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Baby House Sparrow
By admin | June 3, 2008
We have found and adopted a baby house sparrow.
Just the other day while I was walking, I noticed a very small bird in the middle of the road. I watched him hop as cars flew by. I walked to the edge of the road and watched the baby sparrow. He hopped towards the middle of the road just as a car was coming. I closed my eyes not wanting to see the baby get hit by the car. I felt the wind of the car as it passed. I looked into the road and saw no bird. I looked down at my feet and there it was. It managed to hop across a busy highway and end up at my feet. I reached down and picked it up and brought it home.
UPDATE : We took this baby house sparrow to a bird rehabilitation center where we ended up working as volunteers for a while. I have received lots of questions on what to feed baby birds, we used this formula at the bird rehabilitation center.
Kaytee Handfeeding Formula - EXACT HAND FEEDING FORMULA 18 OZ.
My son loves birds and when he saw this little one he asked if we could keep it and I said I think we have to until it can feed on it’s own. So we now have what I believe to be a baby house sparrow.
I searched the web for tips on feeding a baby sparrow and came up with this site that has loads of helpful tips and recipes. http://www.starlingtalk.com/babycare.htm
We have had the bird now for four days and my son feeds it whenever it asks. The baby sparrow has really taken to him and will only feed for him. As soon as the baby sparrow sees my son it stands tall, chirps loudly and opens it mouth wide. My son is happy to oblige and feeds the little sparrow. He has named the bird ” Tweety.”
I will post updates as he grows and hopefully in the near future we can set the baby sparrow free!
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July 24th, 2008 at 5:12 pm
Can I get your email address for some questions? My daughter found a House Sparrow egg on the concreate today with no nest nearby. The egg was cracked open and the chick is moving a little bit. I have no idea what to do when and if it fully hatches/lives. Not sure what size bugs etc.. to give it?
July 24th, 2008 at 8:51 pm
When and if it hatches you will need to feed it a formula. You can find it at most pet stores, just ask for baby bird formula.
You will need to feed it with a dropper. If you search youtube for feeding baby sparrow you can find lots of videos showing you how to do it.
I responded to your post here that way others can learn from it.
August 27th, 2008 at 12:31 am
A House Sparrow presence has been gifted to walk beside me in this life. While on a spiritual retreat in Sedona AZ I jokingly asked my grandpa (who has passed) for a new baby (animal)to rescue. Animals seem to find me. Exactly a week later a barely feathered sparrow appeared on my patio. His mama never showed up with food while I watched from inside the house. After a while I fed him quickly then hid inside again. He always waited for me to come back to feed him. All others I rescued would flee the first chance they got but not him. He had no fear of me or my 6 dogs either. Which can be a problem since he walks on the floor pecking at crumbs. I syringe fed him every 20 minutes and now he thinks I am his Mama/Mate. He lives loose in my home with full flight wings. He has been outside twice but chooses to live with me. He has an open cage and plays in my silk trees. I have an 150 lb Newfoundland. He will swoop in and beat him to the water bowl, then hang upside down and make my Newfie wait while he takes a bath. My Newfie just stands over him unsure what to do. What an attitude he has! Oh, and does he have rules! His life is ran by his instincts. He gets so upset when I don’t know the rules. Like birds don’t eat after dark. At dusk we find our ‘night night’ place and we are not to be disturbed, even if the light is on in the house. I also didn’t realize there was a window of time when young to expose him to things and have him accept them as safe. Now, any new toy is evil and he won’t even explore the whole house! He only accepts exactly what I showed him when young. I never have to worry about him landing on the hot stove at least. He is a little over a year old.
September 10th, 2008 at 5:34 pm
I need some help. I rescued a baby sparrow on Aug. 18,2008 (feathers not fully developed, couldn’t fly) & a cat was just getting ready to pounce on it when I banged at the window. I went from feeding it scrambled egss mixed w/bread with a little karo syrup water; after a couple weeks it ate bread mixed w/chipped sunflower seeds. Then I started feeding it medium size meal worms around Sept 2. It won’t eat anything but meal worms now (20-35) a day. On Sept. 5 I coaxed her out of the house since she could drink and would peck the meal worms off the floor. She flew over the house and not in the backyard tree like I had expected where I had intended I could still watch over her & feed her. After almost 2 days she showed up on the deck just hopping around & pecking at the wood that was wet. She looked thirsty and ruffled. I said “Cheap, Cheap is that you?” And she started hopping towards me. So I yelled to my husband to get the meal worms. I threw a few to her, she had a little trouble at first cuz I think her mouth was dry as she was pecking on the wet wood. I filled up a frisbee with water and she immediately drank. She then just kept hopping on the deck by me trying to hide in a couple leaves on the patio. I could tell she’s not safe outside cuz there’s a couple cats that keep prowling the yards and kill birds. I stopped the human contact like her sitting on my finger and at about 10 days after I had her, (intending on releasing her with success) — but that didn’t work. She gets within a few inches of me. Anyhow, I crawled around on the deck saying her name and she just hopped about a foot in front of me for about 20 minutes so I could see if she would let me pick her up but she wouldn’t; but, she never flew away either. Then she tried to sit there and sleep. So, I got the tray plant tray I had in the house before and put the dried leaves in it that she used to play in and rustled the leaves a bit and she jumped right in so I brought her back inside. I hauled the flower pot with the tree branches and everything else back inside. She went right to it drank from her dish, ate more worms & went to a branch and tucked her head under her wing and immediately slept. After 1/2 hour she woke, ate, drank, took a sand bath, a bath in the water,rustled in the leaves, and slept, etc.
She’s now a bird living in my house in some tree branches (about 5′ high) stuck inside a flower pot. She’s never been in a cage and won’t eat ANYTHING but mealworms even though I have every kind of seed imaginable in two trays for her. I don’t know if she doesn’t know how to crack millet, or niger seed. She also has cracked corn and chipped sunflower seed.
I found out today from an audobon society bird person that she needs vitamins and shouldn’t just eat meal worms. I bought some vitamins and a parakeet stick (two different kinds) and millet seeds on a branch.
I can’t make her eat any of it. I don’t know if she doesn’t know how or if she’s just spoiled because after she got the meal worms she started cutting back what she would eat off my finger or drop it out of her beak and hop on the floor by my chair or fly by my head until I gave her the worms. I’ve tried not feeding her much of them today even if she begs but I don’t want her to starve.
Can you please tell me if she is old enough to eat seeds? Since I found her on Aug. 18 and she had her feathers, (tail feathers weren’t fully developed) and she couldn’t fly I was assuming she was maybe atleast 2 weeks old. (I fed her with an eye dropper at first and would drop it in her mouth). Would she be at least 6 to 8 weeks do you think? She takes a sand bath in her tray and has taken a water bath in a tupperware lid and seems happy but now I’m worried about her diet.
In the meantime, I need to figure out something big to put her in — that can still be inside the house. She stays in the family room but this morning flew into the kitchen begging for meal worms until I gave in and before I found out that that wasn’t good for her to eat just that.
Please if anyone can give me any info regarding what to do now I’d appreciate it and knowing if she really can’t eat seed or whatever. (Today, I also bought some dog food and let it soak and offered that to her but she wouldn’t take it. If I put a meal worm on top of it or anything she’ll just eat the worm.
If anyone can help me with the feeding issue I’ll worry what to put her in later but I do know I have a bird now who is living freely in my house.
Thank you.
March 11th, 2009 at 3:29 pm
I ride horses at a large barn near my house, and there are about 20-40 house sparrow nests at the very top of the roof. The occasional bird will fall, but most are able to fly by that time. However, A few pink little babies fall out as well (I don’t know how, they are barley able to wiggle around). It is impossible to get them nywhere close to their nest, even if we knew which one they belonged to. Since there are multiple barn dogs, I need to know how to take care of them and if it is legal. How do I raise them without them imprinting on me so I can release them? If they do become tame, is it legal to keep them at my home?
Please Help!
Thank you.
April 20th, 2009 at 2:04 pm
My friend and I found a bird outside. We are not sure what type it is but it looks a lot like a House sparrow. It can’t fly and we don’t know what to feed it. Could you send me some ideas for food that we could feed it.
Thaks
April 20th, 2009 at 2:32 pm
At the bird rehabilitation center we used this.
Kaytee Handfeeding Formula - EXACT HAND FEEDING FORMULA 18 OZ.
April 22nd, 2009 at 10:32 am
Question on how to release baby sparrow? I rescued her after she fell out of the tree. We have had her for nearly 2 weeks. She is now eating and flying around on her own. I am so worried that if I release her too soon she will not survive, that the cat might get her, or other elements, that she is not accustom to. Thank you for any advice..
April 22nd, 2009 at 10:37 am
If the bird is eating and flying on it’s own, it would be safe to let her free but not anywhere around cats.
May 28th, 2009 at 7:20 am
Yesterday I had some trees removed and when I started to remove the branches I found 2 featherless (well, almost featherless, they each had a feather or two) sparrows along with 5 unopen eggs. I put them into a small jewlery box with cotton balls up into a tree near where I found them. I checked back hours later and noticed that one of the two birds were missing and blood on the other (but unharmed). I took the bird with the eggs in the house and started warming them and feeding the bird. It’s smaller then a dime…if you can image. Anyway, I’m surprise to see that the bird seems to be doing well. One of the 5 eggs was broken and the bird inside was dead. Another egg had a little hole in it and now is half open with a living bird. I’m hoping that they make it, but I’ve read that the odds of a featherless sparrow living in the care of a person is not good. Any advice would be appreciated.
June 20th, 2009 at 9:03 pm
Please help i found a baby sparrow and did feed it at 709pm its now 10 pm and he still is sleeping when should i feed him again he is only a day old please help should i wake him to eat