Rescued baby blue tit - help

[heartsofsand]

We bought a nesting box with a tiny camera inside to watch the blue tits nesting, and sure enough mum and dad started a nest and laid lots of eggs. Some hatched out about a week ago, however yesterday morning the nest appeared to be messed up, and completely empty of chicks or eggs, and no parents were coming in or out. I checked again last night around 6 p.m and nothing had changed. I took the lid off, and discovered the nest had been turned upside down and messed up. There were three unhatched eggs, three cold, dead chicks and two completely unfeathered chicks alive, but barely moving. I took them out and used the nesting materials to make a new nest, put them in it and began feeding them with minuscule bits of raw mince using tweezers, reccommended to me as the mealworms would not mash up small enough and I could not find enough small insects. Unfortunately the smaller of the two died within a few hours, however, the other chick became much stronger and started moving about a lot. I fed it for around three hours, a couple of pieces every 15 minutes, and then put it to bed at around 11p.m. I checked at 1a.m and all was well. This morning, the chick is opening its mouth for its food, cheeping, and moving about a lot. I have been feeding it every 15 minutes since 7a.m. It seems to have slight damage to one of its eyes, a piece of the covering missing. I would appreciate any advice on what I should do next, better feeding materials and anything else I could do! I couldn't bear to just leave it to die.

[Farplace]

Congratulations on getting it through the night. You really need specialist help for this baby. I suggest you find out if there is a wildlife rescue near to you able to take it on. Ideally one with an incubator. Your local vet may know of someone.

[heartsofsand]

Thank you for your help. I was worried about taking it to the vet as I thought they would most likely put it down due to its eye, but he seems strong and is even flapping his little stumpy wings a bit now! I am keeping him warm, and I am going to get in contact with the wildlife nurse at the vet clinic, and ask for advice as to where might be a good place for it. Thank you again!

[galanthophile]

My sister rescued a house martin and when she took it to a vet they were going to put it to sleep but she managed to rear it on mealworms and it survived to fledge and was successfully released into the wild so don't give up!

[heartsofsand]

I have spoken to the wildlife nurse at the vets, and she reccommended that I keep doing what I'm doing for a while to see how he survives, and gets more feathers etc. How active are they supposed to be? I don't have any experience of chicks so whenever he gets a little quiet I worry he's dying or something! Sometimes he doesn't seem to want food, and I'm not force feeding him at this point. He cheeps very quietly sometimes, and will happily go to sleep in my hand, but it quite wriggly when I touch him or pick him up to help him feed.

[Pipa]

Originally Posted by heartsofsand

I have spoken to the wildlife nurse at the vets, and she reccommended that I keep doing what I'm doing for a while to see how he survives, and gets more feathers etc. How active are they supposed to be? I don't have any experience of chicks so whenever he gets a little quiet I worry he's dying or something! Sometimes he doesn't seem to want food, and I'm not force feeding him at this point. He cheeps very quietly sometimes, and will happily go to sleep in my hand, but it quite wriggly when I touch him or pick him up to help him feed.

im not sure about the feeding but i read you should handle them as little as possible as this can tame them too much

good luck with him i hope he makes it, poor little things so vulnerable,

[heartsofsand]

Unfortunately baby passed away last night. I think I was right to be a little worried about his hiccups and then he started having little seizures, and died in the night. Very sad but at least he had a chance, I loved looking after him. Thanks for all of your advice.