What to feed baby birds?

Getting to know what to feed baby birds is an essential aspect of bird training. Animals are quite a special breed of creation in the world’s existence. Their mode of living, the feeding system, and the growing pattern have similarities with humanity, although with slight differences in certain areas.

It’s always touching to see a baby bird crying for food, the weak chirping, yearnings for survival when their mothers are not around. Most times, these baby birds are blown off their nests by harsh weather and based on their tiny structure, and some other times, they are prone to cold and harsh weather.

It is a loving movement trying to look after these weak creatures and tend to their frequent food needs. But this task might be hectic, most times confusing if you don’t know where to start. Understanding the type of bird you are about to feed is a good way to start taking care of birds. Different birds are structured in different body forms, features, and needs. It is essential you feed the right bird with the right meal.

Most baby birds are featherless, while some have feathers. Feathered birds are more a Herculean task to take up. Birds like ducks and geese are feathered at birth, making it easier for them to leave the nest after a few hours of being hatched, although still on strict mother bird guidance.

Feathered baby birds fledge after 13 to 14 days of birth. At this stage, their wings are strong and well developed to take up flights. This is not so with featherless birds as they require extra attention and nursing to develop.

However, I will be offering guides on what to feed baby birds and how you should go about it.

Best Baby Birds Food

1. Hagen Tropican Baby Bird Food Complete Nutrition

Tropican Baby Bird Food, Parrot Food, Complete Nutrition Diet, Hand-Feeding Formula, 11 lb Bag

Tropican breeding mash is a complete diet and unique formulation
Provides optimum Nutrition for baby birds

SPECIFICATIONS:

Dimensions: 15 x 13 x 3 inches
Weight: 11 lb

Hagen Tropican Baby bird food stands out as the best baby bird food in the market. It is highly nutritious, easy to mix, and full blend formula; it is ideal for raising healthy birds. So far, training birds, I found out that my birds grew so fond of bird food, and there was a massive boost in the weight of those birds after weeks of consumption, which indicates a healthy diet.

This bird food is a great choice in training parrots, Parakeets, Cockatoos, Bluebirds, Macaws, Cockatiels, Love Birds, Finches, Wrens, and Doves. It is made of a mixture of corn, canola oil, wheat, dehulled peanuts, Brown rice, corn, gluten meat, sugar, etc.

Besides, it contains a pack of organic products such as Vitamin B12 Supplement, Vit D3 supplement, Calcium Iodate, Copper Sulphate, Thiamine mononitrate, Inositol, Hydrochloride, Folic Acid, Beta-Carotene, Pyridoxine, Riboflavin, Vitamin B12 Supplement, d-Calcium Pantothenate, Zinc oxide, Oat groats, and Manganous Oxide. Further, it contains Dl-methionine, which serves as a supply of Vitamin C, L-Lysine, Dicalcium phosphate, Lecithin, Calcium Carbonate, yeast culture, flaxseed, dried beef pulp, and dried kelp.

It supplies a wide range of nutritional balance of Protein, Vitamin D3, Vitamin C, Vitamin E, Fat, Fibre, Calcium, Phosphorus, Iron, Vitamin A, Beta-Carotene, Omega-3 fatty acids, and Omega-6 fatty acids. This micro grounded bird complete nutrition pack is easy to digest, leaving no crumbs and ensuring gut motility. It is also easy to mix even for amateur trainers and will provide your baby bird with a complete dietary plan and optimal nutrition.

Pros

Cons

What to feed Newborn Baby birds?

To feed newborn baby birds is a careful task just as feeding newborn babies. This is to ensure that you don’t choke your birds in the process of feeding them. An appropriate bird feeding plan must consist of all essential nutrients. This includes; Fat, Protein as well as vitamins.

Six things you should feed your newborn baby bird

Egg Yolk:

Egg yolks are a good source of protein and will be necessary for your baby bird’s growth. Eggs are so important to grooming a baby bird as they contain more protein value and minimal water Content. Yolks are also a rich source of Vitamin A, calcium, Vitamin D, Iron, Minerals, and Fat.

I will advise against giving your baby bird the whites of an egg to avoid getting hung on their throats. However, you can mash the white into tiny particles or a paste but is entirely healthy, safe to feed them with egg yolks, especially at their tender stage. You can make out the yolk into a liquid form and feed them using a bowl.

Pre-Packaged Food:

Having a busy schedule or day’s activity might not give you all the time to source food for your baby bird, or you might be afraid of making a wrong meal combination with anything you see in the kitchen. However, Getting the best Pre-Packaged baby bird food in the market is a good factor to consider during the purchase.

Hagen Tropical Baby Food:

remains the best baby bird food with full nutritional value and combo to build and grow your baby bird. It is a mash of protein, fats, and essential vitamins and minerals for your baby bird’s full upbringing. The details of this product are included in the review.

Soaked Dog Biscuits:

Dog biscuits are highly rich in protein, making them great nutritional content for your baby bird’s growth. Ranging from blackbirds down to parrots, birds are not restricted from eating dog food. But it would be best if you were careful not to make them hard. In moistening them, they should be properly soaked to avoid the risk of choking the baby birds.

Dog/Cat Kibble:

Just as feeding your baby bird with biscuits, you can feed your birds with cat kibble. But considering their tender stage, you should make them as moist as possible at room temperature and confirm that there are no harmful ingredients in the meal.

Water:

This might sound surprising as to why I have water on the list of things you should give your baby bird. Water serves as an essential food element for animal growth, but it can be dangerous if mishandled. At the point of giving bird water, it will inhale some of the water given into its lungs for aspiration. This can get too bad if the bird inhales too much water, as this can lead to the bird’s suffocation.

To be on a safer end, I will advise against giving your birds water but, you can give them water when they are old enough to fledge or walk around properly.

What do baby birds drink?

Liquid egg yoke

You can give your baby birds liquid egg yoke at all ages, while you can progress to giving them nectar at a later age, although not all birds drink nectar.

Nectar

Some of the birds that drink nectar include; Hummingbirds, Honey Eaters, chickadees, Finches, flowerpeckers. Having a blend of nectar in your bird’s food gives them a water and sugar supply that gives them energy.

What baby birds should not take in?

Water

Baby birds should be restricted from drinking water. This includes birds in their natural habitat and those that are groomed at home. However, they need liquid food to survive.

Hard chunks and meals

Baby birds cannot feed on hard chunks and meals. So, the majority of their meals are mashed, while some are turned to a semi-liquid form.

Bread & Bread Crumbs

Due to the development of their trachea and esophagus, bread and its crumbs are entirely a wrong meal choice for birds. Most people make the mistake of feeding their baby birds with moistened bread to make them softer for the birds to eat. However, this is a wrong and dangerous practice. Moistened bread can get clogged in the baby’s digestive system, thereby hindering the baby bird from fledgling or boosting fermentation in their digestive system, which can lead to the death of the bird.

Milk

Milk might seem to be a proteinous meal, but it is wrong to give them to your baby birds. Liquid should not be given to baby birds as these liquids will flow into the bird’s trachea instead of the esophagus. This can cause suffocation or death of the baby bird.

Worms and Insects

Worms and Insects are a favorite meal of birds, but they can be hazardous for the growing bird. The baby bird is not yet used to some of these meals and how they should be eaten. This might cause the worms or insects to accumulate in certain parts of their bodies.

Hard nuts and meals

Resist the urge to feed your baby birds with any hard meal, no matter how nutritious it may appear. These meals will block the digestive system of your bird and lead to sudden death.

Can I feed a baby bird dog food?

Feeding a bird dog food is dependent on what type of dog food you wish to pump into the system of your baby bird. It is highly inadvisable to feed your baby bird with cheese or rotten meat, as this could be highly poisonous to the bird. But you can feed them with dog biscuits or kibbles.

FAQs

How do you make baby bird food at home?

Making baby bird food at home is not a hard task. It all depends on what meal you wish to serve your bird. You might decide to get them a high proteinous diet with high vitamin value. To get this done, you can mesh some egg yolk and feed your bird using a syringe soaked in hot water. This is to make the meal semi-liquid.

You can also serve your baby bird with soaked cereal, soaked dog biscuits, or cat kibble. You just have to soak these till they are soft and can be easily meshed with the tip of your fingers. Feed your baby bird by gently opening its beak and gently drop in the semi-liquid meal into their throats using sterilized items to avoid getting them ill.

Always be cautious of each meal’s water content that you are about to serve your baby bird, especially during their tender age.

How many times a day should you feed a baby bird?

The routine for feeding a baby bird depends on the type of bird being fed. It is necessary to feed young birds regularly to avoid starvation. This can be done every 30mins to one hour. During this feeding time, you can go as far as feeding the bird until it stops requesting. Baby birds can be fed as much as 5-6 times daily. This is when they still have their eyes shut. Once they can fully see, you can feed the chick 3-5 times or every 5 hours, and as when they start becoming mature, you can cut it down to 2-3 times. It is necessary to keep some gauge on feeding them to avoid overfeeding the birds.

What should you not feed to baby birds?

You should not feed your baby bird bread & bread crumbs, milk, worms and insects, Hard nuts and meals.

Bottom Line

Having to take care of a baby bird is one of the most delicate tasks a human can ever embark on. It is so important you learn its nitty-gritty, at least for the essence of animal conservation, and to avoid the extinction of these sweet birds.

Taking care of the upbringing of a bird might not be as costly as that of a dog. Their consumption habits are minimal, and they usually require basic food items that we can find around. It all boils down to learn the dos and don’ts, and how to handle each bird effectively.

Create a feeding timetable for your bird. Treat it nicely as you will treat a human. The rewards are usually immense. This is essential for bird breeders, as you will not need to purchase new birds every season as you have your old birds reproducing massively.

Follow the tips offered here and enjoy great bird training.