When you (or your kids) find a baby bird, it can be heartwrenching to just leave it where it sits. Cats, vehicles, and other dangers can befall that poor baby bird, and you worry it won’t survive on its own. If the bird cannot fly and you cannot locate its nest, then sometimes keeping it until it’s large enough to take off on its own is the only thing you think you can do. But how (and what) do you feed a baby bird to keep it alive?
Depending on the type of bird, the best food that you can feed them is dry cat or dog food soaked in water. When the bird opens its beak in hunger (such as tiny baby birds that haven’t grown in all their feathers yet), use an eye dropper to gently prod food into the back of the baby bird’s mouth. Don’t worry entirely about giving the baby bird water as the water present in the soaked dry cat or dog food will have enough water to keep them alive.
This type of feeding works for birds that eat insects in their diet along with seeds, such as starlings or baby robins. Feeding schedules vary depending on the size of the bird, but a baby bird will cheep and open its mouth every hour or so for a meal. One eye dropper full should feed a baby bird until its next feeding. The bird will need to eat less frequently as it gets older.
For baby birds that are more into eating seeds, then mushing berries (like a strawberry or a cherry, or even apricots, anything that birds in the wild commonly eat) with water and feeding with an eye dropper as well is best. For nestlings (nestlings are baby birds that cannot grip your finger, fledglings are slightly older baby birds who just can’t fly very well yet) it is OK to feed them a few tiny bites of bread just to keep them full, but do this for only a feeding or two. Even for seed-eating birds, like doves, water soaked cat or dog food is appropriate until the baby bird can eat seeds. Every few hours or so, do a dose of water with a bit of sugar added to it to keep the baby bird hydrated and give them energy.
Remember, it is illegal to keep a baby bird, so try to get it back to the wild as quickly as you can. If you insist upon feeding a baby bird until it can fly, remember as well that if you place it back in its own nest or on a branch, it is very likely that the parents will return to the baby bird and feed it from where you placed it. So, the bird will most likely be cared for by its own parents if you return it to its nest or in a nearby tree. But if you do want to feed a baby bird on your own, dry dog or cat food soaked in water and a dose of sugar water now and then should keep that little baby bird in good shape until you can let it go.
Source:
my local Fish and Game, Jerome Idaho
