Diet: Common House Sparrow

• Basic Diet:

  • Common House Sparrow eat both seed and fruit.

  • Formula Options:

    • Kaytee Exact Baby bird Formula

    • Harrisons Formula

    • Hagen Tropican Baby Bird Food

  • Supplemental Options

    • Egg Food Bird Supplement (Vitakraft or Quiko)

    • Abba Green

    • Dried crickets or mealworms (crushed)

  • Protein Options:

    • Live crushed mealworms, crickets or grasshoppers

    • Dried crushed mealworms,. crickets or grasshoppers

    • Mashed hard boiled or scrambled egg (chicken or duck)

  • Fruit Options (you can purchase the fruit in the form of organic baby food)

    • Banana

    • Mango

    • Cherries

    • Strawberry

    • Papaya

    • Apple

    • Blueberry

• How to Feed:

  • Crop feeding: Mix fruit and baby bird formula

    • Mix mashed fruit and baby bird formula

      • 20% fruit, 10% supplemental options, 70% baby bird formula with water or unflavored Pedialyte

    • Offer as much food until they stop gaping. and the crop appears full. Start to feed once the crop empties

  • Other Feeding Options:

    • Mix 30% mashed fruit 10 % supplemental mix or crushed protein and 60% bird formula. Add water or unflavored Pedialyte (if sickly) to create a chunky but moist consistency.

    • Give the mix on the end of a coffee stirrer or skewer. The baby should eat as much as it can off of it. Give time for the baby to swallow the food entirely before offering more.

• How often to feed:

  • Crop Feeding

    • Hatchlings and young nestlings eat about . 5-1ml of formula every 30 minutes

    • Nestling will eat about 1 - 2ml of formula every 45 minutes to 1 hour

    • Fledglings: 1.5-2 ml of formula and pureed fruit every 1.5- 2 hours

    • Feed every 1-2 hours from sunrise to 2 hours after sunset

  • Other feeding methods

    • Hatchlings and young nestlings: feed as much as they can until they stop gaping every 30 minutes

    • Nestling: feed as much as they can until they stop gaping every 45 minutes

    • Fledglings: feed as much as they can until they stop gaping every 1-1.5 hours

    • Feed every 1-2 hours from sunrise to 2 hours after sunset

• How to Ween:

  • Nestlings will start to explore and naturally peck around the cage at different things.

    1. 1. Scatter parakeet or finch seeds around the cage and hang millet spray to encourage exploration in food.

    2. 2. Put soft (papaya or mango) fruit inside the cage, change the fruit every 6 -8 hours.

       1. Fruit Options

          • Banana

          • Papaya

          • Strawberries

          • Blueberries

          • Apples

          • Mango

    3. 3. Start to put grass, rose buds, weeds and greens around the cage

       1. You can offer cucumber and lettuce throughout the cage as well.

  • Continue hand feeding every 2 hours throughout the weaning process

  • Gradually decrease the amount of formula given daily as they start to peck at the other food items around the cage.

  • It is important not to rush the weaning process. Some birds take longer than others to wean.

• Helpful Tips:

  • Fledglings can be offered pellets such as “Harrison’s brand” to add to their diet and as they wean off of formula.

  • Rotate the fruits and type of protein to provide a variety of nutrients

  • Food should be given mostly mashed together to create a moist watery but substantial consistency until the bird eats on it’s own entirely.

• Food In a Pinch:

  • Non-citrus fruit

  • Cooked quinoa or cooked rice mixed with egg yolk and a little water