My first baby starling

[skellysgirl]

My baby starling has started hopping on top of its box so i have ordered a large cage. How will i introduce him to it? Also he has no intrest in eating on his own. How do i do this?

[ringo-bing]

You can put your baby in a cage without problems.
As for eating on their own, well, it takes patience and time. Eventually they will do it.

[skellysgirl]

I believe agent starling is molting for the first time. Are they more sleepy?

[PR-bing]

Molting is stressful but I have never observed my birds being sleepier during molt.

[skellysgirl]

What about vitamines? i started poultry feed like starling chat suggested still with baby starling diet also. Anything else to add? agent starling seems happy and healthy just want to keep it that way.

[pr-BING]

If you are using the dog food based diet you may want to introduce vitamins. Be sure to follow the instructions that come with the avian vitamins. If you are using the Mazuri Insectivore diet you probably won't need to add vitamins.

[skellysgirl]

Im sorry to keep bothering you. I but a tree limb in his cage and he is trying to pull pieces of bark off and eat it. That is vad for him correct? i should take it out right?

[Princess R-b]

That is not the usual diet for a baby starling! I wouldn't put a tree limb from the yard in his cage because it might have bugs or mites. It does show that he is a curious little thing and he may be getting ready to self-feed. How old is he? You certainly aren't bothering me! I generally only check this sight once a day. Also I am running out of guest names; soon I will have to dig up my sign-in information!

[skellysgirl]

I am not sure. He is going through his first molt i think. He started flying. He will not eat on his own. Suggestions?

[prb]

Is he getting his "stars"? They usually start getting them on their chest.
Be careful with the flying. I always make sure the doors are locked so no one accidentally comes in and the bird fly out! I would also cover mirrors and windows. Turning ceiling fans can injure your bird. I am a worrier about those things not everyone is though.
Are you feeding him a wet food? I have found that they like their food on the sort of dry to dry side. Then they like to dip the food in water.
Put whatever you are feeding him where you will put his food dish and feed him from there. He will see where his food is coming from. You can try putting some bright colored bird pellets on top of the food to catch his eye and direct his interest to the food. Be patient soon he will start self-feeding and believe it or not you will miss feeding him!

prb

[Skellygirl]

I don't think American starlings get stars. What pellets should I get?Oh I will be heart broken when I don't feed him anymore.lol

[prb]

hmm, maybe we aren't dealing with a Starling here. First of all they aren't American Starlings they are European Starlings living in America. Starlings start life in a pearl grey jacket of feathers with a white spot at the throat. When they get their grown-up feathers the molt starts at the chest with black feathers with a white tip.
So have you checked pictures of your baby with internet photos of European Starlings?

The last time I got a Starling to self=feeding stage I put the dog food mix in a dish on the bottom of the cage with bright colored soft-bill pellets sprinkled on top. I hand-fed the bird near the food dish so he knew the area where his food was coming from. The pellets caught his eye and before long he was eating on his own.

[skellysgirl]

He has grey spot right now

[prb]

Are you able to post a picture of your baby?
PRB