Meet the new bird!
Hiya all,
It's happened again.... A young bird, broken nest, dead adult.... Who gets to do the fostering? Me and pleased to do so again.
She's sitting in her "nest", chirping at me, which is great, she couldn't manage to swallow a worm after a day without food. She's doing remarkably well for a lack of food of that duration, being kept hydrated probably made all the difference. It bodes well for the resilience of the bird. Well done Brenda. She has now managed her fourth worm, and that one was so big that it crawled out 3 times....
House Martins don't eat worm's I hear you saying.... Well this one does now. She's picking up well, she has the energy to chirp, and to fight with a worm the size of her crop (stomach-type thing that birds have...).
The question is.... will she be fit in time to go to Africa? We'll see how many worms she can eat in a fortnight!
Let's cross our fingers, and NO JIM, I'M NOT GOING TO KNECK IT!
UPDATE on 24th......
She managed around 10 worms by bedtime and chirped herself to sleep.... 5 worms before my breakfast and 2 already for lunch, she's resting now.... Photo's will be updated later....
We're suggesting "Dell" as her name, after her latin name, is that ok?
It's happened again.... A young bird, broken nest, dead adult.... Who gets to do the fostering? Me and pleased to do so again.
She's sitting in her "nest", chirping at me, which is great, she couldn't manage to swallow a worm after a day without food. She's doing remarkably well for a lack of food of that duration, being kept hydrated probably made all the difference. It bodes well for the resilience of the bird. Well done Brenda. She has now managed her fourth worm, and that one was so big that it crawled out 3 times....
House Martins don't eat worm's I hear you saying.... Well this one does now. She's picking up well, she has the energy to chirp, and to fight with a worm the size of her crop (stomach-type thing that birds have...).
The question is.... will she be fit in time to go to Africa? We'll see how many worms she can eat in a fortnight!
Let's cross our fingers, and NO JIM, I'M NOT GOING TO KNECK IT!
UPDATE on 24th......
She managed around 10 worms by bedtime and chirped herself to sleep.... 5 worms before my breakfast and 2 already for lunch, she's resting now.... Photo's will be updated later....
We're suggesting "Dell" as her name, after her latin name, is that ok?
posted by Davy at
11:16 AM
9 Comments:
hey mate, do you dig for the worms? how do you get 'em? I feed birds cheese. it seems to work for me but perhaps this one is too young?
Well, this bird is an insectivore, so I'm not sure that cheese protein would be ideal. A developing bird needs the complex carbohydrates that will be found in insects, chitin would probably be one. Spiders appear to be crucial in the diet of several species, including pipits and sparrows. Most granivores (grain-eaters) feed their chicks solely on insects in the nest. I recently fledged "Turdy" the thrush on worms, and she was of a similar age. I will try and get mealworms to supplement her worms, and no I've got no-where to dig, so I buy them from a bait shop. Turdy cost around 7 to 10 euro's a day, during her growth stage, less later, but was a bigger bird.
It's not going to feed many at Xmas if you only fatten it up on worms; I would try steroids and propriatary body-bulding protein formulations.
Anyone for cranberry sauce?
TCA
Didn't you see how big the thrush got. Probably fed a family of feral cats for a week.... Besides your dad would throw in a pheasant, oystercatcher or some other roadkill... just to add extra flavour...
Slainté,
Davy
I knew a sheila who raised a house martin on mealworms. You could also try chopping the worms. At least with this one you know it's going to fly away!
And by the way, chitin (poly N-acetyl glucosamine, beta 1-4 glycosidic links of course) is not hydrolysed in the gut, but excreted unchanged. That's how Skate worked out what her sprogs were eating.
I've tried the large garlic and cheese steak..... I've got the photo's too! Highly recommended!
And Jim.... I stand corrected.
Slainté,
Davy
thanks dave! I knew someone with thrush.... should I have advised them to try poly N acetyl glucosamine as a cure? Nay advise form you doctors would be appreciated...
ANY ..FROM... (sorry)
Keep taking the pils....
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