# Yet another wild bird rescue...



## Dan_S (Aug 3, 2009)

Have just had to rescue a fledgling starling in the back garden from the neighbours cats. Have given it a quick visual check over and it doesn't appear to be injured. I know the advice with young wild birds is to leave them alone and let the parents look after it, but I think one of the cats may have had one of the adult birds (quite a few feathers about), and there's no way of keeping the cats out of the garden. 

So that's the situation.. For the moment I have the bird in a dark, warm and quiet place on the advice of the local out of hours vet, and will check up on it in the morning to see if it has survived. 

If it does, I guess there are two options, take it to a sanctuary or try and hand rear it. If possible, I'd like to do the former, as I know it takes a fair bit of work to successfully raise them. So the first question is.... 

Does anyone know of a decent wildlife sanctuary local to Reading who would be able take it in and care for it?

If not, does anyone have any experience if raising starlings, and if so, could they let me know what I need to do? I have experience with raising non-feeder hatchling snakes, orphan hamsters, underweight hedgehogs etc. so have a good level of general experience, just not much with birds..

Cheers,


Dan


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## duffey1 (Aug 24, 2012)

Dan,

Starlings are an insectivorous species, so the easiest and most effective food is Mealworms or Wax Moth larvae. Remove the heads (the intact insect can, quite literally, eat their way out of the bird), dip the insect in water (and, once you get the hang of it, multivitamins), open the birds beak and, using tweezers, open the birds beak and drop the insect in! Some birds take a few tries to get the hang of it, and well-feathered chicks do not initially gape for food. Younger, partially feathered chicks are usually willing to gape.

Using mealworms and Wax moth larvae is an effective 'stop gap' to keep the bird alive initially. Egg food (proprietary as sold for breeding canaries, or 'home-made' using hard-boiled egg yolks and Rich Tea biscuits) can be fed via a spatula (or lolly stick) and this can be replaced by a proprietary Insectivorous softfood from a pet shop. 

Create a 'nest' of toilet paper or tissue (not cotton wool) in a small box, and replace the 'nest' when soiled with droppings.

Starling chicks have a distinctive smell - not unpleasant, so don't worry.

Good luck

MJD


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## Dan_S (Aug 3, 2009)

Thanks MJD,

Unfortunately the little hatchling didn't make it through the night. There may well have been internal injuries that weren't visible on first inspection, or it may even have just been stress.

Either way, a shame, but I guess the little one wasn't meant to make it. Thanks for the advice though.

Cheers,


Dan


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