Help with rescued baby corella

[alle]

Hi Everyone

We live in remote NT - approx 450km from town so no access to vet etc. My kids rescued a baby corella which fell from a nest during a storm. They found it the next morning walking around. It has all its feathers (yellow and white) but just can't quite fly.

We have no idea what we are meant to feed this little bird. It doesn't call out much and is a pretty quiet bird. I read on here that a little bird should be fed weetbix so we are about to feed it that with a syringe.

Any further suggestions would be appreciated. We tried to feed it grasshoppers but there was no interest.

It currently sleeps in a cardboard box and the kids take it out on the lawn for 'outside time' where it just wanders around and calls out to other corellas/birds etc.

Any advice would be gratefully received.

Thanks

Alle

[avinet]

Hi Alle

Sounds like it is a baby that left the nest a bit before it should and discovered it can't fly yet.

Weetbix is an emergency food until something better is available. I would guess you would have trouble feeding it with a syringe since it would tend to block the nozzle of the syringe. A spoon with the sides bent up would be better - the sort of spoon shown at www.vetafarm.com.au/products/FEEDING-SPOON.html - click on the image to see a larger picture.

Baby cereal is good if you have any and rolled oats is a traditional bush hand rearing food - with a few drops of multivitamins added. Also give chopped up fruit and veges - most are OK but not avocado or onions. If you have any bird seed - ideally suited to a cockatiel - then make that available, but again in an emergency any seed can be tried - even chook seed or chook pellets.

As long as it gets eating by itself OK and starts to be able to fly you should then be able to let it return to the flock - it's parents will recognise it as theirs if they are still around.

Basically in a situation like yours the bird will have to make do with whatever commonsense tells you to give it. If you have any doubts then ask away and we will try to help.

As a matter of interest, where abouts in the NT are you?

cheers,

Mike

[vankarhi]

No they should not be fed weetbix except in emergencies.......and that particular little critter is only 3 weeks old and like you they had absolutely nothing else in the house to feed it until they could get to a shop the next day.

I would assume that particular one "if" it is a baby would be almost weaned......so I would only be feeding twice a day and giving it plenty of fruit and veges and some seed also. You could try cooked rice and pasta etc too. Maybe some grain bread if you have some, my guys love the grain bread I buy. Just see how much it eats of seed and stuff on it's own....maybe just feed it some very soggy warm weetbix with a spoon ...it might take some adjusting for it to realise the spoon has food on it......just a couple of times a day for a while until you can see what it is eating and how well it is eating on it's own. Do not use milk and do not add sugar's.

[alle]

Thanks so much for the advice. The bird really isn't that little - it is about 1/2 - 2/3 the size of a grown-up. It seems very sleepy still sometimes and doesn't eat that much. Probably pretty shell shocked at it's recent adventure! I have taken your advice on board and we have now been feeding it more appropriate food. Hopefully it is OK. Usually a majority of the multitudes of wild animals my kids bring home are injured from Dingoes/wild dogs etc and beyond help so heres hoping this one survives for them!

Thanks

Alle

PS - Mike - we are in the Victoria River District