Baby sparrow help!

[Queen Hannah]

Hello! I'm new here and I don't quite know what I'm doing! So forgive me for anything I might do wrong for now!
Basically a while ago we had a nest of baby sparrows in a tree in the back garden, we weren't sure how old they were but a mother bird was returning to the nest so there was definitely something in there.
I live in a suburban area where there are LOTS of houses and quite frankly the place is over run with cats.
I came home from college one day to find the garden COVERED with feathers, so a cat obviously got a bird. I waited to see if the mother ever came back to the nest, but eventually about an hour went past and nothing. My father looked into the nest and there were two completely hairless baby sparrows, their eyes hadnt even opened. It was raining so we brought them inside and kept them warm, and fed them a few small mealworms (which I have because we feed the wild birds them anyway) and they seemed to be eating well. I rang the RSPB & the RSPCA and even the animal care department of my college which I am studying at to find out if they could be cared for anywhere else but I had no luck, so I have hand raised them. They're about 2 weeks old, and they have all their feathers and are reasonably good fliers. They seem pretty damn scared of me and everyone else, which is probably a good thing, but they don't seem to want their own food.. They're scared of me until I show them food. I wondered if anyone has any tips on how to get them to find their own food ready for when I can release them into the wild?

P.S- these birds were never intended to be kept as pets, I always had the intention to release them into the wild once they could fend for themselves.

Thank you for your help.
Any tips for me, contact me by PM or reply here!

[Foz]

Sounds like you have some nice inprinted birds.
They think you are mum now and will expect you to feed them.
I bet they get all agitated when they see you and shake thier wings and body and make a din when you approach them, thats the usual call for food.
Its unlikely they will be able to fend for them selves, so you may be looking after them for quite a while.

[jaelen]

I just wanted to say you are doing a great job to have reared them successfully from such a young age!

I know that the mother sparrows in our back garden have been feeding their chicks from our seed feeders- they go back and forth, shoving seeds down the babys' beaks as fast as they can... would giving your young ones seeds pre-softened in water be possible yet?

This is only a suggestion- hopefully someone with more experience in this area will have a better way to go about it... best of luck with them, though.

jaelen