mockingbird baby

[molly1949]

I have been brought a mockingbird baby by a nieghbor, I am the bird lady and everyone expects me to know about each species..LOL
He is doing well but I wondered if anyone else has raised one and if they ahve any particular quirks I need ot know about. he is very vocal when hungry, and eats a pippet full about every 20-30 minutes all day and will do so all night if I dont cover his area and turn out lights.

[MissDolittle]

Hi Molly,

I raised a bunch of Mockingbirds and have one right now. What exactly
are you feeding him?

Yes, they are very loud lol, and at night I also cover them so it's dark
for them. From sunset to sundown, every 30 minutes is perfect :).

[thundersquirrel]

hi molly!

i'm the squirrel person in my neighborhood, an at school lol.

i don't know much about raising birds except in general. i just wanted to say hi, and i hope the little bugger's doing well. ;)

[molly1949]

hey, nice to get to know you!!
he/she? is doing well, noisy, eating and sleeping and going~a lot~
lives in an old tank I had my gerbil in, all scrubbed and clean and new with a bird in it. thought about a cage, however, have three baby kittens born under my house in residence IN my house now, so , didnt want him/her/ to be too accessable.
thanks for the welcome.
Molly

[MissDolittle]

That's funny, I'm waiting for 3 kittens to come in, because I raise those
too for the Humane Society. I'm also waiting for 3 more Mockingbirds,
got one already.

Anyways, I would not suggest to keep the bird in a tank, because the
humidity does not agree with them.

Now, what exactly are you feeding him? If it's the wrong stuff, it would
explain why he is loud during the night.

I soak Purina Kitten Chow in bird Vitamins (Avimin), rub 2 cuttlebones
together to sprinkle some powder of pure calcium over it and every
second feeding give mealworms for protein.

[molly1949]

no humidity here..this is vegas..~smile~
I am feeding a nasty concoction of insects purchased at petkingdom [grubs], pureed to my hubbies dismay in our blender with ripe fig from the tree in the yard that all the birds seems to be drawn to and egg yolk and a bit of spring water, I heat it up just slightly so it isnt chilly and use a pippett to deliver the blend.
Last night, the baby slept quietly, beak under wing, and woke me at 6 am with the prettiest song, of course, when he saw me, it became a raucus noise, he got excited and bopped about then tossed his mouth wide for the first load. its about every 30 minutes or so.
I have music playing near him and he seems to like it
I am getting a cage ready to move him to so he can look about and be near our old dove, she imitates sounds she hears too, so perhaps he wll learn part of her call.
the kittens in the house were born UNDER the house and mommy took off quite early after having them, they were barely tottering about when the dog, our weener hound, got curious and brought one out.
they are lined upfor shots and spay/nuetering as soon as they hit about 3 months. I go through the humane society for a lot of saves Iget here and try to find homes for them, but these three kitties have found a home with me, I cant part with this batch, they are named and get along with the dog and cat we have already.

[MissDolittle]

Wow, you sound like me lol.

With humidty I didn't mean the humidity in town, but in the tank. From the
poop and feeding, the moisture will get stuck in the tank. Also the bird
needs direct sunshine at least 6 hours a day. Window glass will filter the
important UV rays out. Mockingbirds and Doves don't get along real well,
I wouldn't put them anywhere close together :).

Insect eaters like Mockingbirds do not need any fruits! The insects are
great, but he won't need them grinded up...have you tried to feed them
live? Gotta stay as close to the natural feeding as possible.

Purina Kitten Chow has all the rest of the nutrients the bird needs if you
add some petbird vitamins to the water you soak it in. Anything else
has proved fatal here. Live insects ( I even feed them live to the hatchlings),
Purina Kitten Chow, bird vitamins and calcium powder (which I get from
the cuttlebone) is all he needs right now, plus the direct sunshine with
some shade.

Ok, here is the dreaded question lol: what do the droppings look like?
Lots of white or lots of dark colored..or both? If both, how much white
and how much dark is in it? A percentage is cool.

Does he look older or younger than this baby? Does he perch?


http://www.amazes.us/album/albums/new/wildlife/birds/firstdayoutside.jpg

[molly1949]

I knew that..[NOT]
LOL
the tank has a layer Itake out and change every day, it stay dry, I hate poopy so, Iremove it each time Isee it.
his poop looks nice, as poop goes, he goes several times a sday, it is a mix of light and dark colors, reflecting the colors in the food.
The bird guyintown here says that figs generally have iron and extras, but if they are not good, I will remove them from the mis, I added kitten food and bird vitamins right after I read your last post.
the figs are gone..the dove, well, she isnt a morning dove, she is a white pet dove and since the bird is an infant, he/she wont hopefully have any genetic memories of bias.
he weighs about a feather, he tries to clean his wings etc and bops about quite springy in his habitat.
My grandchildren will flip when they see this little guy, but Iwill have him up high so they wont get at him.
today, I held him to feed him, so he would have contact with a living being, otherwise, it seems so cold, just a pippett appearing and food delivered..I have to add human ideals everytime.
the kittens came up and sniffed, tried toeat his food, hated it and left. the bird seemed of no interest, so perhaps I can ready the cage and transfer him to avoid humidity in the tank.
ourplace is a catch all, things come here and remain for life. I have a one eyed pigeon, who arrived here last halloween, wounded badly and cold and Ithought aboutdead. I held out no hope for him. but, alive and well and fiesty as heck, freddy the pdgy is still here, dominating our screen porch and having arunning love affair with dovey. once a day they get to fly lose together, the dove taught him how to fly with but one eye.
we have a crippled ducky in our yard named milagro, as heis a miracle, a tiny banty hen, whose eggs are being used for the mocking bird baby, a bunny with a bad attitude who love to nap with the dog. the dog, ballparkfrank is a rescue from the street. he came to us in 98 the only year we had snow and has stayed on sleeping in a water bed and enoying tv. I have a naked rat, who requires lotion or she gets peely skin, having no fur. Irecently relocated 2 kittens from aprevious rescue and a rooster and two hens I would have kept, but code enforcement had no pity..LOL and..the rooster began crowing, loudly, at all times of day.
I am 56 and a sucker for animals, they run my life, they hold my heart and somtimes..they squeaz it.
I hope the baby mockingbird does well, I have very little luck with small songbird varieties, and was actually laying awake this morning to listen for the baby, so I was overjoyed to hear him, not just call for fodd but burst into a short song. thanks for any and all help yougive me, I really appreciate it.

[MissDolittle]

Sounds like it's time for you to get a rehab permit! If you do it anyways,
it's perfect! And you are doing a great job!

Hmm, the poop should not show any other color than the white and dark, so
hopefully it goes away now that you left the figs out.

Do me a favor and check on the kitten food bag how many % of Crude
Protein it has. If it's under 40%, add more insects to the food. I breed
mealworms myself, so I always have some handy. Just give him pieces
of the soaked catfood with the vitamins and calcium and live insects, no
more mushing it up..his guts need to work the real stuff now.

Yes, a cage is much better, more like a nest where the air can get through.

Is there a place where he can practice his wings? It's important that he
flaps them and practices flying.

I'm 44 and just the same sucker for all of the critters ;).

[MissDolittle]

Here is a little movie I made feeding mockingbirds last year..it might take
a little to load before it starts. As you can see, I just basically drop the
pieces of catfood into their beaks. It's not supposed to be liquidly..a
thick paste similiar to peanut butter is perfect.

http://www.amazes.us/album/displayimage.php?album=35&pos=7

[molly1949]

how cool was that!!
not liquidy..okay..I can do that..LOl poor baby has to struggle through my efforts, if he makes it, he will be one tough birdy

[molly1949]

okay, the kitty food has exactly 40% crude protien, never thought about that before..you're making me think, ow..the pain..LOL
have a big container of meal grubs from the pet store but, since Idothis so much, perhaps breeding would be a plan.
with the cats and dogs Irescue, I have a referral from the human society for spying and nuetrering so I wont go broke [188 bux with regular vet for spaying w/o the shots!!! ] with the referral, the apying is 30 and the nuetering is 20 and shots are 14 for the whole round.
I do things toearn the extra cash, no gambling is not one of them, Ilive in vegas and never go into casinos. I do resumes and type setting and manuscripts and build websites for pesonal use or business use. it can be a pain, as people want a website then dont seem to think they need ot give me their content..sheesh.
I took a break to feed the baby and Im so happy it will go better now, I worry all the time when I get a new tiny thing in here that Iwont croak it off through ignorance. I am trying to get my kodack easy share peice of junk, waste of a hundre or so dollars to download images Itook of the bird wo I can share, I am very frustrated, have 10 imaes and when I try to download, it says there are no images to download,...arrg!!!

[MissDolittle]

Wow, that's great that the Humane Society offers neutering and spaying
for much less. I live in a small town in Texas and not a single vet helps
the shelter out here.

I go to the feedstore and buy the 8 in 1 shots for my dogs and give them
the shots myself. I only take them to the vet for rabies shot. I have a
Great Dane puppy now, his appointment for neutering is next week.
That's going to put a hole into my wallet too.

But I also do webdesign and hosting to support my little rescue here :).
It all started with a mockingbird that didn't make it because I did all the
wrong things..so I swore to myself that this is not going to happen again
and I learned and learned and learned.

Last year a lady brought me a mockingbird she had fed with catfood soup
and most of it went over the bird instead of the beak..she tried for a week
until she brought him to me, never cleaned him up..take a look at that
poor thing (he died a week later). Since it was just soup and not soft
soaked pieces, the bird had Metabolic Bone Disease where the bones
just don't get enough calcium and become weak and brittle..his toes
were already broken just from hopping around:


http://www.amazes.us/album/albums/userpics/10001/mockingbird-dirty.jpg

I hope you get your camera working..it's so much easier to give advice
when you see it :).

[molly1949]

poor little baby!!
this one is doing really well, even with my mistakes. he does knd of like the meal worms whole, but I haveproblems with them myself, so creepy!! I also soaked the kitty food. he was quiet last night, til mocking birds outside decided to act up. we have tem in the fig tree, which s why I thought they might enjoy figs.
I found out yesterday afternoon why though, the ripened figs fall and insects get at them, they are eating the insects. I used my video camera zoom to get close up looks.
funny the things I learn whne I take the time for a really close look.

[MissDolittle]

Ya, that makes sense, that they eat the insects of the figs!

You can drown the mealworms in the same vitamin/water mix that you use
for the catfood. Put the worms in first, let them drown in and then add the
catood pebbles. I usually grab the worms with tweezers and that's hard if
they wiggle.

I can't wait until you tell me that he flew off :).