Expert: Miguel Rodriguez - 7/1/2007

Question
Yesterday, as I stood in my yard a baby robin dropped from a tree. There is a robins nest in the tree. My husand took a ladder to look into the nest and hopefully put the baby back. But, the bird that dropped was much smaller than the others, and it appeared no room in the nest. Will some smaller birds be put out of the nest? I am feeding him. He only has a few feathers on his head and wings...and a bear bottom that is rather ugly. His first day he looked almost dead, but today he is eating me out of house and home. I feed Blue Birds Daily and have been giving this little Robin whole mill worms,or whole small red worms or wheat bread soaked in water. He eats every hour, up to 12 mill worms or 4 small red worms at one feeding. What should I be doing with this little guy?? I want to do the right thing and actually thought he would be dead today. He is in a clean cottage cheese container with paper towels wrapped around him, and on our screaned in back porch. Every hours he is ravenouns and eats until he falls asleep. Are whole worms bad for him? How much do I feed him at one feeding? Laura

Answer
Unlike humans, most animals will only eat as much as their body needs. The diet you're feeding him sounds quite well and balanced, well done!, though you might want to kill the worms before feeding them to it, at least until it gains some size.

This little birdie was pushed out of the nest by his siblings. Many bird species have competition among nestlings, that usually result in the death of the younger (the largest chick will be that wich hatched first) and smaller of the clutch.