Baby bird season will soon be upon us and rearing orphaned baby birds is one of the most enjoyable and rewarding things that I have learned to do. In the course of a Spring/Summer Season, we will rear around 250 baby birds of all types. Though it is a time consuming job, birds grow very quickly and once the basics of warmth and food are right, they progress with little difficulty.

When I first thought about starting my “hobby” of helping wild birds, finding information was a challenge. I knew that although I had had many years of experience in the animal welfare field, it was not specialised enough to be responsible for the care of the different species I wanted to help. I spent over 12 months researching and learning different techniques for handling, feeding, treating injuries and accommodating animals and my husband spent many hours and thousands of pounds building my treatment room and pre-release aviaries.

I gained my information from many different sources; bought books, trawled the internet and spoke to experts and vets. Of course, over the years, I have tried new techniques, changed diets and discovered some new ideas and recipes. What some say works for them, hasn’t necessarily worked for me and it is trying to replicate the natural diet in an achievable form that is most challenging and not always pleasant.

This small Ebook tries to pass on what I have learned and give as much practical advice as possible for someone interested in helping orphaned birds. It does not cover every bird species as some are very difficult, ie moorhens, grebes and seabirds, and should only be carried out by those with experience. However, where familiar garden variety birds are concerned, I hope that this book can provide assistance to someone thinking of caring for baby birds. Birds need our help now more than ever as they face so many more unnatural habitats fraught with man made dangers.

Probably the most important information in this book is to remember that you are doing this to give the animal a second chance in the wild. Resist the temptation to talk to or handle the birds, or let them become accustomed to pets. Birds, especially the crow family and Birds of Prey can become imprinted on humans very easily. If this happens, the bird will not survive in the wild and you will have condemned him either to life in captivity or death and that is simply unforgivable.

You can find the book in our ebay store here. I have also provided two extracts from the book, an emergency feeding guide which will enable you to give your bird one or two feeds (MAKING SURE THE BABY IS WARM FIRST) whilst you are looking for a rescue centre and an identification guide so that you can establish the type of bird you have and identify the food to give it. NEVER GIVE BABY BIRDS WATER FROM A PIPETTE OR SPOON AS THEY ARE LIKELY TO CHOKE. THE FOOD THAT YOU GIVE WILL BE SUFFICIENT.

Should you need any further help with your bird, feel free to email me.