Neice is brought up a Juvenile blue-tit.

[Robert D]

Hi everyone,

My niece brought home a juvenile blue tit, it can't get fly, my sister tried encouraging it and it managed about 2-3 meters, my niece doesn't remember where she found it so we can't put it back.

Right now it's in my bath with a sort of nest thing I've made, I've tried feeding it seed, it won't eat it, I've tried feeding it bits of meat and cheese and it won't eat that either, it opened its mouth once but didn't take anything. I've got the upstairs windows open with the lights on, I'm hoping a moth will fly in so I can give it that.

I put one of my sisters' locusts in there too but the locust is almost the size of the bird, what should I do? I really don't want it to die.

[Farplace]

Ideally, it should have been left where it was - assuming it is healthy. However, now you have got it.....
This is taken from http://britishwildlifehelpline.com/feeding%20birds.html


Blue tits, Great tits, Long tailed tits

These are fed a variety of fresh food:- chopped maggots, mini mealworms and wax moth larvae - at regular intervals(every ½ hour at first) for 10 hours of the day, to mimic the long summer days.
Very young nestlings need feeding ½ hourly with tiny amounts of fresh food.

As they grow large r& develop feathers you can change feeds to hourly and when eventually they begin feeding themselves, to 2-hourly intervals.

(First or last feed of the day should have a pinch of vitamin & mineral supplement)

In their cage, when ready to begin to feed themselves, tits should be given a small bowl of insectivorous food, (Sluis/Bogena or similar with a dusting of vitamin and mineral supplement), plus a steep sided dish of live maggots and /or small mealworms, a wire peanut feeder and a small bowl of water.

Tits will need to be hand fed with tweezers much longer than other garden birds.

Even when they are outside in an aviary and seem to be feeding themselves, they need to be hand fed with wax moth larvae and other live food at least 6 times a day.

They follow their parents around for 2-3 weeks being fed in the trees, so continue to offer food until they are all no longer interested. At this point the aviary door can me left open until they have all left and no longer beg for food.

Hope this helps
Jan

[Robert D]

How can I get a hold of that? it's been at my sisters' since 5pm so it's gone 5 hours without eating and it's gonna be another 12 or so hours from now until I can get anything (providing I can get a lift).

Can anyone from the West Yorkshire area near Leeds come and take it?

What's Sluis/Bogena?

[Farplace]

Try Leeds Wildlife Rescue: Leeds Wildlife Rescue | Wild About Britain
Sluis and Bogena are complete mixed food for handrearing birds. It contains egg and small insects amongst other things and can be mixed into a paste. Available from pet shops.

[valleyforge]

Try this link for other rehabilitators in your general area :

HelpWildlife.co.uk - Wildlife rescues in the North East of England

Good luck.

[Robert D]

The phone number doesn't work, the bird isn't accepting anything, it just rustles its feathers then puts its head back on it's back, I suppose it will be trying to sleep.

I tried calling the RSPCA too but the automated service fobs me off. I hope it isn't dead in the morning.


Edit:
Neice is brought up a Juvenile blue-tit. <--- What the hell?

I didn't mean to type that, I meant "my niece has brought home a juvenile blue-tit." I've no idea how that mistake happened.

[solus]

Stick with the rehabbers others have mentioned - IF the RSPCA are interested at all (which I doubt) they would only euthanase the bird.

I suspect it will die anyway so that may well be an opportune time to explain to your neice why she was wrong to pick the bird up and bring it home and by doing so contributed to its demise. Harsh, but something that needs to be said. At least she may learn a lesson from the whole sorry episode and know to leave fledglings alone in future. The fact is that they are very rarely abandoned and the parent birds know where they are and will return once the danger (in this case your neice!) has gone away. Obviously, if a bird is in the middle of a road then it may be best to move it gently to a nearby hedge or some natural cover but generally speaking they should be left where they are.

Don't worry about the thread title! Blame it on a naughty keyboard and the fact that you were clearly under some stress when typing it.

[Robert D]

I just got up to feed it, it's dead

I just wish it took food from me, bloody thing.

[captaincarot]

you have the perfect opportunity to explain to your niece why she killed that bird then

[Robert D]

Saying it so harshly as "you killed the bird" seems unfair, I'll just tell her it died and tell her she shouldn't move birds again.