Content

• Steps
• Part 1 of 3: How to Determine if a Chick Needs Help
• Part 2 of 3: Knowing When to Seek Professional Help
• Part 3 of 3: Chick Species Identification and Feeding
• Warnings

Most people forget that the chicks they find are wild animals. It is best for wild birds to stay in their natural habitat, especially if it is illegal to keep wild birds in your area. However, if there is a need to pick up a bird and feed it, then this article will provide you with useful information on caring for it.

Steps

Part 1 of 3: How to Determine if a Chick Needs Help

1. 1 Put on gloves. Wear gloves if you touch the bird. They will protect you from unwanted bird contact. Even a small chick may try to pinch you with its beak.
2. 2 Check out the bird's feathers. If the chick has feathers, then it is a fledgling fledgling. If there are no feathers, then the chick is still quite a baby.
3. 3 Leave the fledgling fledgling alone. Fledglings have every reason to be out of the nest. Since they are fully fledged, they are most likely learning to fly. They shouldn't sit in the nest. The parents will continue to feed them on the ground.
4. 4 Return the little chick to the nest. Fledglings need more help. If you find such a chick, you can try to return it to the nest, which should be somewhere nearby. If you can't find the nests, try asking for help.
   • Try to listen to hear other chicks squeak. When parents return to the nest with food, it will be easy to find it, focusing on the squeak of chicks begging for food.
   • To catch the chick, bring one hand to it above the head and back, and the other hand below the belly and legs. Don't worry about the mother giving up the chick because you picked it up. She will gladly accept him back to the nest.
   • Warm the chick in your hands until it is no longer cool to the touch.
5. 5 Check out other chicks. If you find a nest in which the rest of the chicks died, you can confidently conclude that the nest was abandoned. In this case, you will have to take care of the surviving chick (or chicks) yourself.
6. 6 If you are unsure of the chick's age, perform a finger sit test. If you can't figure out if the chick is fledgling or is still small, try placing it on your finger. If the chick confidently grabs your finger, then most likely it is a fledgling.
7. 7 Keep an eye on the nest. If you are afraid of leaving the chick in the nest alone, you can check if the parents will return by observing the nest for a couple of hours. Remember to keep a safe distance, however, as if you get too close, your parents may be afraid to come back.
8. 8 Create an impromptu nest. A real nest of birds could be destroyed by a thunderstorm, a predator, or people. If you can't find a chick's nest, make a nest for it yourself. You can use a small plastic container for this. Line it with something soft, such as a rag, small towel, or blanket.
   • Place the makeshift nest in a shady spot close to where the chick is found. It can be nailed to a tree. Place the chick in this nest, remembering to bring its legs under its belly.
9. 9 Wash your hands. Always wash your hands after handling a bird. Birds can carry diseases, so it is best to wash your hands thoroughly after finishing contact with them.

Part 2 of 3: Knowing When to Seek Professional Help

1. 1 Look for the chick's parents. If the parents do not return to the nest within a couple of hours, or if you are sure that the parents are not alive, then you need to contact the appropriate organization of the authority to provide professional assistance to the chick.
2. 2 Pay attention to chick injuries. If the bird cannot flap its wings or does it with difficulty, then most likely it is injured. If she trembles, it could also indicate a problem. If the bird is injured, it will need professional help.
3. 3 Do not try to hatch the chick on your own. In some countries, it is illegal to keep wild birds at home. You may need special permission from local and state authorities for this. Even if such permission is not required, you are unlikely to cope on your own - there is a great risk of harming the chick.
4. 4 Contact a wildlife rehabilitation center. In rehabilitation centers, workers have sufficient professional knowledge and skills to nurture chicks. You can check the availability of such rehabilitation centers in your area by searching the Internet, or you can try to call a veterinary clinic or animal shelter, as they may know the contact details of the nearest rehabilitation center.
   • Ask for advice on how to feed, water, and warm the chick. Take your time, be patient when asking questions, also ask for additional advice by asking the following: "Is there anything else I should know (or fear)?"

Part 3 of 3: Chick Species Identification and Feeding

1. 1 Understand the risks involved. You most likely do not have sufficient experience to properly feed the chick, so it may die with you. Plus, caring for a chick is challenging as the chick needs to be fed every 20 minutes or so. Finally, you do not have the special equipment to teach the chick what parents can teach him, such as how to hunt or watch out for predators.
   • A bird can get so used to a person that it will turn out to be harmful for her, since she will not learn to fly from him and will constantly expect him to feed her.
2. 2 Determine the species of the bird. You can determine the species of the bird using the online bird guide for the CIS countries or the atlas-guide for birds of Russia.
   • Successful identification will depend on the ability to look at the chick's parents. However, if the parents are nearby, then you should let them take care of the chick themselves. They have strong innate instincts for caring for their offspring and are much better suited for this.
3. 3 Determine the type of food for the bird. What the chick eats will depend on what its parents eat. For example, finches are granivorous, while crows eat everything from nuts and berries to insects and small rodents.
4. 4 For omnivorous birds, use dog or cat food. Many wild birds are omnivores, and parents feed their chicks mainly with insects. This means that the diet of such birds is rich in animal protein, just like cat or dog food.
   • If you will be using dry food, soak it in water for an hour. However, water should not flow from the feed, as it can enter the lungs and kill the chick. The food should be soft, but not wet.
   • Roll the food into a small ball. Roll a small pea-sized ball out of the food.Dip it into the chick's beak. It will be convenient to use a wooden ice cream stick or Chinese chopsticks for this purpose. Alternatively, you can take a cocktail straw and cut the end of it into a scoop. The chick should quickly accept and eat food. If you use dry food for dogs or cats, and its granules are too large for the chick, do not forget to crush them. Essentially, all feed given to the chick should be pea-sized.
5. 5 Feed granivorous birds with a special cereal mixture for feeding chicks. If the chick you find is an exclusively granivorous bird, purchase a cereal mix from the pet store for feeding the chicks. Usually in pet stores you can find a mixture for feeding large parrots chicks.
   • Use a syringe to pump the mixture down the throat of the chick, deeper than the glottis. The glottis is located near the trachea. You will be able to notice a small opening in the back of the chick's throat where the trachea opens. Do not allow food or water to enter this hole. Therefore, lower the tip of the syringe deeper than the glottis.
6. 6 Feed the chick until it is full. A hungry chick will eat actively. If he is not particularly active, he is probably already full.
7. 7 Do not give the chick water. If the food is sufficiently soaked, then the chick does not need additional water, at least until it is fledged. If you give the chick water, it can do more harm than good, as the chick can inhale it and die.
   • If the chick seems dehydrated when you first brought it home, you can give it an isotonic water replenishment sports drink such as Gatorade or Powerade. Place a drop of the drink in the chick's beak with your finger so the chick can lick it off. Signs of dehydration in chicks include dry mouth and redness of the skin. Also, when dehydrated, the skin on the back of the neck does not immediately return to its previous shape if it is pinched.
8. 8 Feed the chick every 20 minutes. To maintain energy, the chick needs to constantly feed. However, you should not feed him in the middle of the night.
9. 9 Handle the chick as little as possible. So that he can later be released into the wild, you should not allow the chick to get too attached to you and rely on you for everything. Limit your interactions with him and do not treat him like a pet.
   • However, in reality, it is almost impossible to raise a chick so that it does not become dependent on you, especially if it was less than 2 weeks old initially.
10. 10 When the chick is four weeks old, allow it to start feeding on its own. At about four weeks old, the chick should start learning how to feed on its own. However, this may take another month or so. You should continue to hand feed the chick the entire time, but also place a bowl of food for it in the cage. At this stage, you can already put the chick and a very shallow saucer of water.
    • Over time, you will notice that the chick will show less interest in hand feeding.
11. 11 Continue feeding the chick until it becomes a fledgling fledgling. A bird cannot survive in nature until its wings are finally formed and it begins to fly. Only then can you try to let her go.
    • If you keep the chick until it fully matures, you will need to put it on an adult diet that is different from that for chicks.
    • If your chick has grown up and started jumping out of the box assigned to it, you can move it to the cage.

Warnings

• Be sure to find out not to feed your bird, as some foods are not suitable for certain species of birds. For example, most birds cannot tolerate milk.