Need Help
Well 2 weeks ago my oldest son brought home a baby bird that he had rescued from the parking lot in front of my shop since he thought that with my wide variety of bottle feeding wild animal would some how apply to knowing just what to do for a wild baby bird lol. Which in turn I have learned in the last few weeks hasn't really transferred from furry friends to feathered ones.
I'm hoping to be able to raise this lil one we have come to call Tippie for another fine addition to our ever growing family of animals. I'm hoping to both add information on here for others but also to receive helpful information on how to do this process. I have read all the post on here and have gained alot of helpful information already for the food mixture for hand feeding.
The problem that I have already seen with Tippie is that for some reason on one side of her head she has no feathers or covering it is completely bold which judging from pictures is very odd for her age being about 3weeks old is very strange. How ever with that being said everything else with Tippie seems to be fine she is very active loves to fly takes food anytime offered and loves to be talked to. Anytime I enter a room she is quick to perch on the side of the cage with such delight with her chirping with all being said I'm afraid I have greatly imprinted already on her with spending all my days with her since she has come into my care. She travels back and forth to work with me in her cage now.
Last week in a effort to give her another bird to copy we purchased a society finch now named Duckie and Duckie has tried her best when Tippie gets on her chirping phase of wanting to be feed to fly up to where Tippie is perched and back down to the feeding bowl she does it over and over again to no avail lol Tippie only wants her dropper of food she has however messed with the seed to do what looks like a dust bath of throwing seed everywhere out of the bowl it is haliourious to watch not so funny to clean up once it has been thrown yards outside her cage leaving Duckie with no food.
Tippie which is a House Sparrow we have a ton of them in the signs above my shop but due to the horrible storms here they have been blown out everywhere in case I hadn't mentioned Tippie's breed. I'm trying my hardest to do everything I have read on so many different websites to leave random different food options in here cage she has a mullet spray, mealwormies, grit/gravel,finch seed, crushed cat food, biscuit, applesauce, I even wounded a grasshopper for her which she played with to death but didn't eat him. Tippie I believe is very stubborn to say the least on waiting for her dropper of food and only her dropper of food everything else is just for entertainment in her cage lol.
Any suggestions on what to move Tippie to eating as a adult and when to start introducing it to her and how? Because I looked at a lifespan if a House Sparrow and its can be 12-15yrs in a home which is a bit long for bottle feedings lol.
And for those that want to re-post to this that are against having a wild pet I understand your points truly I do and had I of researched this bird before hand would have gone about this differently but with the very odd weather the south has been having rehabitors here are swamped! And I would have less interacted with Tippie than I did but with her feeding being something I wasn't prepared for seeing how that bottle feeding a bird is completely different than bottle feeding a furry creature I messed that up from the beginning with handling her. And I'm afraid with her being a very slow learner and lets face it me becoming very attached to her in my everyday routine I'd miss her so she is here to stay I'm only wanting to gain information to keep her healthy and happy