Now hand rearing tiny baby blue tits :0)

[owlmomma]

The technical name for it is a cocktail stick with the end snipped off Perfect for tiny beaks.

They are doing great, d'Artangon flew for the first time last night, on to my shoulder then round the room. The others are getting so much livelier too, they won't stay in the nest now. It will soon be time for a proper cage I think.

[Bub-les]

Looking good.
I'm being nosey... .. how many different species have you been successful with?
What is your favorite species and the least favorite?
Barbara

[owlmomma]

It's hard to answer that,I have had quite a lot of different species but the success rate depends more on what is wrong when they get here than the type of bird they are. For example, hatchlings and nestlings aren't too bad whereas fledgelings with cat bites I tend to lose a lot of because of infection.

My favourites I suppose are baby pigeons and of course, corvids, they are just darling. I think it is the enthusiasm once they get used to being fed that gets me.

Having said that, they are all darlings and they do seem to know that I am trying to help them.

Each year is different with different species being predominant...that's one of the things I love about doing the rescue work, you never know what is going to arrive next.

[Bub-les]

It must be a very rewarding and time demanding occupation!
I tried (many years ago) with a young rook unfortunately I did not succeed but the time I had him was fascinating. I almost got him to fly but one night when he was in his cage unfortunately some cats found where he was and although they didn't touch him my father reckoned that he'd died of fright! I was devastated. Haven't tried anything like that since. I take my hat off to you and people like you. Keep up the good work.
Barbara

[owlmomma]

Once you start, it takes over your whole life. It takes all my money, all my time and the whole of the home, can't go anywhere as I can't leave the little ones, not that I can afford it anyway, it is heartbreaking when you lose them and wonderful when they survive and I wouldn't change it for the world.

I guess I was lucky that my first ones, three tiny great tits survived, if I had lost them as you did the rook, everything might be different.

[pat362]

Originally Posted by owlmomma

The technical name for it is a cocktail stick with the end snipped off Perfect for tiny beaks.

They are doing great, d'Artangon flew for the first time last night, on to my shoulder then round the room. The others are getting so much livelier too, they won't stay in the nest now. It will soon be time for a proper cage I think.

So glad all is going well! Thanks for the feeding info

Pat

[lau]

Hi, very lovely to hear how you raised them, hoping for some advise really, we are caring for a baby bird, suspect its a blue tit but cant be sure, not very old as eyes are still closed. What are the best things we should be doing, we have been feeding him etc and he has survived the night. Any help would be very much appreciated. Thanks

[owlmomma]

I have p'md you my phone numbers

[littlebluestar]

Hi there, I'm just rearing 2 baby Blue tits and need a little help. I got them when the were still bald. Sadly I lost 1 as there were 3, but the other 2 are doing very well. They are about 14 days old. They have just got all there feathers more or less. But I'm not sure how to get them into the wild again, hoping to hear from you soon, thanks

[owlmomma]

Give me a ring for a chat if you like, the number is on my web site