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How do you take care of a baby robin?
If you find a fledgling (one that has feathers and is hoping around on the ground and chirping), just leave it. It's likely that the parents are around somewhere watching & feeding the baby. This is a normal stage and it's important that the bird be left alone to learn how to fly on it's own. Just be sure that if you, or your neighbour, owns an outdoor cat that it be put away. It might be a few days but the bird will fly off on it's own.
You absolutely ABSOLUTELY want to try to re-establish contact between the babies and the parents. It's okay to touch the babies if you have to, because robins are not a type of bird that will abandon their babies if they smell humans on them. Be sure to wash your hands thoroughly of course afterward.
I myself did raise a newborn baby robin. Her nest fell out of my birch tree during a rain storm. The babies had just hatched that day, there were 3 in total but 2 did die because I tried to put the nest back in the tree and the parents did not return. I was told it's very very rare to have one survive, I had between a 1-5% chance for her to live under human care.
Here's a few steps for anyone in the future who might end up raising baby robins...
Make sure the babies are dry and warm!! Construct them a nest in something such as a wicker basket or a shoe box.. with some newspaper shreds or something to retain heat. Remember that they are just babies and don't have any, or much, feathers right now to keep them warm. So use common sense... put a small heater on low next to them, or a light bulb that gives off a bit of heat.
DO NOT GIVE THEM WATER. Chances are that you'll accidentally drown them. To feed them, give them a mix of wet dog food and mashed mixed berries. Make sure it's just a bit warm, or room-temperature, but not cold. Just like real babies, you want the food to be completely mashed for their tummies to digest it. Use either an eye dropper or a blunt pair of tweezers. The babies will let you know when they are hungry - they'll stretch their neck up and open their mouths really wide - it's quite funny to see. :-) Once their mouths are wide open just stick the tip of the dropper/tweezers in their mouths and drop it down just don't be forceful they'll swallow on their own. I fed my baby a mouthful every 15-30minutes. They'll let you know when they're hungry.
Be prepared !! It takes about 2 weeks (maybe a little more), for a baby robin to go from hatchling to the time they're able to fly away and start their own lives. It can be costly to feed them, as well as the lack of sleep you're going to get. The birds will wake up as soon as the sun rises and will demand food until after the sun goes down. Yes, it's exhausting, but it's worth it. They grow very fast, and change within a matter of hours it's amazing to watch.
I stress that if you do find a baby robin, that you contact your local SPCA or humane society. In some cities and districts it is illegal to keep and/or raise wildlife in your home without a rehabilitation license. Like I said it's difficult to do, so try to consult someone who knows what they're doing to give the animal the best chance at life it can get. If anyone does end up with a baby robin in the future, feel free to contact me and I'll try to help as best as I can. All the best. xoxo
I found a baby robin last yr around the same time. It was older and had feathers. I would buy the long earth worms at Walmart and smash them real good...I even felt kind of felt bad doing that to worms, but I did it anyway. I would put them in a plastic bag and poke a hole in one of the corners. I would add a small amount of water...not a lot, a few drops in with the worms. Every 2 hrs during the day I would feed the robin. They eat slow, so only give them a worm or two. You have to give them about two bites and then let it go down and then feed them again in 15 min another two bites or so. They'll let you know if they want more. Once they get older and their feathers are longer I would feed it whole worms. Just read the bird. Hard time feeding...smashed worms. Easy time eating...whole worms. I would also take it outside in a cage during the day so that it could get used to the wild and maybe watch other birds to understand how to survive out in the wild. It started flying inside the house so I thought it would be safe to open the cage outside and once I did it flew away like it knew exactly where to go and I never saw it again. It was perfect! I found another robin today who is at about the same age as the one I saved last year and I will more than likely do the exact same thing with this one. There are some rescue places that will take abandoned birds if you would rather not mess with them. They live off of grubs in the wild so I would recommend introducing them to that before you release them into the wild. I would recommend taking care of them yourself if you don't want anything to happen to them or let nature take its course. I hope you have had good luck...I know it's been a couple of days since you have found them.
actually, it's NOT good to try give a baby bird water. It is very likely that any fluid will go straight to it's lungs. I realize how old this post is, but for anyone else reading, this information might be useful...
If you find a baby robin that is in it's "pinky stage" (no feathers) it's important to try and find the nest it came from. It's very rare that a new born survives on human care. If it's fuzzy, but not really feathery, the same thing applys (although with a higher success rate- if it has been abandoned)
Most people find a baby robin in the last stage of its development. It has mostly all it's feathers and a small stub tail. This baby bird more than likely jumped out of it's nest. The mother and father allow the small bird to jump around and strengthen it's wings or a couple of weeks whille still providing food and protection for it. If you're positive that it's been abandoned, I recommed feeding it small pieces of wet dog food every 45 min- 1 hour. It's VERY important that the bird eats that often. As a baby, mother spends all day finding food & bringing it back to him. It's also important that the baby bird is in sunlight as much as possible. It helps it develope necessary vitamins. The bird will sleep at night for a good 8 hours if you let it. Just keep it in a warm, quiet, and dark place.
Robins at this last stage develope rather quickly. Everyday you'll begin to see changes in his personality. He'll soo begin teaching himself to fly & it's important that he's outside to do so. Soon (within a week or so) it may be confident enough to fly and not return to you again. This means you have successfully rescued and released a baby robin! :-D
I hope this helps!
My husband was weed wacking and a robins nest fell on the ground. There were three eggs inside, but one fell out and cracked, we took the nest inside and put a heat lamp on them. It's been about a week now and one of the babies is cracking the shell. (it has only cracked a fraction of an inch in the past 15 hours, though there is still movement, this process is very tiring to the new baby bird) We have been turning them as often as we can. (they are still in the original nest) I will be feeding them baby bird formula which you can buy at pet stores or farm and feed stores. I raised Amazon parrots with the same formula. (my husband is a lineman and about 5 years ago in L.A. he cut down the top of a power pole and a three baby amazon parrots were inside, he brought them home and we raised all three sucessfully with that formula.) We are hoping to give these robins a healthy start and return them to the wild where God intended for them to be. I'll post later with updates.
my brother was working on a roof and found a nest, they had to move the nest out of the way due to construction and had nowhere to put it so he called me to come and get it. i've successfully raised an orphaned mourning dove before but it wasn't as hard as trying to raise this baby robin. it was just found today with two other eggs, i'm attempting to place the eggs in another robins nest just in case they are still good but this baby robin barely has his eyes open and is just fuzzy. i've been feeding him small crickets and worms and it doesn't seem to be enough for him. every time i come around he opens his mouth and peeps until i feed him but this is non stop. is there anything else i can feed him and how often should i be feeding him?
I just found two baby robins on my porch (three if you count their dead little sibling). We put them back in their nest and are waiting for the mother to return. We are trying to keep them alive but I am wondering if I should keep them inside at night so I can be sure they are fed every couple of hours. I've watched the mom with the babies since the hatched and before. She is not so great with the babies. She had five eggs to start with and she pitched two out of the nest. The nest was never built in a safe place and we've had to keep nudging it back into place. Now with only 2/5 of the orriginal babies alive and the mother not returning, I am wondering what to do! I love animals and am very worried for them! What do I do?
my cat brought me a baby robin last night or at leswt I think it's a robin anyways it has almost no feathers yet and is very young I have fed it wet down dry cat food ,worms,meal worms a cricket"no wings or legs" and a few drops of watery cat food I've had it for about 15 hrs now it's eating well and I'm keeping it warm by putting it in a wash cloth on top of a heating pad on low when it sees me finger or the dropper it's opens right up and crys for the food ami doing eveything I should for it or is there more how can I tell what kind of bird it is and how long before it can be freed to the wild?? let me know anyone e-mail me @ littleone73080@yahoo.com
My robin baby in feather stage but not flying stage had two siblings. I think a cat got them (nest was on its side babies def cant fly). The parents both lovingly watched over the three (now 1). They still chirp loudly at anyone who comes near. But they built the nest in a bush very low to the ground. The cat knows where it is now (I'm assuming a cat). It will be back for the 3rd bird I'm sure. Should I try taking the baby from it's parents or leave it in the nest? I would rather leave it. I don't trust my parenting skills. I've raised 5 of my own human babies and it about killed me. I'm getting to old for this.
hey!! good luck first off. I have rescued many baby birds and injured birds including a robin. i purred hard dog food and some berries with warm water NOT hot!! slowly feed the baby bird let it takes its time. keep it warm at all costs. also you should feed it every 2-4 hours. as it gets older wean it off the mush but offer it also try offering small berries blueberrys and such. in small amounts. dont feed it water just yet you could drowned it but as it gets older and is stable leave a lil amount of water in its cage. let me know if this helps. <3 laur
How about this..I think ours is about 1 1/2 days old it is not pink but it still has pinker parts around belly and bum. It was being attacked by other Robins from nearby trees. The mother tried helping it but I think she was a first-timer and her little baby was just about dead (flies and all). There was also a completely pink baby(100% dead)right near this baby. The baby is doing better and eating. I blended some worms and berries and it is eating that. Anybody have any other advise to give???
Thanks to this site I have succsesfully saved a robin but neva feed it water also once a cat has attacked it, (which happened to the bird I found I saved it from the cat) it tends to depend on you thru all its early stages so if it doesnt figit or run around a lot but still eats dont attempt to let it go. Also keep it in a large cardboard box that is high up with the flaps cut off cover the cage with a tank cover and insilate the box with a towel good luck!!
I found 4 baby robins under my deck, and I wondered why the next day 2 of them were on the ground (dead)... I thought the wind must've blew them over but I'm guessing that the mother didn't want them or didn't have enough room? =( But yeah, I feed them once in a while but I leave most of it to the mother. That keeps a close relationship with the mother and her babies and with me too. We both take care of the baby robins. =)
I found a young robin today. It looks like only a fledgling. I found it by the side of the road and one of its wings was broken. I took it home, put it in a boxtop with a covering and paper towels in it. It seemed traumatized so I hand fed it a few small worms. I've gotten a lot of information about taking care of it, but I wonder if you have any more tips for me. It would be greatly appreciated
im currently helping four baby robin that the mother has abondon due to the fact that the tree their nest was on fell down...the birds are very well on their way to flying one of them looks like a runt and needs a little more attention..but over all I have no idea how much food to give theses helpless robins I am feeding them worms but I dont have all the time to do so every often
Hi brenna,
Did you find the little guy? Keep it warm and hydrated (tepid water from a dropper). As soon as possible, get in touch with a zoo or rescue center; they can point you at someone who is authorized to care for orphaned birds. If you are able to find the nest, put it back in; contrary to popular mythology, the parent(s) cannot "smell human" on the chick.
Thank you That is all very interesting. It will help me immensly. considering that I have just found two baby robins that fell out of their tree. I am planning on helping them and then returning them to the wild.. So I need information and decided to try this site. So thank you all again so much!!!
Keep it very warm and feed it when it gets hungry and believe me if they are hurt they usually won't eat wich is sad and believe me cause I'm an animal lover! And NOT in the sick way either cause I think of animals as brothers and sisters to me cause they are more of a sibling to me than a pet.:)
The smartest person on here is the lady who is hatching the robin eggs. She is correct in the info she gave to you. If you cannot find the hand feeding formula, then you could use baby rice cereal which worked for me. I fed them with a medicine syringe (no needle) and it worked fine. Good luck
I just found a baby robin today. It's a fledgling and im keeping it in contact with it's parents. We can't reach the nest and we have dogs. Should we keep it? Should we put a heat lamp on at night? What should we do tommorow? (We have work and my and his mothers can't come up every hour.)
Well the first baby hatched hatched out of the egg about an hour and half after I posted last. He/she is taking well to the formula, if I can figure out how to load pictures I will.
ok...how do you catch the robins though? I know theuy are abandoned becuase the mother wasnt anywhere near them...
This helped a pot. :)
