Advice regarding a Robin

Taceom

Apologies first if this is in the wrong forum, feel free to move it if it is.

On Saturday last my husband found a 'stunned' robin in our back garden and brought it inside to keep it safe from our dog and neighbours cats. He put it into a disused hamster cage and gave it water and some bird feed. Over the weekend it appeared to become a little brighter and slightly more active. However as far as we can see it does not appear to have eaten or drank since it was put in the cage. This morning I tried to tempt it with blood worms that we feed our tropical fish but the bird was not at all interested in eating.

I'm wondering if I should try to open it's beak and put food in, or just leave it to eat in it's own time. My fear is that without eating and drinking it will not survive.
Any advice would be appreciated.

Half-cocked

If it's looking a lot better, releasing it might be the best option. Wild birds often will not eat or drink in captivity.

Taceom

Half-cocked wrote: »

If it's looking a lot better, releasing it might be the best option. Wild birds often will not eat or drink in captivity.

I considered that this morning and brought the cage outside to see how the robin would react. But even when I opened the cage and put my hand in it didn't make any attempt to escape, so I felt it wasn't well enough to be released and then be at the mercy of the 4 legged pets in the area.
I will try it again tomorrow morning.

Kess73

Assuming that the robin was simply stunned from some impact and not suffering from internal injuries/broken bones, then the thing to do would be to leave the opened cage outside and give the robin time to come out of it with nobody there to stress it.


A healthy robin that is not used to human close contact will stress easily and could end up dying as a result. It would most likely refuse food and be frozen with fear if a hand came into a cage to it.


As already said, the best thing to do is release the robin and see if it flies off after a while. If it is not an injured bird then the longer it is kept in captivity the greater the chance of it dying.

bernardo mac

Hope all goes well with the robin,Taceon.Curiously,in regard,to same species I've noticed that the robin has been missing from our garden area for some time.Am doing the Garden Birdwatch Survey and realised I have not seen or heard our friend for maybe, two months.There's a healthy mixture of many others.

bernardo mac

Took a walk around the estate to check presence of a robin...none.Back at base, lo and behold ,our bold and very much individual friend turns up , as if to quell any anxiety.Will do a bit of digging.

If you need advice Taceom, ring The Kildare Animal Foundation Wildlife Unit at -
(085) 814 1992. They deal with all kinds of wildlife including birds.

Taceom

Thanks all for your replies and advice.
I was torn yesterday as to what I should do. Until I was informed here I didn't know that wild birds in captivity would not eat. And had I not looked for advice I would have continued to assume that because the robin wasn't eating it was still unwell and shouldn't be released. Having received advice here I thought I should release it so that it could eat, and yet I felt it wasn't behaving the way a well bird should do in a cage.
This morning, however, the story was very different. The robin seemed much brighter, it was moving around the cage and attaching itself to the bars. To my uneducated eyes it appeared to be doing what a bird that wants to be released should be doing. So with our dog shut away and no cats obvious in the area I took the cage out and opened it and away the little robin flew over the hedge.
So many thanks again for the advice.

ThunderCat

Taceom wrote: »

Thanks all for your replies and advice.
I was torn yesterday as to what I should do. Until I was informed here I didn't know that wild birds in captivity would not eat. And had I not looked for advice I would have continued to assume that because the robin wasn't eating it was still unwell and shouldn't be released. Having received advice here I thought I should release it so that it could eat, and yet I felt it wasn't behaving the way a well bird should do in a cage.
This morning, however, the story was very different. The robin seemed much brighter, it was moving around the cage and attaching itself to the bars. To my uneducated eyes it appeared to be doing what a bird that wants to be released should be doing. So with our dog shut away and no cats obvious in the area I took the cage out and opened it and away the little robin flew over the hedge.
So many thanks again for the advice.

Great stuff Taceom. I'd say the worm population the far side of that hedge took a bit of a hit!

Taceom

ThunderCat wrote: »

Great stuff Taceom. I'd say the worm population the far side of that hedge took a bit of a hit!

I'd like to think that one of the birds feasting at our bird feeder this morning was my little friend.