12425 rescued baby birds-approx 5 days old!

I am based in Lunigiana in Northern Tuscany (near Aulla, Fivizzano, Lucca, Pisa). Does anyone know the contact details for a wildlife association that can take care of 4 wild hatchlings whose mother appears intent on kicking out of the nest? We found two yesterday, cared for them over-night and found the nest today. We replaced them and now have found 4 more-3 alive and one dead. The last one (fifth) is about to fall. They are either being pushed out of the nest or are able to get out themselves. Either way it seems pointless to put them back as they will surely all die next time. Research shows they need feeding every 30 mins from sunrise to sunset and I just can't commit to that as I have two young children and we're about to head home to Ireland for 2 weeks next week. If anyone wants to take over the care for them I am happy to pass them on but it's a big job! Ideally I would get them to a trained carer who has the right dietry requirements and equipment to raise them. Ronan's Wife, Lisa!

Category
Gardening & Agriculture

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Mon, 05/11/2009 - 11:55

What sort of birds? You could try contacting the ASL, as they have a vetinary unit, but if they are just Starlings etc, then you may have no real hope ... sorry.

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Mon, 05/11/2009 - 12:21

Way of the world unfortunately...

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Fri, 05/15/2009 - 05:12

[quote=Geotherm;120707]What sort of birds? You could try contacting the ASL, as they have a vetinary unit, but if they are just Starlings etc, then you may have no real hope ... sorry.[/quote]

Starlings don't usually nest in trees, at least not in the conventional sense. They are hole nesters and might use old nesting boxes or woodpecker holes,: but no 'nest' which sits in the branches as such that you find with other songbirds. As asked above, do you know what kind of birds they are. It could be that there is a cuckoo chick in the nest who is kicking them out. If thats the case, it's just natures way and the chicks will probably die quite quickly without their mother, especially if they are very young.

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Fri, 05/15/2009 - 05:38

We have about 7 baby blue tits who fell out of the nest and down inside the hollow trunk of the elder tree (very small opening at the top - about 3 inches), but they are now deep down inside the tree. The parents are still feeding them and we think they are about 6 days old. Just wondering if there is anything we can do, or even if they will be able to fly upwards to get out. Last year we had 7 babies survive, but they actually nested in the nesting box. This year nuthatches got to the nesting box first! We also had a load of baby starlings but they were 'nesting' on the roof of the house.

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Fri, 05/15/2009 - 06:52

It might sound daft Ronan, and I'm not meaning to teach you to suck eggs, but leave the little blighters alone and maybe then the mother will return. Nature can be harsh, but i remeber reading and seeing loads of stuff on this sort of thing as a lad and it all said "stay out of it and leave 'em to it."

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Fri, 05/15/2009 - 07:34

[quote=Ghianda;121308]It might sound daft Ronan, and I'm not meaning to teach you to suck eggs, but leave the little blighters alone and maybe then the mother will return. Nature can be harsh, but i remeber reading and seeing loads of stuff on this sort of thing as a lad and it all said "stay out of it and leave 'em to it."[/quote]

Couldn't agree more!

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Fri, 05/15/2009 - 07:47

Hi all and thanks for your input. 3 of the 5 chicks survived. We couldnt leve them alone as every time I put them back in the nest, they's fall out again an hour later, with a drop of 4 meters.

Anyhow, we were going to Lucca the other day so we brought them to the large vetinary hospital on the outskirts and they were very helpful. They got on the a Wild Birds society crowd who came that afternoon to take the critters off and keep them well.

For anyone who needs to feed chicks in the future, we gave them dog food, the dry stuff, soaked in water and mashed up. It's high in protein and the 3 that survived definitely got stronger on it for the 3 days they were eating it.

Thanks all again.

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Fri, 05/15/2009 - 11:11

Nice ending. Did you ever find out what they were?

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Sun, 05/17/2009 - 12:11

yup

great tit chicks. should've known from the male attacking our back window fightin his reflection since february. he must heve been building the nest just above all along!