***urgent Help With Bird***

My friend found a bird’s nest on top of a tree with a large green egg in it. What kind of bird’s egg is this (for sure or a prediction)? Would the mother be depressed if it was taken away? The mother looks rather sick, and if she dies my friend is planning on raising the egg on her own. She has been studying birds for years and she knows the mother bird is rather sick. I am planning on helping her raise the egg, but how would I? How would we act as mother birds and what does it take to raise an egg? All the tips we can get are appreciated.


Thank you in advance!


-BorderColliez

No idea on what kind of egg it might be(that kind of stuff had never interrested me.. I'm more of a parrot person), but if you do find that the mother dies, it'd be best to hand the egg/baby over to a wildlife sanctuary or something similar.
Raising birds take alot of time. When first hatched, most birds need to be fed every 2-3 hours if I'm not mistaken(atleast thats how most parrots are). You also have to make sure you don't give too much, or too little. Raising a bird from a tiny baby is so dangerous if you don't have someone showing you hands on. A mistake could be crucial and a death could easily happen.
I know Argranade has experiance with helping wild birds, maybe she'll see this thread and be able to help you out much more than I could.
Good luck in whatever happens! =]

If your friend has been studying birds for years, shouldn't she know what kind of bird the mother is? Then she'd know what breed the egg is as well ...

That's a hard decision of you think the mother bird might die soon, but if it was me since you do know the egg has a mother looking after it I think I would just leave it alone and let the mom care for it. If she dies then you could take it and try hatching it and raising it yourself. I would be too afraid it might not hatch if I took the egg! I don't know what kind of bird it is by the color though--what size it is--or did you already say?

Leaving the egg is the best thing,

You need alot of practice with feeding birds and if the slightest thing goes wrong it could be death for the poor baby bird, if your friend has never raised a baby bird before please don't let her take a chance on this egg.

Now because it's green I have no idea what kind of bird it is lol, I mean there are MANY green eggs in the world lol, if you tell me what the mother bird looks like I might be able to tell you the breed of her.

You always need to make sure the bird is at the right tempature before feeding it and it must not be thirsty when feeding it, also giving it water can also be deadly because if the water goes down the air hole it could lead to a fast death.

Yes baby birds need to be fed every 2 to 3 hours and the crop must not be too full or too low.

As Chilli said it is very hard to raise a baby bird from such a young age.

If the mother is sick maybe you can help her, how does your friend know she's sick?

That is what I wondered. How does your friend know she is sick if she is a wild bird!?

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Originally Posted by Genny

That is what I wondered. How does your friend know she is sick if she is a wild bird!?

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I dont know she just said it looked sick :confused: Skinny, ruffled feathers, open mouth, stuff like that I guess........

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Originally Posted by Argranade

Leaving the egg is the best thing,

You need alot of practice with feeding birds and if the slightest thing goes wrong it could be death for the poor baby bird, if your friend has never raised a baby bird before please don't let her take a chance on this egg.

Now because it's green I have no idea what kind of bird it is lol, I mean there are MANY green eggs in the world lol, if you tell me what the mother bird looks like I might be able to tell you the breed of her.

You always need to make sure the bird is at the right tempature before feeding it and it must not be thirsty when feeding it, also giving it water can also be deadly because if the water goes down the air hole it could lead to a fast death.

Yes baby birds need to be fed every 2 to 3 hours and the crop must not be too full or too low.

As Chilli said it is very hard to raise a baby bird from such a young age.

If the mother is sick maybe you can help her, how does your friend know she's sick?

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There always has to be a first time.

Just in case, can anyone give me a list of things to do/things needed we are not sure if we want to take this on....instructions?

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Originally Posted by BorderColliez

There always has to be a first time.

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Yes, there always has to be a first time BUT she is setting herself up for failure if she plans on raising her first bird from day one of the birds hatched life. It would be much better (for both her and the baby bird) for her to take the baby to a wildlife rescue center. The baby would have a chance there. Your friend could volunteer at the wildlife center and can learn how to properly raise a baby bird. They would most likely teach her on an older baby as they are much easier to start with.

I have been doing wildlife rehab for 7 years, birds for 6 of those years. I was taught by a woman that had been doing wildlife rehabilitation for more than 30 years. Believe me when I say that this is not something she should be attempting without training and experience.

She really just needs to leave the mother and baby alone. If she sees the mother is dead then she can take the bird our of the nest an take it to a wildlife center. I've seen time and time again people interfer with nature when they should have left things alone.

One more thought- how old is your friend? Does she go to school? If she does then there is no way she can take care of this baby bird. They need to be fed VERY often, at least every 2 hours at first as the birds gets older feeding can be stretched to every 3 hours. If she is out of school then does she work and is it possible for her to take the bird to work with her? You really have to be committed to keeping a very tight schedule with babies. Mine would go to work and church with me. I'd pack a "diaper bag" with their food and things they need. I'd have to be sure to have a way to prepare their food wherever I was too.

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I have been doing wildlife rehab for 7 years, birds for 6 of those years. I was taught by a woman that had been doing wildlife rehabilitation for more than 30 years. Believe me when I say that this is not something she should be attempting without training and experience.

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Same here I re - searched alot about hand - feeding baby birds and learned how to release them back into the wild and such, a lady taught be how to hand feed them .. but I don't take a chance with younger birds that don't have feathers I take them to the wild life centre because I'm better at stick feeding feathered baby birds lol.

I also want to buy some bird puppets to feed the babies with so they know what they look like, and what birds they'll need to stay with to survive in the wild, I even teach sparrows how to catch bugs and such in my back yard lol.

It's even better to have a bird call tape playing in the house so they know what there own kind sound like, I'm good at making bird calls so I usualy don't use taps lol!, I have 4 baby sparrows I hand - fed and they still come back to me almost every single day for wild bird seeds, one of them even dives at my head for food lol.

There's also some robins like ''Jack'' that I see once in a while that I released, the morning dove I released about 2 months ago stoped by again to say hi and of course grab a fast take away of seeds LOL.

I'm also at home all the time so I actualy have all the time I want to feed these baby birds every 2 to 3 hours a day, it's alot of work but I love it.

What is the best age to start raising a bird??

Depeds on the bird,

I pull my budgies and tiels arount 5 days old to hand feed them,macaws and toos I pull at 7-10 days.
any of the amazons or africans and lories i usually pull at about 5-7 , it depends on the breed the type of bird their normal adult type of personality, the size and the parents. I have had tiels and macaws both that once the eggs hatch they wouldn't feed. Needless to say, we pulled at a day old there. (we also discouraged breeding from them, removing eggs and nest boxes etc.) as many species will bond and mate for life, it isn't as simple as seperating them. :eek:

Hope that info answered your question.

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Originally Posted by BorderColliez

What is the best age to start raising a bird??

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If you mean for wild baby birds ....

The only time a baby bird should be raised is when the human has enough knowledge of hand -feeding birds, the bird should also NEED help and if you think it's very sick don't keep hand feeding it .. instead call a wild life centre to pick it up asap, I know the signs of a sick baby bird and a healthy baby bird .. I'll hand feed a healthy baby bird if it's in my knowledge but if it seems puffy and not wanting to eat I'll give it to the bird rescue group. A good birder should know the signs of a sick bird right away.

Not saying you would but if you ever see a baby bird on the ground with feathers please don't pick it up and take it home thinking it's cute, if it's going near the road or laying on the ground not being able to fly just pick it up & place it in a close by tree away from the road and leave it there for about 3 hours, wait and see if the parents come by and feed it (From far away). Also the parent birds will want to stay away from there baby fledgling as long as possible to avoid predetors from seeing them.

If no parents come by for about 3 hours or more and the baby keeps falling down then there's a need to take it in and feed it (with hand feeding bird knowledge) then you can call a wild life centre to pick it up OR you can keep the baby bird with you if you have the time and skills of freeing birds back into the wild.

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Originally Posted by Karen

If your friend has been studying birds for years, shouldn't she know what kind of bird the mother is? Then she'd know what breed the egg is as well ...

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Exactly. She should also know all the answers to the questions being asked..How old are you guys?

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Originally Posted by Karen

If your friend has been studying birds for years, shouldn't she know what kind of bird the mother is? Then she'd know what breed the egg is as well ...

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Exactly what I was thinking...

Lets just back off a bit here people ,
bordercolliez and here friend are trying to save the birds life maybe her friend has not had a proper look at the bird,i think they should have a go at it and if they find it a bit difficult they can take it to a wildlife reserve or if they think he/she is getting sick they can take it to the vets or maybe get some lessons on how to raise the bird try it bordercolliez just make sure if you see anything strange you wil get it a check up??

I agree with whats been said. Especially KBlaix's post.

And the only reason we are so persistant on telling you to not raise it by yourselves is that baby birds can be very fragile. Even when they're older they can be fragile. I've helped my bird's breeder hand-feed her babies on occasion. And plenty of times I have heard of people hand-raising their birds and messing up and that one mistake costing the life of a bird.
Yes, accidents happen.
And Yes, there is a first time for everything. But how would you all feel if this baby bird died under your care when, if you had taken it to wildlife rescue, it could have very well survivied?
Just my thoughts. =]

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Originally Posted by Chilli

I agree with whats been said. Especially KBlaix's post.

And the only reason we are so persistant on telling you to not raise it by yourselves is that baby birds can be very fragile. Even when they're older they can be fragile. I've helped my bird's breeder hand-feed her babies on occasion. And plenty of times I have heard of people hand-raising their birds and messing up and that one mistake costing the life of a bird.
Yes, accidents happen.
And Yes, there is a first time for everything. But how would you all feel if this baby bird died under your care when, if you had taken it to wildlife rescue, it could have very well survivied?
Just my thoughts. =]

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but you gotta think theyre is more a chance the baby will die if the momma is sick so i actually thik maybe the best thing to do is call up a wildlife reserve and see what they say about it after they would probably know what is best for the baby just my thoughts

I would leave the mother and her baby at peace,

Birds do puff up while laying on eggs and she may pretend to be injured when humans walk by the nest to protect her baby, BorderColliez if your friend has already gone near the nest the mother MIGHT be pretending to be injured but then again if your friend is not good enough at looking for sick birds this mother bird just might be puffed up very much to keep the egg warm.

If your friend finds the mother bird not moving or flying very well, like you would be able to grab her and pick her up then there's a reason to call a wild life centre (Even they would tell you to leave the nest alone), there's no need to hatch the egg if it's not already been hatched by the mother bird.

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Originally Posted by sprokett

but you gotta think theyre is more a chance the baby will die if the momma is sick so i actually thik maybe the best thing to do is call up a wildlife reserve and see what they say about it after they would probably know what is best for the baby just my thoughts

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If the mother is sick, there's a high chance the baby is sick as well. And how do you know the bird does not have a congenital defect? My goodness people, we have messed around with nature for far too long. You only intervene when you MUST intervene. Other than that, let nature run its course.

LEAVE WILD ANIMALS ALONE. Unless it's knocking at your door asking for you to care for it, leave it alone.

Perhaps this is a silly question ... but isn't it rather obvious that the baby bird inside the egg will be the exact same species of bird as the mother bird sitting on the egg?? Did I miss something? If the mother is a robin, the baby will be a robin, and so on and so forth. So instead of describing the egg, why not describe the mother bird? :confused:

As far as attempting to hatch the egg or a wild bird and raise the baby yourself, honestly, it is HIGHLY unlikely to happen. Every species has different requirements, and unless you are or happen to know an expert in the field of hand-raising hatchling starlings, blue jays, whatever ... you have no way to know what they are. In addition, possessing almost any wild bird without a lisense is illegal. You must be a lisensed wildlife rehabilitator to have them in your possession.

I've attempted to raise dozens upon dozens of baby birds while affiliated with the humane society here. I managed to raise to adulthood exactly two house sparrows, one grackle, two starlings and two pigeons. So seven success stories out of probably fifty attempts over the course of a decade. Not good odds ... and I did a LOT of research.

I understand your desire to help. We are all here because we love and want to help animals. But it IS probably best to just leave the situation alone and let nature run it's course, harsh as it seems.