Before attempting to raise a baby songbird yourself, be certain the bird actually needs your help. If you are a wildlife rehabilitator, animal care worker, (or someone who lives near neither) and you need to hand raise a young mockingbird, sparrow, raven, thrush, grackle, kingbird, vireo, or other insect-eating passerine, here is how to keep your baby bird fed.
Unlike baby pigeons and doves who thrive on commercially-available baby parrot formula (and who can be fed just two to three times daily) baby songbirds require a diverse, protein-rich diet. Also, they need to feed frequently throughout the day: every 15 minutes to 1/2 hour, morning to night.
Songbird Diet
The following high-protein diet has worked well for mockingbirds, grackles, kingbirds, sparrows, and many other passerines raised in captivity:
- Protein: 3/4 of your songbird diet should consist of sources of protein. Dry dog or cat food soaked in a container of water overnight in the refrigerator is a readily-available, inexpensive source of protein. Please note that though canned dog or cat food won't harm the bird for a day or two, it is not suitable for the long-term. Dry dog and cat food is much higher in protein than canned. Live or frozen mealworms (available in many pet stores or online) should be offered alone or mixed with the soaked dog or cat food. As a bird gets older and closer to being released into the wild, live insects should begin to dominate the diet. Scrambled egg can be added in for variety and as another protein source, through it should be secondary to insects and dog/catfood.
- Fruit: Berries, grapes, and apples, cut into suitable sizes, should take up most of the remaining 4th of the songbird's diet. If you can figure out what kind of fruits and berries the bird would eat in your area all the better. Otherwise, strawberries, blueberries, blackberries, cranberries, apples, and red or green grapes will all be accepted by most songbirds. Though not a fruit, corn kernels can be included as well. Avoid citrus, melon, and banana.
- Grains and Seeds: For hatchlings, a bit of warm, gooey Exact Hand-Feeding Formula for Baby Parrots (made by Kaytee) is a great way to include grains in the songbird diet. As the bird grows from nestling to fledgling, you may change to grains and seeds sold as "birdseed'" in most supermarkets. Sprinkle a bit of birdseed over the songbird chow, or leave some in a dish in the cage of a bird learning to eat on its own.
- Vitamins: It is advisable to mix a commercial vitamin, such as Vionate, into a bird's feed.
For very small birds in the hatchling and early nestling stages, food should be prepared in a blender and offered as warm puree from a syringe. A larger nestling or fledgling needs solid food that is merely crumbled or cut to size, fed with tweezers. Food should be served at at least room-temperature. It is not usually necessary to give your bird liquids, as the food contains enough moisture.
How Much to Feed?
Baby songbirds need to be fed every 15 minutes to a half an hour from morning to night, or as often as they gape. In the wild, their parents would feed them from dawn to dusk. In captivity, they are often able to adjust to our schedules, and many do fine being fed continuously from 9am to 5pm. Hatchlings or emaciated birds, however, need additional feedings in the a.m. and p.m..
With a blunt pair of tweezers, simply place a bit of food into the bird's gaping mouth. At first, if the bird is not used to humans, you may need to force the beak open, but soon a tap on the beak or merely your approach will cause the bird to gape. Feed the bird small amounts until it ceases to gape, or until it pushes the food out with its tongue.
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