Wildlife Mamas: I have a baby crow here

[girlndocs]

... what do I do? :LOL

Ds and I found it on our walk. I don't know how old it is ... it has many flight-type feathers in its wings and long tailfeathers but down on its head and back.

I do know not to bother healthy birds I'm not sure why I picked this one up but I think intuitively I realized it wasn't moving "right": when I picked it up it was more passive than I expected and on examination I realized it has a long shallow scratch on the underside of one wing (I see now it hangs that wing slightly as it hops) and it's very skinny and its feathers look disheveled.

I put "her" in a cae I can easily sterilize, away from my hens (I know, disease vectors), dusted her with DE 'cause she's probably crawling with mites and offered her some canned cat food, cooked brown rice & water. In a bit I'll go out and look closer at the scratch and probably clean it.

Anything else?

Oh, and she has blue eyes. Is that just a baby-crow thing?

[MPJJJ]

Originally Posted by girlndocs

... what do I do? :LOL

Ds and I found it on our walk. I don't know how old it is ... it has many flight-type feathers in its wings and long tailfeathers but down on its head and back.

I do know not to bother healthy birds I'm not sure why I picked this one up but I think intuitively I realized it wasn't moving "right": when I picked it up it was more passive than I expected and on examination I realized it has a long shallow scratch on the underside of one wing (I see now it hangs that wing slightly as it hops) and it's very skinny and its feathers look disheveled.

I put "her" in a cae I can easily sterilize, away from my hens (I know, disease vectors), dusted her with DE 'cause she's probably crawling with mites and offered her some canned cat food, cooked brown rice & water. In a bit I'll go out and look closer at the scratch and probably clean it.

Anything else?

Oh, and she has blue eyes. Is that just a baby-crow thing?

Look up your local rehabber. Caring for wildlife can be difficult, and is deadly for the animal when that person doesn't know how to cre for it. they're not like cats and dogs.

[girlndocs]

Thanks, MPJJJ but a few years ago I went through the "local rehabber" search for an injured pigeon. It was a species of pigeon, apparently, that was native to our area and threatened -- so legally I wasn't supposed to have it -- and yet I *still* couldn't find a single rehabber willing to take it, other than to put it down : And I have seen the difficulty it is to find anyone who gives a about a crow.

Anyway, I've done some care of wild animals before, incuding said pigeon, and have a healthy helping of common sense, so what I'm looking for is more a refresher course for anything I may have overlooked

[MPJJJ]

Why don't you tell me your city and state, I'm sure I can find someone close to you.

[girlndocs]

Tacoma, WA.

Really? You know of wildlife rehabbers who "waste" time on crows?

[MPJJJ]

Originally Posted by girlndocs

Tacoma, WA.

Really? You know of wildlife rehabbers who "waste" time on crows?

Back in NC, we took in anything that needed help. Our local rehabber has a crow whom she has had for over a year. I don't know the story on him, but she obviously feels a crow is worth her time. Don't let a few bad apples spoil the bunch.

[girlndocs]

Thanks.

Well, I went out and wiped the crusted dirt and crap off her wing and realized it's not just a scratch: there's a big lump, not an abscess or tumor, so I expect she's got a bone broken ETA: Her radius, I think. Or conceivably there could be something foreign broken off in there, but I'd think that would cause some juicy festering-type swelling, which it isn't.

She's active (swearing and snapping at me when I pick her up) and pooping (not diarrhea, either) but not, I think, eating or drinking.

So what's the deal with the blue eyes, anyway?

[MPJJJ]

Hope these contacts help.

Washington, Northwest region (Arlington)..... 360-435-4817

Kaye Baxter, Sarvey Wildlife Care Center
[e-mail]
Specialty: raptors, general mammals, raptor flight cages, medical


Washington, Northwest region (Friday Harbor)..... 360-378-5000

Wolf Hollow Wildlife Rehab Center
[e-mail]
Comments: cover Skagit and San Juan Counties


ngton, Northwest region, Kitsap County (Bainbridge Island)..... 206-855-9057

Sandra Kay Fletcher (Director), Island Wildlife Shelter
[e-mail]
Wildlife Species: all species including raptors but no large carnivores
THIS YEAR ONLY: no orphaned passerines or mammals, orphaned raptors OK


Washington, Northwest region, Snohomish County (Lynnwood)..... [phone] ex.817

The Progressive Animal Welfare Society (PAWS)
[e-mail]
Wildlife Species: all species
Comments: PAWS treats approximately 5000 injured and orphaned patients each year

[hippymama]

I THINK YOUR DOING A GREAT JOB SO FAR. I AM NOT AN EXPERT BY ANY MEANS BUT HAVE RAISED MY SHARE OF STARLINGS,DOVES AND SPARROWS. IF YOU THINK AN INFECTION MIGHT BE DEVELOPING YOU CAN WARM UP THE BIRD ( KIND OF LIKE A FEVER). SOMEONE SHOULD BE ABLE TO HELP YOU SET A BROKEN WING. CROWS ARE OMNIVORES SO YOU CAN FEED HIM A WIDE VARIETY OF STUFF. MOST PET STORES CARRY SOME SORT BIRD CEREAL AND ANTIBIOTICS. WARNING! BE PREPARED TO SHARE YOUR HOME AND LIFE WITH A VERY IMPRINTED, INTELLIGENTAND DEMANDING CROW. YOU WON'T BE ABLE TO JUST LET HIM GO. I HOPE THIS HELPS. I THINK YOU KNOW WHAT YOUR DOING.

[girlndocs]

Ohhhhh no. She's not going to be a housepet. When I was about 14, I temporarily kept a crow my friend had found (we figured it was someone's escaped pet as it had clipped wing feathers) and that bird was the messiest, most troublesome ... ... ... He got out of his cage once, flipped the latch, I'm not kidding, and wreaked havoc all over the room! :LOL I was so happy to pass on *that* curse. (I wish I could remember who my mom contacted about it, now that I think of it. I'd forgotten about Poe the Crow till just now!)

[MPJJJ]

That's not true, not as far as not being able to let him go. Do you think backyard rehabbers keep every bird they raise? of course not! When the bird gets older, it will let her know when it is time to back off. It will become aloof, peck at her, focus more attention on getting out, and as long as she respects it's developing wildness, it'll be fine. Hormones and instincts are much stronger than the weeks or months a wild animal spends with a human. Only a very small pecentage of animals actually imprint for life, and wild birds usually are not in that catagory.

[girlndocs]

Hey Marie, if we end up releasing it back into our neighborhood, do you think it might stay on "friendly" terms with us? That would be kinda cool :LOL

I remember reading Desmond Morris telling about how he helped a friend of his raise a ... rook, I think it might have been? Anyway, he was shocked, walking by the aviary one day, to hear it say in a very cultured voice "Hello." They ended up releasing the bird but he said he always imagined it scaring the crap out of somebody by landing next to them on a park bench and saying "Hello."

[hippymama]

I once had a starling who went EVERYWHERE with me and took a bath or shower with me EVERYDAY. All my girlfriends spent all their time catching him crickets and grasshoppers. Once he flew away and didn't come back and after a week and I thought he was gone. My kids came home with a poster about a lost pet starling. He had moved in down the street. the lady said that he went right to her refrigerator. :LOL

[PikkuMyy]

Hi Kristin,

I'm wildlife rehabber - please feel free to PM me if you want to talk.

I can't believe that you couldn't find someone to take it. (not that YOU personally couldn't, but that there aren't any out there near you.) Where I work, we take everything as long as it's not a domestic animal. I realize that we are a larger facility than others but I don't know of any who don't take crows - just non-native birds.

Anyway, I would be extremely leary of trying to rehab it yourself if you are not working with a vet or a rehabber. Besides being illegal, you may be setting up the bird for a painful life if it's the wrong type of fracture or has healed improperly. It also may have metabolic bone disease from improper nutrition. It needs the right type of food, the proper wrap for the bone, and antibiotics to help it heal. You also have to make sure to have as little contact with it as possible or else it will habituate to humans (see itself as a human) and have big problems in the wild from that. Plus, you really need to flight-test it to make sure it can fly properly (with length and ascention) before releasing it and if it gets "better" visually, you won't have a flight cage to test it in. Otherwise you'd be releasing it to a possible slow and painful death.

Oh, and yes, blue eyes is a "baby" thing.

And the "break" could also be a foreign object like a BB pellet. It wouldn't necessarily fester unless it were very infected. But you'd need an x-ray to really tell what it was.

I'm glad it's alert and pooping but if it won't eat or drink then you don't have much hope for it. It's probably in pain from its wing and animals in pain don't eat.

Let us know what happens when you contact the rehabbers. If no one will take it, perhaps someone at my facility could give you some advice - we have some crow experts. Oh, and at our facility, baby crows go into foster care until they are self-feeding. If it's down and about, it probably has already fledged but at that age, parents are still offering it some food while it looks for the rest itself. We use 3 cc syringes to feed a liquified cat food/nutrient mixture.

[girlndocs]

Thanks Pikku! I was hopng you'd respond. I contacted the closest reference Marie gave me and if I don't hear back by tomorrow I'll give her a phone call.

I'm hoping that after being left alone all night/early a.m., she'll eat and drink. I put the cage on my yard table to keep it away from the chickens, but then found out they had been fluttering up there to check the crow out Probably very intimidating for her. When I went out to make sure the cage was covered, she was perched up on the edge of the water bowl so I'm hoping she drank a little.

Do you think I should try to syringe feed her something in the morning if it looks like the food hasn't been touched?

[hippymama]

What great advice from Pikku. I have also worked as a rehabber with birds of prey. We had two crows at our facility but they were not native to our area. Even with our trying our hardest not to imprint them it still happened. The state told our director that we could not release imprinted crows. I'm not there anymore but those crows probably are. I hope you can find a good rehabber. I only gave the advice that I gave because I assumed you were going to try to take on this job yourself, at least until you could find a place for him. Most people wouldn't have even cared enough to try. Or they just show up at my door. Usually with some little fledgling that isn't lost just out learning to fly. Good luck to you and your little friend.

[girlndocs]

Here is the reply I got:

Yes, it is a baby Crow. All baby Crows have blue eyes. I can't tell you what is wrong with the wing since I can't examine it. It could have a fx for [I think she meant "or"] a strain. You will have to check that out. I am sorry but there are no rehab centers around Tacoma to send you to.

Feed him moistened dry cat food, canned dog food and lots of fruit. They like grapes and watermelon the best.

I suppose if we had to, I could talk my husband into going all the way to Arlington (which is where this rehabber is located and the closest of the contacts Marie found), but it would be, um, a real pain. And maybe prohibitively expensive, with the cost of gas.

The guest of honor is very alert, "calling" out intermittently, but still not eating, I think

[PikkuMyy]

"fx" is a standard abbreviation for fracture. The food suggestions sound good. They really like red fruits - so plums, cherries, etc. would also be good. We soak the cat food in water for 10 minutes or so to make it soft and easy to eat and digest.

Is there any vet nearby who might be willing to charge a smaller fee to at least examine it's wing so you know what you are dealing with? If it's just a strain with swelling, then cage rest is most appropriate. If it's a fracture, then the wing really needs to be wrapped with cotton gauze and then what we call "vet wrap", a flexible plastic netting type of bandage that's breathable. We do a figure-8 wrap on the wing so that it can't be bent. THis is usually on for at least 2-3 weeks. It has to be changed every week or so, or if it gets wet. And a small water bowl used to prevent wetness.

In the cage, make sure that the crow has a perch or two of a nice thick wood that matches the size of it's feet for gripping (3/4" diameter?) of branch or twig that you can find around your house. It should be attached across the cage so that the crow can perch without banging its tail feathers. You can do this by putting the ends of the twig through holes in the cage and taping them or finding a stick that's the same width as the cage and putting a little masking tape on each and and wedging it in. Put the food in a very flat pie plate or cake pan that the crow can walk through without tipping over.

[girlndocs]

I think she has been eating!

[MPJJJ]

Originally Posted by girlndocs

I think she has been eating!

PS: it boggles me that anyone would turn an animal away because it is a common species. crows are animals too, and wildlife rehab is about the individual as well as the species.