Information sheet
from London’s Swifts
website
Swift First Aid
and Carers
Swift casualties can be saved - with luck and commitment
Swifts have a relatively low accident and mortality rate compared to other birds their size, but sometimes things go wrong and they fall to Earth. The reasons for this are usually:
the nestplace is too hot and a chick jumps out
the nestplace has been destroyed by roofers or builders
starvation - the nestling is desperate for food
accidents
- the nestling just falls out
failure of their first flight
overweight at time of first flight
Can
one do anything to help? Yes! First - check the Swift's
condition.
Is the Swift an adult (dark brown bird with a pale chin) or a juvenile (much paler looking with white borders to its head and back feathers)?
Are its wings, when closed, longer than its tail feathers by at least 1.5cm? If so it's ready to fly, but first check its weight.
Does it move its wings
symmetrically or is one much less mobile than the
other, or displaced? If damaged the chance of it ever flying is remote.
What does it weigh? Adults should
weigh between 35 and 45g, juveniles ready to fly 40 to 45g. Weigh the
Swift in
a cardboard box on a letter scale.
Then weigh just the box and subtract the
latter from the former giving the Swift's weight.
NB If it's heavier than 45g it's a
juvenile not yet ready to fly.
Keeping it a couple of days somewhere cool and quiet without food until
it
slims down to 45g
may be all that’s needed for it to fly.
Juvenile Swifts. Note pale edges to the head feathers, the bleached look of
the forehead
and cheeks, and downy feathers still visible on the left hand bird's
back.
Adult Swifts are dark brown, with just a pale throat. 
Taking a decision - can
you help your Swift?
Evidence of serious damage probably means the Swift is not going to survive - in any event you cannot help it, and should take it to a vet.
If the Swift is well-developed,
alert, active, and healthy, with the
right weight for its age, it will probably survive and fly.
(Swift weights: at hatching 3g, 10 days 20g, 20
days 45g and still fluffy, 30 days 50g and flight feathers emerging, 40
days
48g and almost ready to fly,
flight usually at 45 days or so from hatching.)
Do you want to get involved? No?
Contact the Swift carers lower down on
this page.
If they cannot help, then ask the PDSA, your local Wildlife Centre,
vet or the RSPB.
You want to try and save your Swift? Read the following and be ready for total commitment.
NB it is illegal to handle a Swift or keep it in
captivity unless you are licensed by DEFRA, or are caring for an
injured bird
and intend to release it.
This does mean that you must release your Swift as
soon as it can fly, or take it to a vet or the PDSA for humane
euthanasia if it
can never fly.
Where to keep your
Swift until it can fly.
Put it in a sound clean cardboard box with lots of air holes punched in
it, and
clean paper towelling on the floor,
(NOT cotton wool - the Swift will gets its
claws caught in the fluff!) and keep it somewhere shaded, cool and
quiet and
CAT-FREE!
The box should be big enough (a minimum of 60cm long and 25cm wide)
for the Swift to spread its wings fully and do the "press-ups" that
strengthen the flight muscles.
Making it a nest-cup (eg with a small hat or
from crushed and shaped blotting paper) will comfort the Swift
considerably.
Do
NOT keep it in a cage or glass tank - it will be terrified.
How to hold your Swift.
You should wear a clean light glove
to protect the Swift's plumage and
your hand as a Swift's claws are VERY sharp!
Pick the Swift up with your open
hand, then very gently close it so that the Swift's head is between
your
forefinger and thumb, and the rest of the hand holds the body and
wings.
Take
great care not to put any pressure at all on the bird. You must be
gentle, give
the Swift space. If you squeeze it, it will be severely injured.
How to release your
Swift.
If your Swift is in good condition, without any injuries, has tail
feathers
1.5cm longer than the tail when closed, is bright eyed and active, and
weighs
35 to 45g then
you can release it immediately, provided it isn't raining.
Swifts ready to fly are hyper-active, beating their wings in the box
and keen
to go.
Take the Swift in its prepared cardboard box to a quiet pet free
open space, where you can easily recover it if it fails to fly and
where it
won't have far to fall if it crash-lands.
If this is not easy for you, test-fly
your Swift indoors in a large, uncluttered, safe and quiet room, before
releasing in a more confined area such as a garden.
If there are other Swifts aloft that's good. Your Swift will have
company.
Take
the Swift gently out of the box and hold it above your head (Statue of
Liberty
style!) and see if it takes off.
It may flutter to the ground but if it seems likely that it can fly
give it
another go.
If its wings don't work properly it probably won't ever fly, and
you should take it to the PDSA or a vet for humane euthanasia.
Feeding your Swift.
If your Swift is not ready for
flight, it must be cared for until it is.
They are pure insectivores, so must be fed only on insects.
You should add
Calcium and Vitamins A, B, C and E, which you should find in
supplements made
for birds (eg "Nutrabol" and "SA37") and reptiles.
These
are available at some petshops and from Livefoods
Direct who also supply the crickets, dried insects and
mealworms
mentioned below.
It is important to provide a mix of the suggested foods.
Small
food items should be crushed with the supplements and a few drops of
water into
small balls the size of a hazelnut, then fed to the swift.
This mimics natural
feeding by the adult birds.
A "food ball", insects collected in the air and compressed by the adult
Swift is about 10mm long. Your feeding should mimic this.
Acceptable food items