Bird Health: How to Treat and Look After an Injured Bird at Home

Have you ever seen an injured bird flailing around? It’s a sad thing to witness, and many of us feel powerless to help because we simply don’t know what we ought to do. If you want to help, here’s how to treat and look after an injured bird at home.

First, you need to know what the law is regarding injured wild birds.

According to the RPSB, it is “legal to take in and keep most injured wild birds for the purpose of looking after them and releasing them as soon as they are fit.” However, it’s not recommended that you attempt to be a bird’s ‘mother’ (i.e. caring for a baby bird that’s flown the nest but failed to fly properly), or that you act as a vet for an injured bird. If you’re not professionally trained you might actually do more harm than good, so just give them basic care (like providing them with a quiet, warm space to recuperate in) before releasing them back into the wild or the bird may die.

You should only catch the bird if it’s easy to.

An injured bird may actually fare quite well if it’s got a broken leg as it’s still able to fly. So, if a bird is able to fly away from you, do not try to catch it. Instead, give it space and let it retreat to somewhere safe to recover. In the meantime, you can install a bird feeder in your garden so that an injured bird has a convenient food source a short distance away. Think about the type of bird feeder you need and the kind of seed you want to include it in it: specific types suit particular garden birds better than others, but a multi-seed feeder is a good place to start if you want an all-purpose model to begin with.

If the bird is unable to fly, you’ll need to prepare a box to put it in once you’ve caught it.

Get a shoe box or a cardboard box and puncture some ventilation holes into the lid so that there’s plenty of oxygen getting into the box or you could use a pet carrier if you have one that’s suitable. Lay something soft in the bottom, and make sure the box is warm to the touch (so leave the box in an airing cupboard or underneath a radiator). Just take care to ensure that the box is in no way hot. Once you’ve caught the bird, you’re going to place it in the box with the lid on. An injured bird is likely to be in shock, so a dark, quiet, warm environment with plenty of ventilation is the best thing to help it calm down.

Then, if you’re able to catch the injured bird, do so carefully.

The bird might consider you a predator when you reach to grab it, so don’t be surprised if it flaps and panics. Handle the bird very carefully, cupping it firmly but gently. Small birds can be held in one hand by placing your hand over the bird so that its head fits between your first and middle finger. Medium sized birds should be held with two hands, placing one hand over each wing. Take great care when you do this if one of the bird’s wings looks to be injured. However, a large bird shouldn’t be handled at all. They can injure you by accident, so if you’ve found an injured large bird such as an owl, call an expert rescuer to catch it for you.

Once you’ve caught the bird, give it a very quick inspection to see what the injury is likely to be.

The bird could be suffering from a broken wing or it may just be a little dazed and confused. Then, pop it in the box and close the lid. Hold the box very carefully, leaving it somewhere safe (out of the path of children and pets) for a little while so that it can calm down. In this time, call your local vet, RSPCA or rescue centre to let them know you’ve found an injured bird. They will likely ask you to bring the bird to them so they can give it proper assessment and treatment. You might feel disappointed that you can’t treat it yourself, or take it in as a ‘pet’ to feed and care for, but it really is a job for the professionals!

Once you’ve taken the bird to a professional, think about what else you could do for other birds in your area.

You’ll be doing a great deal for your local bird population by simply serving the healthy birds that live there, so be sure to install bird feeders (something that’s especially helpful throughout the cold winter months), and add a bird bath too if you’ve got the space.

Now that you know how you should treat and look after an injured bird around your home, there are some things you can do to be prepared. Keep a shoe box handy for such emergencies, and think about installing a bird feeder in your garden to help injured and healthy birds survive the winter months.

Have you ever helped out an injured bird? We’ve had a few land in our garden (and even wander into the kitchen), that we have passed onto a local rescue to nurse back to health.

*This is a collaborative post.