Baby birds must be fed often, and if you are trying to get a stray or abandoned baby bird to open its mouth, it can be very challenging.
Especially when you know it could be a life or death situation for the baby bird.
First, check to see nothing is wrong. It may just be pure stubbornness on the baby’s part. You can very gently pry open the baby bird’s mouth with the side of your fingernail.
Use very little pressure when squeezing ‘gently’ from the sides of its mouth, and as soon as you see a little gap for a second, very quickly insert food or liquid.
It may feel horrible, maybe too much force to properly open the mouth, but when you are trying to save its life, especially with a baby bird, you sometimes have to fight a little for the bird’s life.
If and when it opens its mouth, that’s a good sign! Now you can move on to providing food and medicine in the same way!
When Should You Feed a Wild Baby Bird?
Typically, feeding a wild baby bird is not advisable. Generally, their parents will have this covered.
If a baby bird is found on the ground, it is most likely a fledgling, or it may have fallen from a nest. If you find the nest, simply place them back in it!
If you don’t see the parent come to the baby birds’ nest after a while, they may be orphaned. Just remember, parents come and go fast, and you may have missed the parent.
You may want to check in every few minutes to see how the babies are doing.. are they cold or lethargic, or are they ok? Generally they are likely fine. Without the parent(s) they will die fast.
The right thing to do: If you think they are orphaned, take the baby bird or birds and their nest, if possible, inside a small box lined with cloth and grass. Take them to a safe quiet area, and then feed the baby birds as guided below!
How Do You Get a Baby Bird to Open Its Mouth?
Baby birds appear to spend almost all of their time with their mouth open. However, as young birds can apparently forget this process at times, when it comes to feeding time it can be disheartening and frustrating situation to deal with, especially for a baby bird owner, or orphaned baby bird rehabilitator!
If you are asking ‘how do you get a baby bird to open its mouth?’ it is really a simple answer – all you need to do is open its beak yourself.
This needs to be done in a careful and gentle manner. For example:
- To start, get all of the materials you plan to give to your bird, whether it be food, medication, etc. Place that right next to you, so you can reach for it quickly and are not fumbling later.
- Then, hold the baby bird and make sure he is held in place (so he doesn’t move too much and make it difficult.) If your baby bird is a wiggler and you are comfortable with it, then you can take a hanky or soft rag to wrap him in (just don’t wrap him too tightly.) Also, when you are doing all of this-even for a brief moment, create some reassurance and calm energy during this activity.
- Lastly, hold the baby bird’s beak in between your thumb and forefinger and carefully pry his mouth open. You want to place the food or medication in the bird’s mouth before he shuts his mouth again. Again, if you are feeding or administering medication, you need to do it slowly, so they will have time to swallow.
How Do You Get a Baby Bird to Eat?
Now that you have the baby bird with its mouth wide open, how to you get it to actually eat the food you are giving to it? Fortunately, obtaining an opened mouth from a baby bird is the bulk of the battle!!
For most animals, once they get something into their mouths, they instinctively will swallow, especially birds. This is likely instinctive to ensure the animals don’t drop and lose a great snack.
That being said, you will want to feed a baby bird a specific way:
- Whole food: You will need to chop it into pieces small enough for them to swallow (a baby bird cannot swallow whole worms until much later).
- Liquid: You definitely do not want it to go down their windpipe and into their lungs. This can cause drowning, or pneumonia, which is a really serious health risk!
Plus, don’t shove it right down their throat.
Instead: Place the food in their mouth, and allow them to initiate swallowing. It will take more time, but it is the safest!
What Should You Feed a Baby Bird?
It’s a widespread myth that baby birds consume milk. They are not mammals and never produce any milk. Baby birds have primarily been fed insects.
When you first bring in orphaned birds, they will likely be dehydrated; because of this, you will likely need quick water and energy.
For the first couple of feedings while you prepare something more solid, you may offer 1 teaspoon of sugar with 4 teaspoons of water!
Then, after they’ve stabilized, you can feed the baby bird every ½ hour to hour.
Do not feed them worms. They will only be used to getting worms from their parents when the parents are vomiting for them to digest.
What To Do Instead: Feed wet dog food, soft-boiled eggs (all good nutrients specifically made for birds), raw liver!
Final Words
If you were wondering, “How do I make a baby bird open their mouth?” We answered that question.
While it’s best to attempt to coax a baby bird’s mouth open first, you can also gently pry it open with a fingernail.
This should help with the feeding or administering medication!