Posted by Jen on July 5, 2005

Q: Hi,

This question is variations on a theme, but here goes: I found a baby house sparrow at work in late April. It appeared to be about 9 -10 days old at the time - the nest was 30 ft up a palm tree so impossible to return it there and it was being attacked by ants. It is now early July and the bird is doing great. We decided to keep it as it is securely attached to us (his favorite perch is a head or shoulder) and would not do well in the wild. The bird is just now beginning to show signs of molting. This is a bit later than the 6-8 weeks I have always read. We initially fed the bird on moistened cat food and mealworms. It now takes mostly birdseed and still a few mealworms each day. The bird looks like it is getting some male feathering (a bit of chestnut on the shoulders, white in the face, and dark underneath the feathers of the belly), but nothing is happening very quickly. Does the molt usually take this long or are we possibly neglecting something in the diet? Any advice is appreciated.

jen

A: I think you're in the right ballpark - I'll bet it's diet! Diet has a profound effect on their feathering and someone who knows about diets and birds can immediately tell if all is going well simply by looking at the feathers.

With this in mind then, I'm a bit concerned about the birdseed diet. Not sure how early in your bird's life it should be eating a diet of mainly seed. Keep in mind that its parents would have been feeding a mix of insects in the nest and as the baby fledged, it too would have been picking up insects. The catfood is adequate in a pinch but not as a steady diet. I'd increase the insect diet - a steady diet of mealworms can be bad too - and then make sure that your bird has access to grit. The grit in its diet will allow for better digestion of the seed which in turn provides more/better nutrition.

So, step up the insect diet (grasshoppers, crickets, hairless caterpillars, flies, etc) and supplement with seed when necessary. Once your baby is fully feathered out, it will still need a varied diet but it won't be as crucial as right now. Hope this helps. Thanks for asking.

John Wiessinger ( July 6, 2005)