# Need advice about my latest baby grackel



## Peapicker (Sep 18, 2000)

Austin found aother baby grackel that had fallen out of the nest yesterday. 

He was doing fine, eating etc. but this morning when he woke up he passed an enormous poop, shaped like a water balloon and as big as my liitle finger tip. It was encased in a membrane. The baby is a fledgling.

He has passed two more since - smaller, but the same. 

Can anyone tell me what is wrong? He is eating well. I was feeding him a mix of soaked ktten food and baby bird formula, but I switched to just baby bird formula after the first poop.

Baby grackel #1 is doing fine.

Thanks in anticipation,

Marjorie





Thanks as always for your help.


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## TAWhatley (Mar 6, 2001)

That's actually a great poop for a baby/fledgling songbird. You want them to be that way. It indicates the right amount of both nutrition and hydration. Are Baby #1's poop not like this?

Terry


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## Peapicker (Sep 18, 2000)

No - his are more frequent and much smaller - a bit elongated. Like little tadpoles with white heads and brown tails. Baby #2 has the same tadpole structure but the white heads are very large. I'm glad to hear this is normal. Both young'ns are eating well and regularly and do seem to be thriving. 

Marjorie


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## TAWhatley (Mar 6, 2001)

Sounds like all is well then. Continued good luck with them!

Terry


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## Peapicker (Sep 18, 2000)

Thanks as always Terry.


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## pdpbison (Mar 15, 2005)

Hi pp,




Yes, this is how they poop...


I would like to encourage you to consider to feed them things closer to their Natural diet if possible.


Or at least to use 'Natural' and real foods, 'non-processed' foods, which may approximate in nutritional content and form, of the actual foods they would be getting fed.

Fresh ripe Cherrys, rehydrated semi-dried Berrys of various kinds...appropriate Insects... clean sanitary Fish bits and especially the skin and spines and internals and so on of these. Canned Water Pack sardines, the two layer ones, rinsed well, are very good...and emphacise the skins and spines. Fresh raw Sushi in small amounts...


They need real Chlorophyll also, so plant eating Insects, or fresh Wheat Greass Juice in which semi-dried Berries ( Goji Berries in particular) have been soaked, can work very well...


Processed commercial 'dog' or 'cat' foods, while the favorite of every vet it seems, are simply not wholesome or safe or anywhere near as good as "real" food is.


And the real justification for the use of these inappropriate processed 'foods' is only the ease and cheapness of getting and managing them, and not because they are in any way positively good' for the Bird.

And in many cases, they will be bad for the Bird.


Good luck...


Phil
Las Vegas


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## Peapicker (Sep 18, 2000)

Thanks Phil - I'll try adding more natural foods to their diet.
Marjorie


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## Maggie-NC (Jun 22, 2005)

Hey Marjorie

Congratulations on saving the baby grackle. They're really cute little boogers.

Enjoy the encapsulated poop while it lasts - which won't be long! I think God made them this way so the parents could pick up the poop and remove it from the nest to keep them clean until they can move around a bit. It is entirely normal.

Songbirds can easily get a condition called metabolic bone disease which will cripple them. You can easily take care of that by giving them such things as a few pieces of cut up grapes and/or cherries with every meal. We also sprinkled their food with a calcium product called osteoform to help prevent this. 

I think, but want someone to back me up on this, that you can grind up Tums (with calcium) or even calcium tabs you may take yourself, and sprinkle that on the food if you can't get a calcium product for birds.


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## alvin (May 10, 2006)

What the devil is a grackle?


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## TAWhatley (Mar 6, 2001)

alvin said:


> What the devil is a grackle?


Cheeky little birds somewhat like blackbirds: http://www.mbr-pwrc.usgs.gov/Infocenter/i5110id.html

Terry


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## Peapicker (Sep 18, 2000)

That's exactly what my husband has asked - more than once. It was described to me as a large blackbird -so I now understand that most of the 'blackbirds' I have been seeing are most likely grackles. It has similar nutrition needs, behavior etc to a Bluejay.


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## Lin Hansen (Jan 9, 2004)

Lady Tarheel said:


> Enjoy the encapsulated poop while it lasts - which won't be long! I think God made them this way so the parents could pick up the poop and remove it from the nest to keep them clean until they can move around a bit. It is entirely normal.


It's amazing, right? We had a Robin couple raising two babies in a pine tree right next to our front porch and at least two times I saw the babies shed encapsulated poops and saw the parents immediately pick it up in their beaks and dispose of it outside the nest.

Linda


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## Peapicker (Sep 18, 2000)

It really is. This little guy has a routine. Each time I am feeding him he will stop feeding, turn around a couple of times, back up, and poop. Every time. I have not seen that before. It appears to be an instinct to keep the poops at the sides of the nest. All nature truly is amazing.

Marjorie


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