# Fallen baby blue tit



## chuckie127

I found a baby blue tit, and its only small, but its not eating meal worms, there too big, what can i feed him, and can i keep him? thanks


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## beardys

mini mealworms or worms from the garden chopped up.


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## chuckie127

ok, if he becomes tame, will there be a chance of keeping him? as OH wants to, but he cant fly yet!


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## JustJack

Is there any sign of any wounds ? And was it found in your back garden? If he isreally young then there is probably no hope in putting him back as cats may get him..
As for the meal worms try cutting them in half..
I would also like to see what other says as i have a resuced crow in my shed.. He also has a broken leg.


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## chuckie127

No visible wounds, but he weas bleeding when he first came in from his beak, but seems to be fine after the vets visit, the vet said if he becomes tame then he cant be released, what do you all say?


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## beardys

chuckie127 said:


> ok, if he becomes tame, will there be a chance of keeping him? as OH wants to, but he cant fly yet!


i dont know, i only know caring for white tits using a nice gentle stroke


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## JustJack

If the vet says he cant be released and he becomes tame then go for it!


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## hippyhaplos

Ask this in other pets section... shell195 & feorag amongst others will know what to do


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## beardys

chuckie127 said:


> No visible wounds, but he weas bleeding when he first came in from his beak, but seems to be fine after the vets visit, the vet said if he becomes tame then he cant be released, what do you all say?


well if he cant be release it then you'll have to buy a bird cage.


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## chuckie127

okay  thats fine, any other food i can feed him, he actually fell out the nest at my sisters house, and the cat nearly got him as he feel out 2 times, as she tried putting him back first


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## gaz0123

unless it is classed as a pest animals its against the law to keep it im affraid this law sucks as i had a hawk fly into my window a couple of months ago


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## Dixie19

Chances are its a fledgling and still would have been getting fed by its parents after leaving the nest, feed small insects you find in the garden untill it strength builds up.

Too keep it would be extremely unfair, and once released it will revert back to its natural "wild" ways quickly as they are very skittish nervous birds.

Good luck with it and I hope you will be enjoy the feeling of watching an animal return back to the wild that you have helped survive, its unbeatable.


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## becky89

chuckie127 said:


> No visible wounds, but he weas bleeding when he first came in from his beak, but seems to be fine after the vets visit, the vet said if he becomes tame then he cant be released, what do you all say?


I wouldn't keep him tbh. As said he is a wild bird and if there's nothing physically wrong with him there's no reason why he can't go back, they do go wild easily enough. Plus they're cute and all, but they do bite.


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## corvid2e1

Blue Tits do not make good pets. They are dificult to maintain long term in captivity as they are hyper active, need a varied diet, well suplemented with vits, which can work out suprisingly expensive given the amount of food they go through due to a very high metabolisum. they are also extreamly aggressive birds, which considering the size of the bird, probably sounds funny to someone who has never had an imprinted blue tit drill a hole into the back of their neck on a daily basis! The law does state that you can keep a wild bird if it is deemed "disabled" and unable to survive in the wild. imprinting counts as disabled, however it is not dificult to raise a bird without imprinting if the correct mesures are taken. for a start, do not handle the bird any more than nesicary. when I raise baby birds I generaly do not ever pick them up apart from to move them when cleaning out the box. given how clean nestlings are this is not very frequent. feeding can be done without touching, and the rest of the time they should be left alone somewhere warm, dark and quiet. once fledged and self feeding, if all contact is cut and the bird is moved to an outside aviary away from human disturbance, even a seemingly "tame" bird will de-humanise very quickly. the aviary can then be left open, while still suplying food, and the bird will graduly release itself as it learns to find natural food and stops relying on what you leave out. idealy this process goes much smoother if the bird is raised with another of its own, or a similar species (given their aggression tits canot generaly be combined with finches or most other similar sized birds) which is why it is always better for the bird to find a wildlife centre who will already have others it can be raised with.


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## Emma30

I helped a baby blue tit a couple of years ago, they always nest every year in the roof and a few times i found babies dead on the floor that have fell out of the nest. This particular time the bird managed to survive and no cats harmed it so i took it in and then from my sons bedroom window i could see the parents looking and calling for the youngster, when i brought the baby in the room with the window open it could hear its mum and dad whistling for it and it whistled back!! so i decided to put the baby as close as i could to the opening of the window in a glass fish tank and stayed very still and very quiet and eventually mum and dad came through the window to feed the baby, it was a beautiful sight to see mum and dad taking care of their baby even tho they had to come into the house!! i was so pleased and after a few days it flew off with mum and dad. I filmed it aswell have to dig it out sometime as its really pleasing to watch :flrt:

Sorry for all the waffle!!! :lol2:


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## Lucy1012

hand rearing baby birds is near on impossible unless you have the correct environment and equipment. Your best bet is to take it to a wildlife hospital to be fair they stand a much better chance getting it fed and released. If it hasn't taken any food or water since you have had him, then he probably won't, you could try feeding water a lquidised worms off the end of a childs paintbrush... this was the advice we got given the first time my cat made me resposible for a baby bird. But after losing the battle many times we now take every single one to st tiggywinkles... good luck


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## Silversnake84

tbh they are so scared of everything most will die in captivity and do not do very well  

the best thing you can do is try and put it back in the nest it came from and keep an eye on it to see if the parents are going back and forwards feeding it (and any other chicks still in there). If the nest is already empty and the parents aren't there anymore, it's too late for that so you could try hand feeding it and see what happens. Best thing to feed it is foods it would eat in the wild - go and hunt outside for soft-bodied inverts. You can order them online too if you can't find enough. Mealworms are better than feeding potentially poisonous caterpillars though(!) The baby, depending on how old it is, could get fed (I think?) every 20 mins or so in the wild (in the daytime) and every 2 hrs when older, so it might be better to contact a wildlife centre/someone who has rehabbed baby birds before. 

it's ok to keep a wild bird in captivity, as long as you took it seeing it was injured, and if you intend to release it once it is better. this might be useful to look at: 

Naturenet: Wild Birds and the Law

if it does make it to adulthood, there's all sorts of things it may lack when it is released, such as knowledge to forage in certain areas for certain foods which its parents may have otherwise shown it, and also its ability to mate may be affected if it didn't hear other blue tits singing when it was young (it basically may say the wrong thing and not attract a female if it is a male!) I'm not really sure if anyone knows how human-raised birds do in the wild after they are release, unless they monitor them somehow... I guess just hope for the best.


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## Silversnake84

...oh and if it is very small and has no feathers, it will also need to be kept warm!


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## Shell195

I believe that every wild creature deserves the chance to go back to the wild if at all possible. I know a girl who has reared a Great tit using Hills A/D diet and gradually mixed other things in with it, Shes taking him over to a wildlife centre this week so he can be with others and he will be soft released. It sounds like the bird was naturally fledging and would have been getting fed by the parents, couldnt you have put it somewhere off the ground and kept the cat in? Isnt there a wildlife rescue near you that you could take it to?


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