# blackbird advice



## storm (Jul 23, 2007)

i have just had a call from my sister, her cats have returned from their outings and brought back a baby blackbird and an adult. there are no visable injuries but the adult is missing its tail feathers and some off its back. it is not appearing lethargic but i need to know what the best thing to do is? should she keep it warm and quiet and feed until its feathers return, release it or take it to the RSPCA who will more than likely put it down. 

advice appreciated x


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## Zoo-Man (Apr 12, 2008)

storm said:


> i have just had a call from my sister, her cats have returned from their outings and brought back a baby blackbird and an adult. there are no visable injuries but the adult is missing its tail feathers and some off its back. it is not appearing lethargic but i need to know what the best thing to do is? should she keep it warm and quiet and feed until its feathers return, release it or take it to the RSPCA who will more than likely put it down.
> 
> advice appreciated x


It would take a while for it's feathers to grow back, so probably best to release it if it has no injuries.


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## danza (Mar 31, 2009)

I kept an injured female blackbird that my cat brought in for me one new years day with leg/wing damage. I had her in a big cage with a nice big perch for about 3 months, feeding her raisins (which she loved), various seed, and live mealworms. When I found I couldn't keep up the demand for live mealworms, I went onto dried ones. Unfortunately, she snuffed it after a couple of weeks of starting her on the dried mealies, something I didn't expect. There must have been something lacking in the dried mealies nutrient content that the live ones had.

She was almost strong enough to be released as well. She kicked the bucket on my birthday, which was quite depressing really! Every time I took her out for a health check (which wasn't very often), she'd clamp her beak onto my fingers as hard as possible, and really try to hurt me. Quite endearing that she hated me so much after all the effort I went to keep her fed and rehab her! At least she wasn't attached to me though.

It still annoys me that I changed her food, which seemed to be the reason for her death.

Anyway, how did your birds get on?


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