Baby blackbird

[Verinda]

As many of you know my beloved Alice was caught by a fox yesterday. This afternoon I was in the garden dwelling on Alice and heard a terrible commotion in the undergrowth. My cat had a baby blackbird in his jaws, he whizzed off with me in hot pursuit. He dropped the baby and I grabbed him.

The baby was fine, unharmed. I brought him back to where the parents were yelling, waited for ages for the cat to give up and leave and finally put him back where the parents would find him.

Two minutes later chaos broke out and the cat whizzed past clutching same baby blackbird with me galloping after them. The baby looked decidedly dead, the cat had him for ages, dropping him and grabbing him but eventually I got it back.

I was convinced he would die but no, he was miraculously unharmed and soon perked up. He's too small to have fledged and I couldn't put him back to be caught again, so now he's in a box having eaten worms and scrambled egg and yelling his head off for more and I know it's wrong for me to keep him but he's remarkably feisty and noisy! Fingers crossed he'll survive.

[Scarlet]

FB kept a blackbird and managed to realease him...but you could put him back in the morning and see if the mum is interested?


I'm off to look for FBs thread.
http://www.growfruitandveg.co.uk/gra...ing_73072.html

[Containergardener]

We have a lot of babies at the moment . Cats also (not ours) , I'm trying to feed them off the ground.

[muddled]

might be a stupid question (I've never owned one)
But if its yours, why not shut the cat inside while you put the baby back?

[Verinda]

Thank you Scarlet, I remember FB's thread, it is really helpful my blackbird looks about the same age as FB's. I don't have a cage unfortunately, only the one with the budgie in and I'm quite sure he doesn't want to share! I hope he will survive.

[Verinda]

might be a stupid question (I've never owned one)
But if its yours, why not shut the cat inside while you put the baby back?

The cat was a kitten that turned up under a bush over a year ago now, no one locally wanted him or had lost a cat so he just stayed. He has a bed in the shed but is an outdoor cat, I really can't keep him shut up in the shed it would be impossible. He has a loud bell on his collar but it doesn't help at nesting time.

[Verinda]

He's full of beans this morning (not literally of course!) and eating dairy free scrambled eggs, worms grubs fruit and soaked raisins, perhaps he'll be ok after all

[Snoop Puss]

Sounds like he's happy with his new mum!

[FlowerpotGirl]

Well done you for saving him. I think he sounds like he is doing well with you and to be honest its unlikely that his Mum would accept him back now. I hope he continues to thrive. Any chance of a picky of him?

[scarey55]

... I don't have a cage unfortunately ...

We rescued a baby blackbird too and we fed him on soaked dry dog food and boiled egg. We didn't have a cage but we did have a room where we could keep him safe from the dog. Good luck with your little chap, you have given him a second chance.

PS, that was at least 5 years ago and I'm still finding the odd bit of bird poop in the study

[Kirk]

Baby blackbirds seem to leave the nest or are kicked out before they can fly - I suppose fledging is slightly wrong with regards them. The parents seem to take them somewhere then sort of leave them and only return at intervals. (Well the ones in my garden do).

So you end up with a young bird that cannot fly - they can run - and they are immensly stupid.

The young ones here stand there and look at me with no idea if I intend to eat them or what. Had one stood in a pile of food while squeeking and waiting for mum to come and feed it. It literally had it's feet in a pile of chopped peanuts, sunflower hearts and chopped sultana's. Problem was that it had no idea that it was food. So it stood there looking at me and wanting food.

[Verinda]

We've named him Arthur, because the budgie is called Merlin, they are yelling at each other all the time!

Kirk I have never seen baby blackbirds standing about, it seems really odd for the parents to abandon them before they are properly grown up, it doesn't seem natural but lovely that you are looking after them.

Arthur is now in a gigantic box with a homemade nest in one of those round brie cheese boxes and he has a few branches to climb on, we've put a wire door from an old rabbit hutch on the top of the box. He is hopping about and exercising, hopefully all will be well. I wonder if baby blackbirds are easier to care for than other birds, I've never had any success before but come to think of it, years ago we used to feed them bread and milk which we know now is absolutely the wrong thing to do.

Flowerpot girl, I took a photo but haven't got it on my computer yet, if it's any good I will post it

[Verinda]

We rescued a baby blackbird too and we fed him on soaked dry dog food and boiled egg. We didn't have a cage but we did have a room where we could keep him safe from the dog. Good luck with your little chap, you have given him a second chance.

PS, that was at least 5 years ago and I'm still finding the odd bit of bird poop in the study

That sounds better than actual worms and insects, I gave him a millipede today and felt horrendously guilty about the millipede, I don't like killing anything!

[muddled]

we have a blackbird nesting EIGHT FEET UP in our grapevine on top of a pergola!

I'm starting to fear for her babies if they can't fly on fledging...how on earth will they get back up to the nest?
What if they don't bounce on the way down

[Verinda]

This is Arthur, he's in a much bigger box now



Let us know what happens Muddled, I hope the babies fledge ok!