These soft feeds are used at first so as not to irritate further the bird's 

 gastrointestinal tract, which may already be irritated by oil ingestion; within 

 a few days, this diet is supplemented with whole or cracked grain feeds. 

 To encourage self-feeding, the bird's beak is gently placed in the pan with 

 mash and water, or the pan may be swirled in front of the bird. As with fish- 

 eating birds, competition for food will stimulate self-feeding. 



The birds should have food available to them continuously, but the food 

 presented to them must be fresh. Uneaten fish or grain feeds in water must 

 be discarded before they begin to decompose or ferment. Multi-vitamin supple- 

 ments and a thiamine supplement to smelt are given on a regular basis. 



Sometimes, birds must be maintained at first by forced feeding. Fish- 

 eaters can be force-fed whole fish or tube-fed a fish mixture that includes 

 vitamins, glucose, and corn oil. Grain-eaters are best force-fed by using 

 a tubing mixture that includes sifted mash, Trout Chow, vitamins, glucose, 

 corn oil, and water. All birds are routinely tube-fed glucose hydrating 

 solution three to four times a day until they are cleaned and swimming, at 

 which point they will need less forced hydration, depending on the amount 

 of time spent in the pools. 



CLEANING AND DRYING 



A number of factors must be considered in deciding how and when to clean 

 oiled birds. These include: 



1. Choice of cleaning agent . The agent must quickly and efficiently 

 remove all of the contaminating oil and must be used at an effective 

 temperature (and at an effective concentration when detergent is 

 used). Strict safety precautions must be taken to protect both 

 birds and workers when flammable and toxic solvents are used. 



2. Choice of cleaning method . The techniques used to remove oil 

 from the plumage must not disrupt or damage the alignment of the 

 plumage, but at the same time must be sufficiently forceful to 

 be effective. 



3. Condition of the birds . Unless the oil is very toxic, the birds 

 should be maintained in captivity for a short time (12 to 48 h), 

 receiving food, water, and protection from cold so that they will 

 be in better condition for the stressful cleaning process. When 

 possible, the cleaning of birds in poor condition (body temperature 

 less than 39 C (103 F), lethargic) should be delayed until their 

 condition improves. 



4. Coordination . Cleaning and back-up activities, such as preparing 

 adequate quantities of cleaning agent, selecting and medicating 

 birds for cleaning, and drying birds after cleaning, must be 

 sufficiently organized so that the shortage of workers, materials, 

 or cleaning agent does not hinder the process. 



At the International Bird Rescue Center, the staff has used Shell Solvent 

 70 in all cleaning efforts involving more than 15 to 20 birds. Solvent is 

 used because it affords the greatest efficiency and speed of cleaning, particularly 

 with viscous or tarry oils. On small numbers of birds oiled with more highly 



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