House Martin chick (1 Viewer)

[Lonestar1]

Hi all, looking for a bit of info......
Looks like sparrows have turfed out a nest of house martins (Why do they do this)?
sadly only one has survived the fall. It looks to be about a week to ten days old....
We have been feeding it with soaked mealworms, drops of water and a watery mix of
liquidised pate.
Its eyes are not really open at this time(should they be)? Its lasted with us since Monday afternoon
and takes the food off tweezers... is there much chance of the chick surviving?/
Regards Dave

 

[delia todd]

Hi Dave

We have some general guidelines here for the care of injured and baby birds.

It really is extremely difficult to raise such young birds, even for the experts there's a high rate of losses. Do try and find a wildlife rescue centre if there's one in the area, that will probably be his best chance. Tinned cat food is a good alternative feed for them.

Please let us know how you get on.

 

[Lonestar1]

Hi, Delia
thanks for getting back to me....my daughter contacted a local rescue centre this afternoon, they haven't got back to us yet(left voicemail)
he is not taking food as much as yesterday, not sure if he suffered some head damage falling from the nest, one eye is sort of open, but not the other..
I guess we will wait and see if the rescue center get back to us....
thanks again for your time

regards, Dave

 

[delia todd]

Thanks for the update Dave. I do hope they respond to you soon.

 

[Lonestar1]

Update on House Martin chick.................
Hi Delia,
we dropped off the house martin chick to wildlifehospital.ie
who told us that they had lots of House Martin chicks in at this moment in time
and that they would introduce "our chick" to the rest of the "inmates"
if you can,please support the charity, thanks for all your help...
stay safe everyone!!


Regards, Dave

 

[Tired]

Was it house sparrows? They'll do that, and will often kill the chicks outright, even attacking the parents if the parents happen to be in the nest. It's because house sparrows want the same type of nesting spot as these other birds, and are aggressive about getting it. They're an invasive species in many parts of the world, and that aggressive theft of nesting spots is one of the reasons why.

Glad you were able to get the baby to a suitable expert. Hope it does well.