Baby Blackbird - did I do the right thing?

[FB.]

It may have been noticed that overnight I changed his large soup mug of worms into a large tray of worms.

He seems to find it easier to get the worms, plus he likes to use his feet to scrabble in the soil, rather like a chicken.

Since I put him back in his cage about half an hour ago, he's been chattering happily away to himself as he scrabbles around for worms - he must have found about a quarter of them already; making a gleeful chatter every time he unearths one (I put about a dozen small worms and a dozen medium worms in it first thing this morning).

[FB.]

He is now able to find all the worms he needs - he spent half the afternoon scrabbling around, cackling and appearing to have fun.
So I no longer have to chop up the worms and hand-feed them to him (it was a slimy, messy job).

Chopped up cherries are also placed onto the top of the compost to attract him there.

So he's half-way to being self-sufficient, but still likes to be hand-fed a few pieces of wet bread, damp biscuit and random kitchen scraps/leftovers every 3-4 hours. Absolutely no dairy products are allowed within his reach though.

His most recent hand-fed meal included a couple of peas (minus their skin), a few shreds of apple, a quarter of a cherry, some wet bread and some damp biscuit. I forgot to give him two halves of a whitecurrant and a small piece of orange.

[Hazel at the Hill]

What a fabulous job you are doing there, FB!

I have no advice as such to bring, but I do remember how much the blackbirds love to poke around in the grape vine in the autumn to pinch any grapes that I've left - bet he'd love to have a crack at a few of them.

[Nicos]

Looks like you're doing really, really well there FB!

[Glutton4...]

So what's the next step then, FB? (Just realised what that could stand for! )

Moving on... Worm tray outside the cage? Cage out in the garden with door open? You'll probably get his/her offspring back to raise next year if it survives!!

[FB.]

I tried him out on my patio earlier today, but he went and hid in the herb garden and wouldn't come out.
I eventually lured him with a couple of worms on the palm of my hand and then picked him up; there was a lot of protesting from him - squawking, wriggling etc.

Given that I don't think he would be easy to find if I let him out in the garden, and given that he's not ready yet for release, I won't be letting him out in the garden until he seems mature enough to fend for himself.

[FB.]

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He's been out of his cage, mooching around the house this morning. He spent a lot of the time sunbathing on the doormat by the patio door.

He began to whine that he was hungry but I ignored him for about fifteen minutes until he did this to get my attention:



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[scarey55]

... I'm pretty sure that our blackbirds must be related somehow

[Potstubsdustbins]

Where is todays update FB? please.

Potty

[FB.]

Where is todays update FB? please.

Potty

He's fine. He's been with me for over two weeks now.

His main wing and tail feathers are between half-length and three-quarter length now. He's looking more grown up, although the thrush-like speckling on his chest give away that he's still very young.

Most days, he spends about half the time out of his cage, mostly free to wander around the downstairs of the house. We have to clean up a few poops (they soon dry out and can be almost brushed-off), although we try to put newspaper in the areas he spends the most time.
He likes to be put on the top of open doors (several feet high) and will sit there for hours quietly watching what we're doing. He'd sit there roosting all night if we didn't put him back in his cage at bedtime. He'll flutter down from the top of the door when he feels like it.

We have problems in the evenings in that once we put the light on, he'll keep trying to fly up and he bumps his head on the top of the cage. So he is allowed to stay out until bedtime; I feed him and then put him back in his cage just as I'm about to go to bed (he's often more passive after he's been fed, so flutters less in the few minutes before the downstairs lights are turned off).

He is now running around the floor quite fast when he wants to - he can cover several feet in a second or two if he sees a bug across the other side of the room, but he isn't so enthusiastic about flying at the moment (but then blackbirds are mostly ground birds).
He can fly a few feet upwards, several feet horizontally, and about the length of the house if he's flying from a high point to a low point.

His beak is getting quite strong now - he can sometimes grab my finger quite firmly when he's being fed. he regularly tries to pick up, drag or move objects (as if he's hoping to find food under it). He only gets hand-fed about three times a day now - consisting of the usual kitchen scraps mentioned in previous posts; he is now encouraged to find his own "meat" in the form of worms (in his tub of compost) and chasing ants, flies, gnats and craneflies around the room (bugs tend to come in through windows and doors which we open when Munchkin is back in his cage).
When he's scrabbling for worms he can pick up lumps of compost almost an inch across and toss them a few inches. But he's not an expert worm hunter yet; he was begging for food a few days ago because he couldn't find any worms, but when I turned-over the compost there were more than a dozen in the 15x20x5cm tray that he has - he just wasn't trying hard enough to find them.

Very interestingly, he hasn't shown any tendency to fly into the glass of our patio doors, which is a problem with many birds. Actually, I get the impression that blackbirds in general are much more intelligent than we give them credit for.
Also interestingly: when out of his cage he generally prefers to sit on the floor to the side of me, often looking up like a dog would to its owner. He will follow me around the house at times, and will come running quickly if I call him in the same way as I've been calling/talking to him prior to feeding.

I'll try to get some more pictures later.

[FB.]

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Not the best picture (taken a few minutes ago), but he's in his cage - quiet and well behaved - and I don't want to encourage him to get too lively; I'd rather things stayed that way as I have things to do and he might get in my way or manage to escape through an open door!

His better-developed tail is noticeable now. Hopefully I can take some better pictures later.

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[FB.]

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Comparison of a picture taken on 28th June (a few days, maybe a week after I found him), with the picture taken today (now ten days since the first picture):

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[scarey55]

They do grow very fast, don't they. Glad to hear that he's doing well.

ETA:
Just a thought, "our" birdie did bathe occasionally. I put a shallow dish of water on a plastic sheet for him. He didn't use it often but he did have a bath every now and then

[FB.]

They do grow very fast, don't they. Glad to hear that he's doing well.

ETA:
Just a thought, "our" birdie did bathe occasionally. I put a shallow dish of water on a plastic sheet for him. He didn't use it often but he did have a bath every now and then

Yes, he had a saucer of water on the doormat in recent days. He likes to drink (but it makes his "poo" very watery and messy) but he hasn't shown an inclination to bathe in it yet.


Just for you, I let him out and gave a saucer of water a few minutes ago.
Things like drinking water happen quickly and randomly so I have to take the picture as best I can - but I'm not sure why, but the pictures aren't coming out very well today.


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[FB.]

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A better picture of him, taken a few minutes ago:

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