A baby finch is not being fed by either of his parents, ...

Hi Douglas. How old is the baby right now? Do you happen to know his hatch order? How many other babies in the clutch? Is this the first clutch for this pair of parents? Thanks, Patricia

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The bird has been out of the nest for about two or three days. It is the only one to hatch, although there are other eggs in the nest and a bird still sits on them. The baby bird also has lots of feathers missing from his chest and back. He will fly to a limb, but seemingly does not know how to eat his own food or get his own water. There are eight adults in the cage with him (four females and four males), so I do not know which are the parents. I have him in a separate cage right now, but I do not know if this is the right thing to do. I thought perhaps the others were pecking him, thus the lack of feathers.

Hello again. I apologize for the delay in getting back to you. If there is any chance any of the adults are picking on him and/or keeping him from eating, then you have for sure done the right thing in getting him into a place of his own. Hopefully you can keep his cage at least close to the others. Finches are so very flock oriented, they don't do real well, living alone. Of course you do need to make sure he is eating something. I suggest you run to the pet store and pick up some weaning formula that is proper for the kind of Finch you have. Start out mixing it about the consistency of pancake batter. Put some on a shallow saucer or somehing the little guy can easily eat from. Even if you have to set him on the saucer and he gets his feet into it, no matter so long as he tries to eat some. If you are successful with that, you can gradually make the mixture a little thicker. A caution though, do not leave it out too long as it can grow dangerous bacteria pretty quickly. Don't ever use any after it has been mixed for a while either. Just mix the smallest amount at a time possible, and pitch any uneaten portion no longer than about an hour after mixing. Start with fresh each time. If he will not eat it from the saucer, get a plastic picnic fork. Break off all but one prong. Gather some of the formula on the end of the prong (you will have to mix it a little thicker if you have to use this method) gently tap his little beak with the prong. That should prompt him to open up and let you feed him. Don't try to put it too far into the beak. Just sort of clean the formula off the prong by rubbing it against the edge of his beak. These little bits you are putting on the prongs should be about half the size of a pencil eraser or a pea or smaller. It is so easy to aspirate a little one you want to be very careful with him. Keep an eye on his crop, watching for how full it gets. That's one of the ways we judge when a baby bird needs to be fed. When the crop is full, they are full. They should not be fed any more formula until the crop completely empties again. To offer the food too fast or too soon can cause sour crop, slow crop and/or impacted crop. Then you would need a vet, and quickly. I hope this helps but if you have more questions, just let me know. Patricia

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