Taking Care of Baby Birds

We had a big project going on at our house over the weekend. We replaced the roof over the entire chicken pen, which includes the coop and grazing area (or should I say pecking area?). It was time to open the pen up a bit to let in a little more sunlight. Did you know laying hens need calcium and vitamin D (from sunlight) to make good, strong eggs?

When we removed the old, tarped roof from the pen, my son cleaned off all the debris on top - old leaves and such. Once some of the debris hit the ground, he realized there was a bird's nest with four baby birds inside. They appeared to be only a few days old.

Aren't they cute? If anyone knows what kind they are, let me know. As you  can see, their beaks are bright yellow - a stripe on the outside and all yellow on the inside. They don't have many feathers yet.

Unfortunately, we accidentally destroyed their habitat on the roof, so there was no way to replace them in the same spot. And once we enclosed the top of the chicken pen with wire, there was no way a mama bird could have gotten back in.

So we moved them close by to a protected area in my son's tree fort.

And hand-fed them worms - for two days so far while we are waiting for a wildlife rehabilitation organization to call us back.

I was naively thinking one worm would keep a birdie that small happy and full all day.

Boy, was I wrong! See them gobbling up the delicious red worms? From what we have read, baby birds' mamas feed them a worm every 20 minutes!

We are doing the best we can and hope to get a call soon so we can deliver these babies to someone who knows all about taking care of them.

I'm teaching my son math! Isn't that enough? I don't want to teach four baby birds to fly, too :)

Ahhh.....life in the country. There's something to learn everywhere you turn.

Have a happy day.

Love,

TCB