abandoned and needs care, it should be taken to a bird rescue organization or experienced rehabilitator as soon as possible. Rehabilitators can not only feed it an appropriate diet for its species but can help it learn how to find its own food, evade predators, and learn other skills necessary for a successful life in the wild.

If there is no rescue organization or experienced rehab specialist available in your area, keep these tips in mind:

Identify if the bird is a nestling (few or no feathers) or a fledgling (a feathered bird approaching adulthood). Nestlings will require much attention for a longer period than fledglings, which may be nearly ready for independence quite soon. An older fledgling can sometimes be fine if you simply place it high on a branch where its parents can find it. Nestlings, on the other hand, may require several weeks of attention (assuming a bird rehab organization is not available) to give them a chance for survival.
Protect it from predators—including family pets. Normally, a simple cardboard box lined with a towel, placed high enough to be out of reach of pets, will suffice. If using a lidded container, make sure it is well-ventilated. Ordinary room temperature is normally fine, though a gentle heat lamp can be used if the room is very cold at night. But take care not to overheat the young bird—in most cases, no heat source is necessary.
Give it a "nest" by using a small towel or cloth diaper formed into a concave shape and placed in the bottom of the box. This will help support the bird's body until it grows stronger.
Small nestlings are best fed with moist, well-softened food from a syringe, offered very gently, in small drops. Even a kitchen baster may be too large to be useful. As a nestling grows older, you can offer it food by dangling it from tweezers in front of its beak.
Never try to feed water directly to a baby bird. Nestlings will get their water needs met through moisture in food. A fledgling can be offered water in a shallow dish—if it's ready to consume water this way, it will drink on its own.
When a fledgling bird has fully feathered out and is beginning to exercise its wings by flapping, it can be given time outdoors and encouraged to begin flying. Often, it is enough to simply set the bird's containment box outside in a safe location, open the lid and wait for nature to take its course.

But remember that raising a featherless nestling bird through the fledgling stage and into a mature adult bird is no easy matter. It's always better to leave this to professionals who are experienced in the practice.

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The Spruce uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read our editorial process to learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.

Picking up baby birds can do more harm than good. Oregon State University.

What to feed a baby bird: A vet's guide to caring for a fledgling

(Image credit: Getty Images)

If you’ve found a young fledgling, it's likely that your immediate reaction is to wonder what to feed a baby bird, followed by if and how you can care for the chick vs returning them back to its parents.

These are surprisingly common queries that many vets hear; baby birds are regular ‘wildlife rescues’ and knowing what to do if you’ve found a nestling, a fledgling, or an injured baby bird is important. Afterall, you can't reach for the nearest premium bird feeder and satisfy their hunger the usual way!

This article will outline what you need to know about rescuing a baby bird, including answering questions around what do baby birds eat, whether you should attempt to care for a bird yourself and how to take care of an abandoned bird if the need arises.

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What to do with a baby bird

If you’ve found a baby bird on the floor, or one has been brought in by your cat, the first thing to do is get it to a safe place. Gently pick it up – you can use a tea towel if you’d rather not touch it – and put it into a box. Any sort of box with a lid that’s large enough will work – you don’t need to make it perfect, just get it contained and in the dark whilst you work out what to do next. Try to have a peek at it as you lift it. Is it injured? Is there any blood?

Now, you need to decide if you’ve rescued a nestling or a fledgling. By far the most common rescues are fledglings. These young birds are just learning to fly, so they spend a lot of time on the ground. This means you’re more likely to spot them, and they’re more at risk of being caught by the cat!

Fledglings have most or all of their feathers, but might not look as neat as an adult bird. If the baby bird is a fledgling, you can leave him where you found him if it’s safe, or place the box, open and on its side, under a bush, or hanging from a branch so he can hide until he’s ready to try flying again. His parents will be nearby, waiting to feed him. Keep pets inside if possible to give him a fair chance!

A nestling, on the other hand, will have no feathers. He’ll likely have fallen out of his nest, and you may find more than one baby bird, or even a whole nest on the ground. Have a look for the nest – if you can see it, pop him back in there and leave him – his parents will carry on feeding him. If the nest is on the ground, prop it up high or – even better – wire it into the bush or tree it fell from so that it’s safe from predators. If you can’t see it, or it’s damaged, try using a plant pot with some nest material, and wire it to a bush.

If you can’t return the baby bird to his parents, or you’ve tried but have seen no sign of them after continuous watching of two or more hours, you may have to consider hand-rearing the bird.

(Image credit: Getty Images)

Should I look after this baby bird?

Hopefully you’ve tried to return the bird to his parents – hand rearing is hard work, and nowhere near as rewarding as they make it sound in books. Feeding needs to happen frequently – as often as every 20 minutes – during daylight hours, so this is a big responsibility. Most people don’t have the equipment and experience necessary, so taking in a bird should be a last resort.

Hand reared birds struggle to survive in the wild and are unlikely to ever live a normal life unless they’ve been reared by a professional. It’s also extremely common for baby birds to die from stress, incorrect diet, or undiagnosed injury or illness – so be prepared. Lastly, you’ll need to check your local law. In some areas, it’s illegal to keep wildlife captive unless you have a license, or it may be illegal to release the bird again once you’ve brought it into the house.

If you’re sure the bird has been abandoned, the best option is to see if there’s a nearby wildlife rescue or shelter that will take the bird, as this will give the bird the best chance of being safely released. If this isn’t possible, see if they can tell you what species of bird it is and give you any advice or equipment.

(Image credit: Getty Images)

How do you take care of an abandoned baby bird?

If you can’t find anybody else to take the bird and you really want to give it a shot, it’s time to find out how to take care of an abandoned baby bird. Here’s all you need to know:

Housing an abandoned baby bird

You’ll need to find somewhere suitable for the baby bird to live until it’s old enough to be released. For a fledgling, this is easy – they’re already out of the nest so you just need to provide a safe space in the garden that they can escape when they’re ready.

For a nestling, you’ll need a box lined with something non-slip easy to clean – birds are messy! Don’t forget that the box should be pet-proof! They’ll also need a ‘nest’, as this supports their weight and allows normal development of their bones. Place the box in a quiet place. It’s best not to use a heat lamp unless it’s very cold, as a nestling will be unable to move away if they’re too hot.

What do baby birds eat? How to feed a baby bird that fell out of its nest

If your bird is a nestling, you’ll need to feed from a syringe or pipette. These birds would be being fed regurgitated food from mum and dad, so they’ll need a soft food. A common option is a mix of cat/dog food, hardboiled eggs, and crushed mealworms, but your wildlife rehabber will be able to give you a more exact recipe designed for the age and species of the bird. You’ll need to find out how to make the baby bird food, how long it can stay in the fridge for, and how often to feed the baby bird.

If you’re wondering what to feed a fledgling baby bird, don’t worry – this is much easier! Fledglings will still be being fed by their parents, but they’re picking up many of the skills they need to feed themselves. First, try offering a bird food mix of seeds and mealworms, and see if the bird helps himself. If he does, great! If not, you’ll need to find out what sort of bird he is, and feed him his preferred food – often softened mealworms – from a pair of tweezers until he’s a little older.

(Image credit: Getty Images)

Can you give baby birds water?

It’s very important that birds don’t get dehydrated, but it’s difficult to safely give water to a baby bird. Nestlings should not be given water – they won’t know what to do with it and might drown in it. Both nestlings and fledglings that are not yet feeding themselves will get their water from their diet – so they’ll need access to moist foods. Fledglings that can feed themselves can be given a shallow dish of water until they recover from their shock and fly away.

Conclusion

Knowing what to do with a baby bird that’s been abandoned is tough. Whilst our instinct is to rescue and look after them, it’s generally not in the bird’s best interests – they’re better off outside and rarely do well when hand reared.

If you do end up feeding a baby bird, take as much advice as possible from an experienced bird rehabilitation centre to maximise the chances of a successful release.

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After graduating as a veterinarian from the University of Nottingham, Dr Joanna Woodnutt went on to practice companion animal medicine in the Midlands. She quickly developed a love of consulting and helping clients with medical problems such as dermatology, behaviour and nutrition - anything that involved helping clients understand their pets better. Jo started writing about pet health in 2017, realising that it meant she could help even more pet parents. Since then, she has written for countless online and print publications and is a regular contributor for Edition Dog Magazine. Jo now lives in the Channel Islands with her husband Ian and terrier Pixie, and they are expecting their first child very soon.

How to feed an orphaned pigeon chick?

It happens that pigeon chicks are left without the care of their parents and caring people do not want to leave the kids to certain death.

And if a person encounters such a situation for the first time, he immediately has questions: what to feed the chick? how often? how much to feed? how to feed? All these questions can be answered in this article. nine0006

What and how to feed pigeons in the first days of their life?

Pigeon chicks, in the first six days of their lives, are still very weak. In such a critical period, these crumbs need "bird" milk, which appears in the goiter of their moms and dads.

Some pigeon breeders feed orphaned chicks with raw eggs, chicken eggs, and preferably pigeon eggs, the eggs contain all the nutrients the chick needs.

For feeding, use a 20cc syringe with a piece of IV tube or regular baby pacifier, but a tube is better. A hole is made in the egg and the contents of the egg are drawn with a syringe - the protein and yolk are mixed and the chick receives a good substitute for pigeon milk. Before each feeding, the crumbs should be given a little water. nine0006

A one-day-old chick is given a three-cube egg and then the dose is increased. And already a three-day-old chick can feed 10 egg cubes.

On the seventh day, the pigeons' eyes open and they begin to respond better to the voice. Now you can feed your pet with small grains - millet, sorghum, rapeseed, and pre-soak larger grains with boiling water (for 10 minutes) so that it softens a little. In a softened form, corn can also be given, carefully putting one grain at a time into the beak. Millet and sorghum can also be given dry, but after giving the baby some water to drink. It is advisable to add liquid vitamins for birds to the water. nine0006

They also give the chicks, in a small amount, ground eggshells - the shells will deliver the necessary minerals to the body or, instead of the shells, they are fed with special mineral top dressing.

When the chick is two weeks old, he will start to squeak loudly, reminding him that it is time to feed him. And how to understand if the chick has eaten or not? Very simple. If you feel its goiter and it turns out that it is well stuffed, then the chick is full, if the goiter is empty, you still need to feed it. But do not give much water before feeding, so that the chick does not remain hungry, filling its crop with only liquid. nine0006

The amount of food and drinking regimen should be gradually increased - the goiter of the chicks is quite capacious.

How to properly feed a pigeon chick

Two syringes are prepared in advance - one with clean warm water, you can also add vitamins for birds, and the other with raw egg liquid. For convenience, you can sit on a chair and put the chick on your knees and gently, with your left hand, slightly open its beak and insert the tip of the tube into its beak. Now slowly squeeze out the feed from the syringe. In the same way, you can water the chicks. Before each feeding, do not forget to give the crumbs a little water. nine0006

And it is most convenient to feed the chick with small grains from an insulin syringe: food from the syringe is simply poured into the beak.

You can also give a little chick water to drink in this way: dip the tip of its beak into a small bowl of water, but not too deep so that the water does not get into its spout and so that the chick does not choke. But it is better, after all, to water the baby with the help of a twenty-cc syringe.

Please watch the video of wild pigeon chicks growing up

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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. nine0006

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). nine0006

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).

Step three. Take washed carrots of a small size, grate them on a fine grater, then squeeze the juice and we will use the remaining pulp. nine0006

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). nine0006

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. nine0006

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.