How to Keep a Baby Bird Alive

Have you successfully hatched an egg, or rescued a baby bird that has been left without a home or a mother?  If so, you may be wondering how to keep a baby bird alive.  As well-intentioned as you may be, it is not enough to rescue a tiny fledgling unless you have a good idea of how to keep a baby bird alive.  In this article, we provide a basic overview of how to keep a baby bird alive.

When your main concern is how to keep a baby bird alive, there are three things that you need to provide: food, warmth and protection.  A baby bird relies on his mother to give him these three basic necessities, but since the mother bird will be out of the picture, you will need to make sure that the baby bird receives enough of all three.

How to Keep a Baby Bird Alive – Tips

First off, if you have found a baby bird that has fallen out of the nest, the best thing you could do for it is to put it back where it belongs.  The baby bird could simply have been blown out by a particularly strong wind, or it could have made a premature attempt to fly.  Also, that baby bird could have been pushed out of the nest by its siblings.  If you can, locate the nest and put the baby bird back and then leave right away so that the mother bird could feel free to return and take care of her baby.

If you see that the mother bird is unlikely to return, then that’s the time to rescue the baby bird.  If the nest is still there, take it along with the baby bird, even if you can only manage to locate a part or two.  Put it in a small box or basket.  Meanwhile, warm the baby bird in your hands.  Since a baby bird does not have any fat stores, it could die if allowed to feel cold for a length of time.

Examine the baby bird for any injuries and also to be able to have an idea of its species.  That should tell you what it needs to eat.  You can look up the information online or better yet, bring the baby bird to a vet so that he or she can give you some guidelines on what to feed the baby bird.

And finally, make sure that you keep the baby bird in a comfortably warm place, away from danger and predators.