Baby Swift / house martin....

Re: Baby Swift / house martin....

Emma Purnell — Tue, 20 Jul 2010 17:40:09 GMT

Well, I am still feeding mine up and doing little test flaps to try to build the wing muscles, but, as with these birds, they don't leave the nest until the last minute and he is being lazy! Feeding is going well though, looks in good condition otherwise still thank goodness!

Re: Baby Swift / house martin....

Angiy Michael — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 22:18:42 GMT

Fab ! Yep its usually end august beginning of sept..think it has got thrown out a little in recent years by the weird seasons !

Re: Baby Swift / house martin....

Sal the 1st — Sat, 17 Jul 2010 19:51:47 GMT

well my baby swallows are flying and generally they leave the first or second week in september and I think the swifts round here are about the same time - you can just about set your clock by them

Re: Baby Swift / house martin....

Emma Purnell — Sat, 17 Jul 2010 19:45:57 GMT

I have a little guy the spit of him, if you waggle a bit of food to the side of him he will take it without needing to be forced. Worth a try! Good luck.

I would also be keen to know when the migration time I have to feed him up by is - will keep an eye on this thread!

Re: Baby Swift / house martin....

Angiy Michael — Sat, 17 Jul 2010 17:31:57 GMT

Swifts and house martins are notouriously difficult to hand rear, they cannot be fed with forceps but must be force fed by opening the beak..this has to be done with great care as it is possible to fracture the beak easily. Studies have found the generally prefer one person's technique when being fed by a team. When I worked at the RSPCS we fed a baby bird egg mix which is made up with water and add insectivourous which is a prepared mix of crushed meal worms and insects. You should be able to get hold of these, you could also add in some avi pro range suitable vitamin powder. Deciding when to continue with Swifts is governed by a number of factors but the main one is migration times..if you cannot get it fed up to size and launched by the time it is due to migrate at the end of the season it will not be able to be released until the same time the following year, and as they feed on the wing it is necessary to force feed for this whole time usually...you can see why this wouldn't work ! Apart from the time involved this would affect survival chances massively and also the bird would be too over socilaised with humans to release. I would see advice from either St Tiggywinkles or RSPCA West Hatch. Unfortunately if you cannot get the bird up to release status in time it is kinder to call it a day but fingers crossed XX p.s excuse all the typos..typing fast ! LOL

Re: Baby Swift / house martin....

Sal the 1st — Sat, 17 Jul 2010 01:23:10 GMT

http://www.commonswift.org/Hand_rearing_Swifts.html

Re: Baby Swift / house martin....

Honeybadger — Sat, 17 Jul 2010 01:09:24 GMT

In the wild they eat insects on the wing. They do everything whilst flying (even sleeping!) They cant take off from the ground so if they ever crash land they can get a bit stuck. They need to be thrown into the air to take off. If he wont take food try gently forcing his beak open and placing it in with forceps.

Re: Baby Swift / house martin....

Brogan Proud — Sat, 17 Jul 2010 00:00:51 GMT

This is Houdini - so called as he escaped the cages and is now in the oxygen kennel lol.....