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Post by oldnick on Sept 19, 2008 5:03:05 GMT
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Post by Scully on Sept 19, 2008 5:51:01 GMT
Hi Nick, welcome to Birdcrazy they are so pretty , but i have not got a clue I guess the best thing would to turn them over to a local bird place if there is one near you. Other than that, i do know you can feed kitikat cat food. Mashed mealworms, and egg food. Everything has to be liquidised.
I recently tried to save a baby Sparrow, he was not very good to start with, and sadly it was'nt to be.
lovely photos, sorry im not much help
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Post by debra on Sept 19, 2008 10:40:47 GMT
Oh, I wish I could help you. They are darling though!
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Post by kiwi on Sept 19, 2008 11:01:35 GMT
Hi Nick - welcome to the board Looking at their beaks I would say they are hatched capable of feeding themselves. Where abouts are you? They look very much like pheasant chicks though they are grey where pheasant chicks are creamy brown. If you have local wildlife much like a pheasant then I would read up about them to identify these pretty little things. I would try them on a chick food mash, you can buy chick food at farm supply shops, add some warm water and see if you can tempt them to trying some. They are well camoflaged so I'm guessing that Mum/Dad leaves them while they go off feeding. Good luck with them, if you can't get hold of any chick food then call your local wildlife rescue and they will more than likely pick them up from you. Deb
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Post by george on Sept 19, 2008 11:49:01 GMT
Hello Nick!
Kiwi's right, they look like they should be able to feed themselves. They look a lot like baby pheasants/partridges/quails etc although I've no idea what sort! Whereabouts are you located? That would help us narrow down what they could be. For now, egg food and chick crumbs would be the best food for them - you can get both at your local pet shop. You may need to "show" them how to eat when you first give them the food, jab at the food with your fingertip, hopefully they will copy you!! I've bred quail in the past and it always worked for me ;D
Another idea worth trying is to take them back outside - in a SECURE box/cage and pop them under the bush and wait for a little while to see if their parents come back for them. Their parents may have been scared off the nest by your dog sniffing them. If that doesn't work, just pop them somewhere warm with some food and water and they should be ok. Just worth saying, if you're hoping to put them back in the wild, try not to handle them or they'll be to tame and will get themselves into trouble!!
Hope that helps! Good luck!
** I thought I should add... check to see if anyone near you keeps birds (chicken, quail etc) as they may be escaped chicks from pets. When my quails bred, the babies were so tiny they could fit throught the avairy wire and I often found one or two wandering around the garden!!
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Post by oldnick on Sept 20, 2008 4:34:27 GMT
Thanks for all the replies!
I doubt these are escapees. They were in bush well over a Kilometre from any houses other than mine.
What we do have around here is a pigeon/quail/?? that has a crest on its head. It ground nests and explodes off the ground as you approach. 200mm??...greyish with some mushroom. I have never had enough time to really examine them, they are so fast.
HOWEVER
I am very distressed. I went back to check on them and they were not there. I was thinking I could check up on them or maybe ask about feeding them (as you have now instructed) and maybe "adopting" them or at least giving them better shelter..
I know the dog did not actually scare the parents off, because I saw her find the nest. She sniffed it out over about half a minute, and no birds took off as I watched.
I do hope we did not muck things up. However, it seems strange; if the parents abandoned them I would have thought they would still be there. I can't see birds carrying their young.
There is a _chance_ that they have been buried deeper in the stuff around the tree base. It was very littered. But the dog showed no reaction to any smell.
There was no sign of their having been attacked: no disturbance of the leaves or ground.
My worry is that you guys are saying that maybe they should be feeding themselves. One did run quite fast when the dog first found them, but the others looked very weak and still. To give you andea at first I thought it was a mouse. I assumed it was because they were so young, but it could be instinct.
I hope the parents just moved them on.
I will keep looking over the next few days to see what develops.
Nick
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Post by 4birdo on Sept 20, 2008 10:04:40 GMT
they look like quails to me, i have chinese quails here a pic of the siblings i had last year
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Post by kiwi on Sept 20, 2008 12:15:15 GMT
My sister has Guinea Fowl and all sorts of different breeds of chickens. It takes them around 24 - 48 hours to find their feet after hatching, but boy - when they find their feet they are like lightning! It's probably that they were recently hatched Nick and still finding their feet - my thoughts are that the 2 'weaker' chicks found their feet soon after you left them and Mum has moved them on. I think they only use the nest to incubate then as a 'safe house' until chicks can stand strong for themselves. I know it's hard not to worry when you find babies but I really think they've gone off with Mum to better feeding grounds to grow and fatten up
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Post by oldnick on Sept 21, 2008 5:46:08 GMT
My sister has Guinea Fowl and all sorts of different breeds of chickens. It takes them around 24 - 48 hours to find their feet after hatching, but boy - when they find their feet they are like lightning! It's probably that they were recently hatched Nick and still finding their feet - my thoughts are that the 2 'weaker' chicks found their feet soon after you left them and Mum has moved them on. I think they only use the nest to incubate then as a 'safe house' until chicks can stand strong for themselves. I know it's hard not to worry when you find babies but I really think they've gone off with Mum to better feeding grounds to grow and fatten up Thanks Kiwi. I really hope so. Good to hear it from somebody who has experienced the growth of chicks. We have wild cats around here, and given that I have literally attacked by a tiny kitten (I felt sorry for that too, and tried to approach it, luckily with welding gauntlets on) , they are obviously a huge danger. Nick
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Post by oldnick on Sept 21, 2008 5:48:19 GMT
they look like quails to me, i have chinese quails here a pic of the siblings i had last year Heh! I am sorry but they all look alike to me: fluffy, stripes, small. cute, beak. But yes, the consensus seems to be quail, pheasant etc. I am trying to ID the adults I see around here, that nest on the ground. Nick
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