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Raising wild bird - is he sick? (1 Viewer)

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dZire

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I have come to this large forum in need of help.I live in southern Missouri and My girlfriend and I found what we think is a baby starling, we know for sure it's some sort of wild black bird. He is a youngling, now starting to fly more. My girlfriend has been taking care of him for about a week and a half to two weeks. He was a baby when we found him, with very few feathers.

We fed him soft dog food, until he was able to eat worms, which is what he now eats. We slowly started included insects as he can barely peck. Recently, he's been sneezing, for the past 3 days, on and off. Multiple sneezes at a time. And just today, he has been puffing up a lot, and really calm, sitting still and quiet and closing his eyes. Sometimes he will cock his head to the left. But when someone makes noise, or calls his name (Hank :)) or gets him out of his cage, or when hes ready to eat, he makes noise and is his normal self.

Symptoms :puffed-up feathers,Half-closed or closed eye(s) for much of the time,Sudden temperament change, he is taken from my house that has air conditioning to my girlfriend's house which is usually warm most of the time because he needs constant care being a wild bird.


I don't need any criticism on an amateur taking in a wild animal, I know he should be brought to a correct conservation or rehabilitation center, but me and my girlfriend have become attached, as we did the last baby bird we found last year, who coincidentally passed at the same age as Hank, who was sneezing and sleeping just like Hank is.

Please could someone tell me what is wrong?
 
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but me and my girlfriend have become attached, as we did the last baby bird we found last year, who coincidentally passed at the same age as Hank, who was sneezing and sleeping just like Hank is.

Please could someone tell me what is wrong?
Did´nt you learn nothing from your "care" the last year? That´s wrong. You´re already responsible for a dead bird in your "care" though you´re going to do the same again? If Hank is still alive then he ´s on the best way to die also! It´s too late for help, till humans recognise that a birds is sick and is showing symptoms then they are allready considerable time sick. In this case he´s rather not sick but is missing important things in his care.
You don´t know which species he belong to but you´re feeding dog food!? Not wise. Do you know which temperature they need? etc.
For the benefit of the birds stay away from them.
 
I'm not sure why you took him in when you found him? It is best to leave baby birds alone as their parents will, invariably, be close by.
 
I'm not sure wgirfrihim in when you found him? It is best to leave baby birds alone as their parents will, invariably, be close by.
My girlfriend wanted a bird. Plain ignorance is all I can say. I told her to leave him but she didn't.
Did´nt you learn nothing from your "care" the last year? That´s wrong. You´re already responsible for a dead bird in your "care" though you´re going to do the same again? If Hank is still alive then he ´s on the best way to die also! It´s too late for help, till humans recognise that a birds is sick and is showing symptoms then they are allready considerable time sick. In this case he´s rather not sick but is missing important things in his care.
You don´t know which species he belong to but you´re feeding dog food!? Not wise. Do you know which temperature they need? etc.
Ffior the benefit of the birds stay away from them.

First off stonechat, **** you. My girfrien is in tears fron your unkind words. We took our birdies in to save them. There was no nest oe birds aroubd him he surely wouls of died. We loved our bird tim and you just opened old wounds. Hope your happy asshole He's a European starling and this forum said to give him softened dog food through a eyedropper. I didn't cone here to get bitched at by a group of assholes. I came here to simply find out what is wrong with him. He's a perfectly healthy youngling almost a fledging. I've been feeding him what this forum says to.

Now can someone ACTUALLY help me?
 
Now can someone ACTUALLY help me?

Veterinarian should be able to help, they're essentially animal doctors.
I agree with others and the different articles posted within this site
that state the animals can mostly fend for themselves. No one can
change the immutable fact you decided to do different. Your admission
of an 100% failure rate in animal husbandry demands repeating,
get the animal to a veterinarian. A future course of not adopting
any more by yourself should also be considered.
 
Veterinarian should be able to help, they're essentially animal doctors.
I agree with others and the different articles posted within this site
that state the animals can mostly fend for themselves. No one can
change the immutable fact you decided to do different. Your admission
of an 100% failure rate in animal husbandry demands repeating,
get the animal to a veterinarian. A future course of not adopting
any more by yourself should also be considered.

Can't bring him to a vet. Its illegal to hold a wild bird captive. They would call conservation and I would be fined. You guys can keep beating a dead horse or you can at least tell me WHY he's getting sick and what caused it and what things I can do at hone to try to make him better
 
Starlings are not protected under the Federal Migratory Act as they are an introduced species. So no worries there.
 
I won't repeat what's been said, as it's too late to return this bird. I will say that just because you couldn't see the parents, doesn't mean they wasn't nearby waiting for you to go so they could feed their youngster. I've often see this with Blackbirds, and I've seen wet fledgling Starlings in my garden, that can't fly until dry, fed by the parents after I go back indoors

As has been touched on above, Birds show no signs of illness until too ill to care about their own survival. A predator notices any potential prey that is behaving differently to the rest of the group; so an obviously sick/weak bird soon becomes a meal for a predator. Although some get lucky and die quietly in a corner away from everything else.

Nobody here can diagnose your bird, but a Vet can. Either take it to a Vet, or watch it suffer and die; those are the only options available to you if the bird is as ill as I suspect (bearing in mind what I said about birds hiding the fact they are ill until it's too late)
 
My girlfriend wanted a bird. Plain ignorance is all I can say. I told her to leave him but she didn't.

Oh dear.

As others have said, take the bird to a vet.

And please, if you find another bird, leave it well alone. Since two wild birds have become so ill in your care, perhaps your girlfriend will realise the error of her ways and not try to take birds from the wild to have as a pet again. :-C
 
Hank symptoms have slowly gone away since I originally made this post today. We were in the process of feeding Hank and the door was open, and he took flight outside high up to the trees. It was his time to go.
 
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