Native Starlings

[laurab]

Hi all

Yesterday a friend rang me in a panic; she had found 5 baby Starlings in the cupboard under the stairs!

It seems they had fallen down the wall cavity.

I have them now. I am feeding them on mealworms, moistened egg food and softbill food; luckily they are strong enough (now) to feed themselves. Is there something else I should offer them to eat? By the way, it wasn't me that gave them pigeon food!!

[Waxbillman]

brilliant Laura,

what about cat food or dog food?

Matthew

[laurab]

Hi Matthew,
I never thought of that as I feed my dogs' biscuits, not tinned meat.

[Waxbillman]

best get down the pet shop then Laura

Matthew

[kenny]

hi laura
they are real beauties,the only thing i can think of is dog food or cat food would minced beef work

ken

[Waxbillman]

how could i forget that, minced beef is a definate, some years ago now i rescued a young blackbird that a B*****d cat was trying to kill, thats one of the things i was recommend to feed, which is did, until the RSPCA came a few days later, i hope you don't have them in your house as they a noisey buggers.

Matthew

[kenny]

hi
matt our builder found a young starling last week ,in someones house he was putting an I beam in above the back door and left it over night to set and the next day one chick had crawled into the cavity he had made and the next day he climbed up to finish the work and it frightened him to death.luckily he was not far from our local rspca so he took it there.dont know wether it has survived or not.....the biggest shock i had was when i picked a swift up off the floor and brought it in to give it some food as it was only in shock with nothing broken when i forced its beak open to put some food in there was this massive pink void that i wasnt expecting to see!

ken:shock:

[PAUL HEARN]

Hello Laura,

Science Diet or Eucanuba (spelling?) are the best choices for rearing any Softbill requiring a high protien rearing food.

Paul.;-)

[Rogerb]

thanks Paul re our phone natter i will try to let them see the feeding stations so the can get to know where food is in the garden thanks for your input much appreciated

[PAUL HEARN]

Hi Roger, Matthew and Kenny,

Roger,

No probs matey.;-)

Regarding my suggestion of Science Diet or Eucanuba?
Soaked Dog/Cat biscuits of any brand would be a welcome addition to the Starlings diet, we have even used a cheap unknown brand of Cat buscuit for the Japanese Waxwings and they love the stuff.:grin:

Matthew,

Your suggestion of minced Beef is an excellent one, but when rearing young Birds it is especially important to dust this with Vionate or a similar Vitamin supplement.
Why did the RSPCA visit you, and what was the outcome of this case?

Ken,

I used to work on a voluntry basis for a Wildlife Rescue in Surrey and although I didn't have the pleasure of handrearing House Martins etc myself, I was told of the huge gape of these Birds as chicks that could cope easily with swallowing whole large Waxworms, so I can easily picture the gape of a Swift chick and I can also relate to your shock regarding their gape.:grin:

Paul.;-)

[Waxbillman]

hello Paul

i don't want to steel the thunder, Ken suggested it, and i remembered using it, the SPCA (it is technically not a Royal society) collected it to finish the job off, (feed and release is). As i was at scholl at the time so didn't have the time to do a proper job

Matthew

[kenny]

hi paul
yep it certainly was a bit of a shock mate.it was fortunate that it hit the fence and fell to the floor and with them having next to no legs it couldn`t take off again so when it had recovered enough i waited until the other swifts flew between the houses and then i just tossed it into the air and it was fine
ken

[laurab]

Hi all

the Starlings are not one bit interested in the cat food, but my dogs are :???: I have now persuaded my work colleagues to dig for worms tonight :lol:

I may pop into the fishing shop tomorrow and get some maggots, but is that a wise move? Just because they are wild can I assume it is OK to feed maggots?

BTW Football is on for hours tonight! so I had a chance to watch a DVD that I bought a couple of weeks ago called - Birds: The Ultimate Visual Guide. It is a fairly basic guide to our own wild birds and give tips on what to feed to attract certain species.

Problem is, I would now love some Gold Finches :!:

[PAUL HEARN]

Hi Matthew, Kenny and Laura,

Matthew,

Regardless of the origin of the tip it is a very good one mate,;) minced Beef is a good addition to the diet of Starlings, Corvids etc.
My Mums Jay has a staple diet of minced Beef and Garden Peas one day and mixed Fruit the next on a rotation basis, Insectivorous mixture is on offer every day and additional food offered includes Mealworms, Waxworms, Crickets, Pinkie Mice, Wild Bird Seed and Nuts etc.

Ken,

The Wildlife Rescue I used to work for, used to rear Martins, Swallows and Swifts to the point of independence and release them in exactly the same way you have described, Chris would wait until a flock came over in the area the chick/s was/were found and throw them gently into the air in the direction of the flock.:D

Laura,

I'm sorry to hear the Starlings weren't interested in the Cat food.
Leather Jackets which are the Larvae of Crane Flies (Daddy Long Legs) are the staple diet of the Common Starlng in the wild, obviously these are very difficult to find since they live underground.:|

Earthworms and Maggots are worth trying, but there is no quarantee the Starlings will take them either?

Earthworms aren't a natural food for Common Starlings and they are carriers of Intestinal Worms, and with Maggots although farming methods are different to what they used to be in the 70's, it is still best to wait until the gut is cleared of the black area inside the gut of the Maggot, which is what was responsible for the Botulism outbreak in the 70's.

I'm sorry to say that what I believe to be the best alternative to the Leather Jacket in captivity is also quite expensive, the Waxworm.

Paul.:wink:

[kenny]

hi paul
i was reading up on this .and an old book i had said maggots can be cleaned by emersing them in clean water so they have to take it in and it passes through them thus cleaning the gut out.dont know if it works or not but it sounds feasable to me.what do you think?

ken8-)

[Waxbillman]

hi Laura if you want leather jackets and know someone with a lawn, all you have to do is skim the turf off with a spade and they are found in the region there where the roots are, they are definately about at this time of the year as the other day dug out a border for wild flowers and they were some in there, though to get the amount needed to rear chicks you may need to dig the whole of a football pitch up a few times. like Paul ses waxworms are the best substitute as they are simliar in texture, etc, very expensive, i have to buy a 7 quid carton every two weeks just to give to my pekins

Matthew