Page 361 - Hand rearing birds second

352 Hand-Rearing Birds

be limited to a mirror for the chick and natural habitat images. Some rehabilitators suggest that the
use of nature sounds is helpful to young birds and gives the chicks a distraction to the otherwise
unstimulating atmosphere of a critical care room. The caregiver should use a gown or costume,
mask, and gloves to disguise the human form. If a puppet is available for the species, it is wise to
use it for food delivery while the chick is in critical care.
Eaglets that are severely emaciated or debilitated when admitted should be tube‐fed a warmed,
not hot, liquid emaciation diet for obligate carnivores such as Carnivore Care (Oxbow Animal
Health) or Emeraid IC Carnivore (Lafeber Company). The author often uses human chicken baby
food as a first food during recovery. Use either a luer‐lock syringe and stainless‐steel feeding needle
to deliver smaller amounts of diet to a younger eaglet, or a catheter‐tipped syringe and red rubber
catheter tube for larger eaglets of 4 weeks and older. Tube‐feed the emaciation diet for 1–3 days
until the chick begins to digest fully and easily. If they are not digesting well in that time frame,
continue with the liquid diet until they do. Amounts fed will depend on the eaglet’s age, develop-
ment, and degree of emaciation. During any one feeding the crop should be not be more than
one‐third full until digestion is occurring at a normal rate. As a rule of thumb, feed every 3–4 hours
during daylight hours (7:00 a.m.–9:00 p.m.). Small pieces of muscle meat and skinned chopped
pinky mice may be added to the diet once the crop is emptying normally. Feed small easily digest-
ible meals four times a day while continuing supportive tube‐feeding of the liquid diet. This slow
return to a normal diet allows the digestive system to re‐engage and begin functioning again. Resist
the urge to overfeed the youngster that is undergoing the re‐feeding process. If the crop has not
emptied a few hours after a feeding session, skip the meat diet for a few feedings. The re‐feeding
process may have to be restarted more than once with extremely fragile emaciation cases. Once the
chick is clinically recovered and is digesting well, add natural diet items gradually while reducing
tube‐feedings until the chick is eating normally.
Very young eagles, in their first few days of life, eat only the muscle meat from an animal with
no bones. Quail breast or other pure muscle meat cut into small bite‐sized pieces and moistened
with Nekton‐Biotic‐Bird, which contains probiotics to aid digestion normally transferred by the
adult bird mouth to food items fed to the chick, is a good first meat meal. Calcium supplement
should also be sprinkled on the meat meals. Young eagles up to about 2 weeks of age do not self‐
feed and will have to be hand‐fed small bite‐sized pieces and cut‐up pinkie mice and rats with the
use of feeding tongs or forceps. By 10 days of age, eaglets are eating small amounts of finely crushed
bone (no sharp edges) as well as the muscle. As the young bird reaches 3 weeks, it will begin to try
to take meat from a carcass. Do not offer whole fish at this age as fish bones easily penetrate the
thin walls of the digestive tract of a developing bird. The chick will not be able to totally self‐feed
in this way, and small pieces of meat with finely crushed bones and calcium supplements must
continue to be provided. The act of pulling at its food helps the chick develop strong neck and back
muscles. Meat supplied to chicks at this age should have calcium carbonate with vitamin D pills
crushed and liberally sprinkled on it.
Once the eaglet is out of critical care, eating and digesting well, it should be allowed to eat as
much as it wants with no restrictions on amount. Chicks do not overeat, ingesting only what their
growing bodies require. As with any young bird, eaglets will eat more, up to three times the amount
of a healthy adult, until they are fully developed. Some food should always be left over in the box
after feeding to assure the eaglet is getting enough. Weighing amounts is good practice for docu-
mentation; however, the metabolism varies in each individual patient: hence, it is hard to know
exactly in terms of weight how much an eaglet should eat in any given day. The eaglet’s food
demands are the best guide.