What to feed a baby blue jay? (1 Viewer)

I found what i do believe to be a fledgling...the little blue jay has all feathers except his tail feathers, his parents are there but have been trying to fight off my catsl, I even had to get one of the cats out of the tree the other day. I didn't want to take the baby bird in but I already know that the cats will get it for sure if I don't. It hurts me to have to interfere with their natural process but like I said, my cat has been stalking this nest for awhile. I just want to know how to best care for the bird until I am able call and try to get him to the wildlife place in the morning. Does anyone here have any suggestions???

The best suggestion is one that you won't like.

Put the bird back where it belongs, with its parents and either keep the cats in for a few days or accept what happens.

Agreed

Mary

I agree with Apodemus too.

As Usual.. People think they can micro-manage the situation for you.

To answer the question, theres several things you can feed them. The simplest would be mashed up cooked oat meal with a little bit of milk added. Don't use tap water.. the chemicals in it aren't good for birds. Bottled or well filtered water would be best. I've always added vitamins to what I feed birds Im rehabbing but thats up to you. I've raised and released about a dozen blue jays and I believe many have made it just fine once released. Although tempting to keep as a pet blue jays belong in the wild! Hope that helps someone that wonders across this

I do agree that it should have been put back however thats not anyone's decision and defiantly not the question that was asked...! Wish people would realize that their not helping with answers like that! Just wasting peoples time and cluttering up the forum with their crap. How about you actually answer the persons question before giving your two cents!?

I am new and have a question. Sorry if I'm not in the correct area but I do find this a bit confusing and need a quick reply. My dogs found a young bluejay in my backyard this morning. I took the dogs away from where they had it trapped and let the bird get out of it's situation. I have been keeping my dogs away from the main part of the yard all day hoping the bird would soon fly into the trees. Both parents of the bird are attending it and I have left it alone, up until tonight. The parents have gone to "bed" I guess and the young bird hunkered down on our lawn but not under any protection. Then the storm started, with thunder, lightening and hard rain. I looked out and it was getting soaked with no protection so I carefully put a stool over it to keep off some of the rain but it was pouring and blowing, so I quietly went out and picked it up with gloves and put it in a laundry basket, put a blanket over the top and brought it into the laundry room with no lights on and closed off all of the doors. I am not feeding it or bothering it and I will take it back out into the yard in the morning. Did I do the right thing or should I have left the little thing out in the storm by itself?

Morning Gail, I'm no expert but I recently left a 10-12 day old Blue Tit on its own when its parents 'went to bed' and it was dead in the morning. I really wish I'd brought it in and returned it out the next dawn. I still feel bad about it as the parent were looking for it the following morning.
Please let us know how the little thing got on.

Well, I put the baby back outside this morning and it's parents were right there looking for it and quite anxious. I just put it out and went right back inside. I have been checking on it from time to time throughout today and it seems to be okay (other than it still can't fly) and it's parents are attending to it. It's very hot today, so I just put out a shallow dish of bottled water near the baby and came back inside. Have no idea if it will even know that there is water there. Anyway, I still have my dogs blocked from the main part of my yard and I am hoping that it will soon be able to fly. There are 3 or 4 cats living next door but we do have a six foot fenced yard, so I have my fingers crossed.

I agree with Apodemus. If you are worried about the bird take your cat inside.

Queen Canute said:

Morning Gail, I'm no expert but I recently left a 10-12 day old Blue Tit on its own when its parents 'went to bed' and it was dead in the morning. I really wish I'd brought it in and returned it out the next dawn. I still feel bad about it as the parent were looking for it the following morning.
Please let us know how the little thing got on.

Click to expand...

Hi. Just wanted to let you know that the baby Blue Jay finally was able to fly up to one of our trees and that was the end of that! Thank goodness! His mom was right there. We never saw him again after that very satisfying moment. Thanks for your interest.

baby blue jay in yard

Yesterday my dog, Serena, found a baby blue jay. I couldn't find the nest so I bought a bird house and put grass and the baby in it and put it up in the tree. The hole was too small for blue jays to get their bodies through, but it was all our local store had and I wanted him safe for the night, outside. This morning I took him out of the bird house and put him in a hanging coco plant basket and back up in the tree. It is suppose to be over 100 degrees today and that bird house would have been a hot box. Mom is around, he calls for her, she was watching us from above so she knows he's there. He was sitting on the edge of the basket looking around when I left for work. The dogs are inside so he has the yard to himself for the day. I'm guessing he'll end up on the ground again. There are cats in the neighborhood, and I have 2 dogs. If he is again in the yard tonight I will put him back in the hanging planter. He's so small anything I have to block the area off with he can get through. Is there anything else I can do to help him survive till he gets this flying thing down pat? I've already contacted our local wildlife office to find a rehabber if needed, though I don't think we have any close to my area.
Thanks in advance for any replies.

lukedwards said:

Don't use tap water.. the chemicals in it aren't good for birds. Bottled or well filtered water would be best.

Click to expand...

What’s your evidence for these absurd assertions? The birds in my backyard--& in 10s of millions of other backyards in the developed world--have drunk ordinary tap water regularly for generations now with no ill effects of any kind as far as anyone knows. Bottled water, on the other hand--because of its extremely environmentally unfriendly packaging--is a disaster for us all--birds, plants, humans, all living things.

wild life centers will not tell you how full they are and will not let baby blue jays

maggierose83 said:

I found what i do believe to be a fledgling...the little blue jay has all feathers except his tail feathers, his parents are there but have been trying to fight off my catsl, I even had to get one of the cats out of the tree the other day. I didn't want to take the baby bird in but I already know that the cats will get it for sure if I don't. It hurts me to have to interfere with their natural process but like I said, my cat has been stalking this nest for awhile. I just want to know how to best care for the bird until I am able call and try to get him to the wildlife place in the morning. Does anyone here have any suggestions???

Click to expand...

i have two baby blue jays they were kicked out for whatever reason i took them to the wild life center lucky i have a friend that was working there she told me the truth about certain facts about the place. they are only funded to hold so many animals and they recieve animals every day so they stay over crowded only if an endangered spicies is brought in will they keep the animal alive. If it has any problems at all they will put it down! they will even put down healthy birds if there is no one who is able to take them and care for them. Mine have bird pox wich is very contagous but not always deadly depending on wich kind of virus it is. if you read up on some of these forums about baby blue jays you will see alot of good info from people who keep these babys instead of doing (the right thing by the law) like feading them oatmeal i fead mine crickets and oatmeal and bird seads they love acorns if u can find some that are not rotten and they love sunflower seads instead of lecturing people on the law i really think they should give better info on how to actually help these birds you have to be ready to invest money in them if they get sick or hurt in your custody. i have had to spend some money on some complications with the bird pox like an eye infection and now one of their feet is getting where it cant use it so do your best feed it when its hungry it will eat till its full give it all different kinds of food grapes, sunflower seeds (u will have to open them and i only give them wild sunf loweers or bird food sunflowers), oatmeal (some say cook it with milk) mine got ahold of the oatmeal jar and eat it straight out of the box they prefer that to the crickets they use to eat. well they still do just not as many they are growing up. let me know how its going [email protected]