Picture to left - the female Robin incubating eggs.

She became quite used to me using my front door. It is the only usable exit from my home, so I had little choice! She disappeared for short periods, presumably to feed.

She was a tiny bird but looks quite plump here because her feathers were ruffed up and wings spread apart to cover all her eggs.

The first chick was born around 17 June - see small picture above - and at this time I thought there was maybe only one in the brood.

Email 21 June

I have five youngsters and I have not seen the mother all day - very unusual.

They keep raising their beaks whenever they hear me in the porch - in the hope of some food? They will need at least 2 weeks of care with mealworms, strawberries, softened kitten food, etc??  See https://youtu.be/s6RUM5RfIuY (a series of 6 videos on raising a couple of American robins, a much larger species. Part 5 includes teaching to find food.)

They'll soon become dehydrated?

Email 22 June

I have seen what I assume is the male, once this morning, bringing in food but nowhere near enough for 5 chicks. Female nowhere to be seen, she was very distinctive with ruffled front feathers, as if a cat had pawed at her, she was always to and fro with food. She wasn't frightened of me - but the male is very wary.

So I think they will starve to death. Either that, or I try to supplement their diet.

Every time I open a door, they all raise their beaks up, wanting to be fed.

They were desperate to be noticed. However, I made no attempt to feed or give them water at this stage, hoping that the mother would return. This went on for a couple of days. Two chicks died shortly after this photo was taken.

Email 24 June

Three still alive and sucking at water from a tiny squeeze bottle when offered - my attempt at least to keep them hydrated. They have given up opening their beaks expecting food.

They look quite a bit smaller now. And they no longer chirp.

What I need is some sort of emulsified food that can be administered as a liquid?

They are not being fed properly now, maybe an insect a day by the male parent. Very weak now and not even asking for food, which they used to do.  One died, it stank to high heaven,  so I removed it.  That got rid of the flies that were starting to buzz about. I think the others will die shortly. They've basically given up on trying to live. If the mother had survived they might all have been fine. I'll put a proper box up outside the house next year, too much trouble to have them in the conservatory.

Photo: Two chicks about to try flight for the first time - 25/26 June 2024. This would have been dangerous because in my porch there are a mass of hiding places from which any adventurous bird could not have been recovered easily. Hence, I moved them into a covered nest box on the floor, the male parent bird having long since disappeared. They were at this stage entirely dependant upon me for both food and water. Food consisted mainly of emulsified corned beef, with additions of tiny amounts of ripe soft fruit such as apricot. The corned beef was fed via an old eye dropper bottle with the nozzle end drilled out to around 4mm.

The ground was very hard and dry, so finding tiny earthworms was a challenge, even for a human.

The mother, who was wonderful feeding them, probably got killed by a cat, anyhow she is no longer around and the male is useless. So they are dying off one by one .... I removed a dead one the other night, the smell was awful.

I tried to get some live food for them in town but no joy. They are past saving now anyway. I'll remove the whole nest shortly.

At least my young blackbirds are ok, they are being taught how to feed by copying their parents. I mowed the front lawn a few days ago then swamped it with gallons of river water, to bring worms to the surface, and that has worked.

This evening when I came back from Waitrose there were three beaks wanting food. The water must have cheered them up. I tried an emulsion of corned beef and water. It was devoured, and two of them came back for more. I even got a chirp out of one of them. I think they are seriously dehydrated. They seem more keen on water than on food.

See what the morning brings - if the useless male bird even brings them a single insect.

I think the male collects a few insects twice a day, offers them to non-responsive beaks and flies away.

The female was in and out with food many times a day, even when they were much younger.

*********************************************************************

Three hungry beaks waiting for more water and corned beef emulsion - and all chirping. So at least they are still trying. They now recognise the end of a plastic bottle as meaning food. They are starting to walk around the nest too. So I may need to make a larger nest/box for them at floor level, as they'll be falling off the ledge they are on and crashing down onto sharp objects in my conservatory. Every time I open the front door they'll try to escape?

I've not seen the male bird this morning yet. I doubt they'll survive long on just corned beef and water? Maybe small pieces of soft fruit too?

Photo : 26 June 2024.

Two remaining chicks in a new ground based nest box, and being fed water from an eye dropper bottle, with the end drilled out to make a larger hole (3 to 4mm diameter).

One of my baby robins was shivering this morning. It took a little food but died a short while after.

The last one seems fine, and is perpetually hungry, and I'm teaching it to fly onto my arm to get some food. I'm encouraging it to build up wing muscle strength by balancing it on my hand and then lowering my hand quite sharply, it's almost like flying on the spot. Anyhow, it gives some wing exercise. It's quite capable of flying six inches up from the floor onto my arm. A short video of this is here:

https://youtu.be/-HFNp-tOFQ4

Once he/she starts trying to fly around the conservatory, it will have to take its chances out of doors. I've built a small aviary for it on the lawn as an interim measure.

Baby robins jump from their nest when they are about 13 days old. It takes them another 10-15 days to become strong fliers and independent birds.

I did weigh it - about 15g, so a little on the light side yet. Should be 15g to 20g.

A makeshift aviary on the grass.

Whilst the last remaining youngster loved hopping around on the grass he/she failed to make any attempt to learn how to feed from the ground. Food taken from tweezers was devoured, but simply not recognised as food when it was dropped on the ground in front of his/her beak.

This is probably why you see parent birds laboriously teaching their offspring how to find their own food - it is learned behaviour.

The best way to encourage garden birds is to have lots of hedges around a wild garden, one with lots of weeds and absolutely no use of insecticides. Song birds need a plentiful supply of insect food only a short distance from their nests.

Sadly, the robin died this morning after being extremely fit and active only last night.

https://youtube.com/shorts/4Qr-vlG27wk

Last video of the last remaining robin. It seemed very happy in its makeshift little aviary on the grass, still wanting to be fed with tweezers. But it managed its first earthworm, after one end had been fed into its beak.

It was later transferred into its indoor enclosure, where it devoured another two earthworms and it seemed perfectly happy at 6pm - when it had its last meal of the day because I was going out for the evening. It also had some water, fed by a dropper (it had still not learned how to drink from a bowl or eat food from the ground).

Sadly, the next morning (just now) it exhibited all the symptoms of the one that died a few days ago - fluffed up feathers, unsteady on its feet, refusing food or water, and rolling around and unable to stand up straight. In all, a total and sad transformation from the previous day, when it had been full of life and flapping its wings at the sight of food or my hand.

I had intended to try teaching it to take food from the ground and then to release it the next day to take its chances, but sadly this never happened. It was so tame that it would probably have come back to be fed even when after it had been released to fly free. Indeed, this may have been essential unless it somehow managed to learn how to feed itself.