- 1). Line a large box with newspaper to house the bird. Place a small bowl of water in the box for the bird to drink from.
- 2). Prepare a mixture of oatmeal, ground beef heart and hard-boiled egg yolk. You can add an avian vitamin supplement with calcium to promote bone growth.
- 3). Put a glob of the mixture on your finger and insert it into the baby crow's gaping beak.
- 4). Stick your finger well into the bird's throat as the mother bird would with her beak. This stimulates the swallowing reflex in the baby. Fed the bird every three to four hours in this fashion until it is 6 weeks old.
- 5). Begin offering other foods at 6 weeks. Crows are omnivores, and will eat almost anything, so are somewhat easier to raise than most baby birds. Youngsters need a diet that is at least 25 to 50 percent protein. Turkey starter is a good beginning to the diet. High-protein dog food or puppy chow is also good and usually easier to obtain. Continue feeding hard-boiled egg yolks. Other good foods are unsalted peanuts, corn, sunflower seeds, fresh fruit, and mealworms or crickets.
- 6). Keep human contact with your young crow as limited as possible and maximize its exposure to the local crows. Take it outside and let other crows investigate. It will stand a better chance of survival when released if it is accepted into a crow family.
- 7). Release the crow at about 8 weeks of age. Once it can fly, it should be released. The bird will likely stick around and beg to be fed. But by fall it will hopefully integrate with a flock.
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