I found an injured birdie today...what to do?

So i was watching my dog in the yard today and i noticed that he was sniffing around the corner of the deck with more enthusiasm than usual. so i went to investigate. my heart nearly jumped out of my chest! we have chicken wire under our deck to sort our compost. some how this sparrow had gotten itself caught in the chicken wire. when i saw it, i thought it was dead, it was just laying there under the wire. so i jostled the wire a little and it started moving again, making all kinds of angry noises. so i went inside and grabbed a towel and fished the poor thing out of there. i set it on the porch and waited for it to fly away. i guess it was tired cause it kind of hobbled around for a long time. so i picked it up again and noticed that it's wing was lame. so i borught it inside and put it in a laundry basket with a towel on top.
it has been a few hours and the poor birdie keeps trying to fly out of the basket. it will manage to climb up the basket and fall over trying to fly, it iswearing itself out. it can't fly but it keeps trying.
i'm worried because i'm not sure what to do with it. do i really want to take this wild bird to a veterinarian? should i put it out of it's misery? should i let it die on it's own? this poor bird has no way of surving on its own, i think it's wing is broken. should i do the hollywood thing and nurture it back to health?
i'm stressing out of this little bird. i can hear it fluttering in the laundry basket right now

fix him up, get him blazed for the pain and feed him some. Put a towel in the laundry basket bottom as well..you keep him you will be stuck with him for at least a week. If he cant fly he will die or even get eaten by predators, even bugs will eat him if he is stationary outside.

unless you have an ASPCA that would take it"Doubt It" it is going to die... I am so like you in this kind of situation... I would call the ASPCA for advice...

I personally have no experience with treating lil injured birdies... but heres some info I found


How To Care For An Injured/Orphaned Bird
Injured Birds
How to Care for an Injured Bird - eHow.com
Bird Advice - What to do if you find an injured bird

Good luck !

I once brought in a bird that hit my windows and broke his wing. I put him in a cage just a bit bigger than him (pidgeon in a budgie cage). If you are feeling daring, if you put their wing into it's natural tucked position and tape it in place, it should heal perfectly. I wasn't feeling so daring, but his winged still healed ok enough for him to fly away 4 weeks later. There are many kinds of wild bird seed at walmart, also put out a small bowl of water, and line the cage (or rubbermaid bin with an oven rack on top) with paper towel or newspaper. Clean the bottom and food and water bowls out every other day. Once a week, we also put Larry in the tub with 3-4 cm water. He never tried to fly out and loved to splash in the water for a bit while we washed his cage.

Like I said, 4 weeks later we took him outside and opened the cage. It took him a few minutes to remember how to fly and haven't seen him since.

I found a baby bird with a club foot in my yard years ago, and I nursed him back to health, though most people told me I should leave him and let nature take its course, but like you, I couldn't bear to leave him in the grass to be eaten! I named him Nietzsche- I put him in a little cage and fed him with an eyedropper, and after several weeks, he was big enough to fly away.
So, sometimes it works. Don't blame yourself if it doesn't since you can't know how badly the bird is injured. Putting him in a cage if you nurse him at home may help calm him somewhat, and a trip to the vet might well be too traumatic without a cage, so you should get one either way you decide

Keep us posted on how the little guy is doing- You have a very kind heart and I hope you are able to help this little creature!

go get it a couple worms, or some food..

i used to know a guy we called 'pigeon man' and everytime we found an injured bird we took it to him, and when it was better we could go round and see them go...

i was a wee lad in those days... 'twas fun...

get it maaaaaaad blazed, and itll be so high itll think it can fly:thumbsup:

nah just kidding, id just give it food and shit, make sure its fine and nurse it back to health and let it free. i once took care of a squirell and thats what we did, minus the blazing it part...

Re: injured sparrow

i've taken cfv's advice and taped its wing to its side using some surgical tape.it's hobbling around now, it doesnt even notice the tape.that was hard to do, i didnt want to hurt it but i had to use a little force to get it to stay still. we have a ton of birdseed, my folks have a lot of bird feeders on the deck, i think thats how the bird got intot the wire in the first place. anyway, i put some birdseed and a saucer of water in the bottom of the basket with a towel last night. it hasn't touched any of the food but it has left some messes in the basket.
so here's the dilemma: i'm home for spring break right now. i'll be going back next sunday. clearly my folks don't want to look after the bird....now what am i supposed to do?

he doesn't need 24/7 attention... unless you mean going back to your dorm room?

if so i'd take it with me.... it doesn' tneed alot of attention, just a safe play to stay away from predators, and a source of food and water... eventually nature will take it's course and it'll get better... then you can just let it go...

you gotta let it go as soon as it can fly tho... after awhiel it'll become domesticated, and forget how to live in the wild... and then releasing it, even with a good wing again, means certain death...

call the aspca. they might know of a place that takes care of injured wild life to be released

Yeah Biz call the ASPCA,,,if that wing is going to heal your gonna at minimum need a splint...

i just called the ASPCA....and got an answering machine...

well, it is saturday.

lol make sure you sort out the bit of fence it got caught on ;)

you dont want it to happen again...

I once found a bird with a broken wing. I called a few places and ended up getting a number to a women who took care of injured birds. When I went over there, the husband showed me around. They had owls and even a bald eagle (poor thing got shocked on some power lines). If you call around you may find someone who takes care of wild birds.

pluck them feathers, gut it and get the bbq and the grill ready hahahahaha