I am at my wit's end!
We have had 8 nestlings on the ground this season we know of. We have been landlords 20+ years and never had this problem. We just took two nestlings to a bird sanctuary last Tuesday, only to acquire 3 more, and a fourth on the ground this morning.
We have been feeding every two hours and all have been eating well. We released one this morning, flew off just fine, but another did not. It has been losing feathers and my wildlife person says this is not normal.
The one on the ground is mature enough to fly, but wet, so I am giving it a chance to dry before possibly releasing, but..... it acts drunk.
We can't figure out what's happening, but I have been concerned because a farmer is recently planting the field behind us and spraying herbicide. Could this be the problem? The adults hunt for their food in this very field.
Thanks for any advice
Many fallouts
Unfortunately you will have some that don't make it for whatever reason. We also had a bunch of jumpers this year and we were taking care of seven at one point.
We consulted with the local bird rehab people and learned a couple things that helped a lot to get them to flight stage. Crickets and scrambled egg are OK for a short time but they recommended we use 'super worms" (Google it) since they offer more protein than either egg or crickets. They used pedialyte to kill them before we fed them to the birds. They may need the pedialyte if they are dehydrated or have a mineral imbalance. They generic Walmart brand works fine.
We were also advised to feed them every hour at least one worm but two was better when they are younger. Initially it takes a lot of effort to feed them because they will not take food from your hand. After several days if you are lucky they will figure it out. It seems that once one starts the others learn quickly and it helps with their care immensely.
If they don't appear to be able to fly well even with all their feathers it may only take a couple days of food and pedialyte to get them healthy again. We had a couple like that and we don't know if it was just young parents not knowing what to do or the heat that drove them out of the house. Like you all of our occurred very close together and almost all of them fledged together.
Good luck with your efforts.
John
We consulted with the local bird rehab people and learned a couple things that helped a lot to get them to flight stage. Crickets and scrambled egg are OK for a short time but they recommended we use 'super worms" (Google it) since they offer more protein than either egg or crickets. They used pedialyte to kill them before we fed them to the birds. They may need the pedialyte if they are dehydrated or have a mineral imbalance. They generic Walmart brand works fine.
We were also advised to feed them every hour at least one worm but two was better when they are younger. Initially it takes a lot of effort to feed them because they will not take food from your hand. After several days if you are lucky they will figure it out. It seems that once one starts the others learn quickly and it helps with their care immensely.
If they don't appear to be able to fly well even with all their feathers it may only take a couple days of food and pedialyte to get them healthy again. We had a couple like that and we don't know if it was just young parents not knowing what to do or the heat that drove them out of the house. Like you all of our occurred very close together and almost all of them fledged together.
Good luck with your efforts.
John