Fledglings can"t fly

[maureen_g]

Three youngsters out of five fledged yesterday. One is big and can fly well. The second can just manage. But the others are smaller and can"t fly at all. One has refused to leave the nest. The smaller ones end up huddled in the coldest corners of the aviary. I have returned them to the nest a few times and they spent the night in there at least. I haven't seen the parents feeding either in the nest or the begging fledglings. Should I give the babies something? Any advice appreciated. I really don"t want to lose any if possible. The parents wouldn't feed a baby begging at the nest entrance and it eventually came crashing down and now hiding in cold corner

[Diane]

It would be a hard task to get fledgling young to take food from you to be honest and part of the parents strategy to get the young to fledge is to withhold food to some extent. What Ive done in the past is put a nest box on the floor, block the opening but leave the lid open or off. It keeps the young off the floor but if they insist on fledging again at least they wont have far to fall.

[maureen_g]

Thanks Diane. I put some nesting material in and gave it a try but the babies buried themselves right under it!! I put a tiny one on the shelf with a bigger one and FINALLY the parents fed it!! I have a pair (males) of Manikins in the aviary and they looked very concerned so they gave it a feed as well. I think they were preparing to look after it for the night but I put 4 back in the nest and fingers crossed they will stay put for the night.