These species are from the families Corvidae.

Fluids (water):

• Offer a rehydration (electrolyte) solution such as Lectade (Pfizer Limited) to drink on admission.
• Water should be freely available at all times unless the casualty is unconscious or severely debilitated and unable to hold its head up.
• Both water and a rehydration (electrolyte) solution, in separate containers, should be made available initially.
• (V.w5, V.w26)
• Gavage with rehydration (electrolyte) solution may be required on admission (B156.15.w15, D24).
• See: Gavage / Tubing of Birds

Convalescent Diet:

Suggested convalescent diets include:

• Casualties are often anorexic when presented and have an immediate requirement for energy.(B156.15.w15)
• Liquid diets should be administered by crop tube (gavage) in anorectic birds.(V.w26)
• Proprietary products such as Critical Care Formula (Vetark Animal Health) have been specifically designed as a short term product for anorectic and sick birds. (V.w26)
• High-energy diets e.g. Complan (HJ Heinz Co. Ltd) or baby foods, mixed as directed on the packet may be useful short term. (B156.15.w15)
• 50:50 mixture of A/D (Hill’s Pet Nutrition Ltd.) and rehydration (electrolyte) solution may be useful. (V.w5, V.w26)

Use of convalescent diets:

• Give up to 2% of body weight per feed:
  • Assume 1ml of made-up feed equals 1g, therefore maximum 2ml of feed per 100g of bird
  • (B156.15.w15)
• See: Gavage / Tubing of Birds

Short term Maintenance Diet:

Food presentation:

• Provide food ad libitum in a shallow bowl.
• Replace food daily.

Suggested diets short term maintenance diets include:

• Mixture of chopped chick, mealworms, minced meat and meat mix (canned cat food mixed with insectivorous diet and grain). (D24)
• Will also eat soaked puppy biscuit, tinned cat or dog food. (D29)
• Dry or tinned dog food, also day-old chicks with added vitamin/mineral supplement. (B151)
• Poultry pellets, hard boiled egg, soaked puppy biscuits, wholemeal bread, raw mince, tinned cat or dog food.(B203)

Jay (Garrulus glandarius - Eurasian jay):

• Dry or tinned dog food, also some small vegetables e.g. peas, and once a week mealworms.(B151)
• Table scraps, bread, insects, potatoes, poultry (turkey) pellets, meat (e.g. tinned cat or dog food, butchers' "dog sausage", day-old chicks), fruit, fresh peas and beans, peanuts, acorns, soaked puppy biscuit, insectivorous mix, live invertebrates such as mealworms or clean maggots, grain such as wheat (small quantities). (B118.8.w8, B118.17.w17)
• Insectivorous mix with added raw meat and live food (e.g. mealworms). (B99)

Rook (Corvus frugilegus - Rook):

• Mixed diet, e.g. wholemeal bread soaked in raw egg, meat, turkey pellets, few maggots or mealworms. (B118.17.w17)

Raven (Corvus corax - Common raven), Crow (Corvus corone - Carrion crow): 

• High-protein (high-meat) diet.(B118.17.w17)
• Mixture of chopped chick, mealworms, minced meat and meat mix (canned cat food mixed with insectivorous diet and grain). (D24)

Jackdaw (Corvus monedula - Eurasian jackdaw):

• Turkey pellets, groundnuts, few maggots or mealworms, some wholemeal bread.(B118.17.w17)

Magpie (Pica pica - Black-billed magpie,):

• High-meat diet. (B118.17.w17)
• 50:50 mixture of dog biscuit and dog meat (tinned food), with occasional grain and invertebrates such as mealworms. Also grit and water.(B169.43.w43)
• Insectivorous mix with added raw meat and live food (e.g. mealworms). (B99).

Chough (Pyrrhocorax pyrrhocorax - Red-billed chough):

• Similar to rook: mixed diet, e.g. wholemeal bread soaked in raw egg, meat (in small pieces), turkey pellets, maggots or mealworms (more insects than for rook). (B118.17.w17).

Shrikes (Lanius collurio - Red-backed shrike, Lanius excubitor - Northern shrike):

• Insectivorous food and live food. 

• Fresh drinking water should always be available in a container of an appropriate size and type for the species concerned.
• Fluid replacement therapy other than oral fluids may be required for casualties which are extremely dehydrated on admission or are unable to take in and absorb oral fluids.
  • Fluid therapy should continue until the animal is no longer dehydrated, even if it is self feeding.
• Feeding of convalescents should take into account their requirement for additional nutrients for healing as well as maintenance requirements.

• The required fluid intake for maintenance should be considered when designing convalescent diets.
• Energy requirements for maintenance and healing should be calculated and used to determine the quantity of food required for both convalescence and short-term maintenance diets.
• Convalescent diets should be easily absorbed/digested.
• Care should be taken not to under or over supplement with vitamins/minerals.
• Diets intended for feeding from a syringe or by stomach tube (gavage) must be of a sufficiently fluid consistency to pass through the syringe nozzle or down the tube without it becoming blocked.
• The natural diet should be considered when deciding on suitable ingredients, including consideration of taste/smell.
• Fresh food must be provided daily.
• Regular cleaning of food and drinking water containers (e.g. daily) is important to reduce the risk of disease.
• Food and water containers should be sited to minimise the risk of contamination with droppings/faeces/urine. 
• Maggots should always be fed "clean", that is starved overnight so that no black line of the gut is visible along the body.

• Water bowls should not be left in the accommodation of a casualty which is unconscious or is severely debilitated and unable to hold its head up.
• Dehydrated and malnourished individuals sometimes drink rehydration fluids but refuse plain water initially; others will drink water but not rehydration fluids. Both should be made available.
• No diet, however well balanced nutritionally, is useful if the animal does not eat it, for example because it is not recognised as food.
• Ingestion of food should be monitored, not assumed. This may include weighing food before presentation and weighing waste food after removal, and periodic weighing of the animal.
• Monitoring of weight/body condition is particularly important for group housed/group fed animals, within which some individuals may take more food and others not get the food they require.
• Diets suggested on this page are intended for short term use for wildlife casualties; they are not necessarily suitable for long-term use or in individuals which are breeding.
• Diets suggested on this page are not necessarily suitable for feeding chicks; information on appropriate diets for very young individuals are described in the page on hand-rearing.
• If naturally-available food items are gathered for feeding to casualties it is important to be aware of the possibility of contamination with chemicals such as herbicides and pesticides.

• Oral rehydration (electrolyte) solutions are widely available from veterinary suppliers and chemists. 
• A basic oral rehydration (electrolyte) solution may be made by dissolving one tablespoon of sugar and one teaspoon of salt in one litre of water. (B203)
• Lectade, Pfizer Limited: from veterinary suppliers and agricultural feed suppliers.
• Critical Care Formula (Vetark Animal Health, PO Box 60, Winchester, SO23 9XN)
• Complan (H J Heinz Co Ltd): from supermarkets etc.
• A/D Hills Science Diet (Hill’s Pet Nutrition Ltd.) from veterinary suppliers
• Mealworms are available from many pet stores and from specialist bird food suppliers. e.g. The Mealwom Co. Ltd, Houghton Road, North Anston Trading Estate, Sheffield S25 4JJ, UK.
• Maggots are commonly available as bait from fishing stores.

• No particular expertise required.

• Items which may be used to feed these birds are generally widely available. The cost may be considerable if the larger species are kept for longer periods.

• Under the Protection of Animals Acts 1911-2000 it is an offence not to provide animals (including captive wild animals) with necessary food and water.(J35.147.w1, B156.21.w21, B223, P19.2.w1)
• Care should be taken not to let an individual become accustomed to a single food item as this may result in difficulties in feeding the animal if the food item becomes unavailable, and in preparing it for release.
• Every effort should be made to provide appropriate natural, locally available foods to animals which have been maintained in captivity for prolonged periods before they are released, in order to re-accustom them to a natural diet and reduce the chance of digestive problems following release.(P24.233.w11).
• The release of animals which, by virtue of an inadequate or inappropriate diet whilst in captivity, are not fit to survive when released may be considered an offence under the Abandonment of Animals Act, 1960.

• B99, B118.8.w8, B118.17.w17, B151, B156.15.w15, B169.43.w43, B203, D24, V.w5, V.w26
• J35.147.w1, B156.21.w21, B223, P19.2.w1, P24.233.w11