I am currently rearing (and things look good on the no imprinting front) a wild baby sparrow.

He is called Henry (he will be released, dont worry) and he has this lump. Is it his crop, or is it not normal?


(had to handle him breifly to get him to hold still!)
Seems odd that it is on the side of the neck? It isn't hard.

It looks like his crop...have a look first thing in the morning and see if it's empty.
don't worry too much about imprinting...he should be ok in a few weeks.Don't release him too early.Make sure he can find food by scattering it about in his cage to make him search for it.(If you have a cage that is)

I had a couple years ago that returned to their cage on the lawn at night for about ten days...which was great as they had a ready source of food and water there.

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Oh thank god, I was so worried I'd posioned him or something.

I have done wildlife rehab at college, but you never feel fully confident do you, especially when you have this little scrap of life relying on you to keep it alive!

Should I keep feeding when the crop is like this or wait for it to go down. I am guessing he is 10 days? What do you think?

This is Henry on saturday, at a guess, aged 7 days.



And Henry now:

Little and often...but all species vary,and it depends on the age.

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Hi Tapir,
I brought up a baby sparrow a long time ago, on chick crumb and lettuce, although I don't think that was the best choice of feed. Small mealworms are the best aren't they?She was a couple of days old when I found her on the floor, and the nest was too high for me to reach and above an aviary. When she got her wings I encouraged her to fly by placing her high up and holding food near the floor. Also I gradually moved the food down from dropping it into her gape to holding it at floor level and then just placing it on the floor and standing back. Then I started hiding it so that she had to hop or fly around to find it.
Only when I was happy that she was foraging did I take her outside with me and let her fly around the garden. She always came back when called and slept indoors for a week or two. But gradually she flew further and stayed out longer until she was sleeping in a tree outside my window.
The last I saw of her she was being eyed up by a cock sparrow on my shed roof, and I watched her fly away with him.

have hand raised parroletts and that is a crop make sure it stays full before the fledging stage Ive used eye droppers to feed a bird formula and to start giving the babies water as well watch for lots of dropping to see the little one is eating enough

good to know about crop needs to empty what is soo
ur crop and how does it harm the bird???

Oh how little and weak it is. So poor she is!!! I am feeling pity. But how it was happening. You can not tell the matter clearly. What is the actual matter?