We have received a lot of questions asking about what baby seagulls eat and how to age a seagull etc. We have therefore put together a Seagull Babies FAQ which hopefully can answer your questions.
If you have found a baby seagull nearby and not sure what to do, check out this article about finding a baby seagull.
Q1. What do baby seagulls eat and what should I feed them?
Baby seagulls are fed by their parents, both mother and father. The parents will regurgitate food for them or place down scraps and the type of food highly depends on what the parents have caught. Gulls eat a large variety of foods, they can catch fish and will also scavenge if necessary. If you find yourself in a situation where you need to provide food, tinned sardines, tuna etc are all acceptable choices.
Q2. Can seagull babies eat dog food or cat food?
Seagulls can and will eat wet dog or cat food. Young seagulls may appreciate this mashed up. You can also offer strips of fish such as white bait, trout or herring and even tin fish such as pilchards in tomato sauce. If a parent Is feeding the baby, there is no need to feed the baby as it should have enough food. In the case of an abandoned baby, always seek advice from your local wildlife rehabilitation centre or the RSPCA.
Q3. How often I should feed a baby seagull?
Young gulls may need 2-4 meals a day, with meals being less frequent as they grow. Always ensure that fresh drinking water is available and that any leftover food is removed as mouldy food can cause respiratory diseases in birds.
Q4. How to check the age of a baby seagull?
Aging a gull can differ between species, commonly you will find herring gulls and black headed gulls but this depends on location. In general, these rules apply for herring gulls.
Very fluffy chicks can be anything from new born to a month old, depending on size. In general, herring gulls have grey soft feathers with black spots and rely heavily on parents for food. After two weeks, you will see mottled grey and brown feathers start to develop. Unless one is unfortunate to leave the nest, you would rarely see a chick.
In one to two months, chicks will become fledglings. The process is gradual as more feathers replace the baby fluff, they can look a bit awkward at this stage. When flight feathers are more developed, fledglings may begin to fly, the first flight is usually unsuccessful. Many fledglings will end up on the ground. Often, a parent is at hand, calling with encouragement. They may withhold food to encourage their young to fly. Always look out for parents before removing a young gull as parents will still feed their young but they won’t be able to if their young was removed or if you are too close to their young!
Juvenile herring gulls can take up to four years to mature. First to second year juveniles tend to be mottled brown in colour with black bills and dark spots around eyes. Second years tend to have a slightly pink bill and legs. You will often see them in high places whistling in a high pitch for adults to feed them. They can fly at this stage but if they can get away with it, they would beg adults for food. Juveniles in their third year starts to grown whiter feathers on their stomach and their wings are beginning to look uniform grey. Their tails start to look darker in contrast and their bill are black tipped.
When they have matured, their wings are grey throughout, head and stomach white, tail tips black and their bills are yellow with a red spot on the lower half.
Q5. Seagull parent shows parental indifference towards seagull baby, why?
The answer to this question does highly depend on individual scenarios. For instance, if you see a young gull on the ground and its parent on a roof, the gull could be crying and it may appear heartless that the parent is not tending to the baby but it could be that the parent is simply giving the baby gull an incentive to fly. Other reasons could be that the parent does not want to interact with its baby when you are nearby, they may see you as a threat. It is also quite possible that the baby is old enough to seek its own food and the parent feels that they no longer need to look after the baby so much.
There are many possible reasons so you will need to examine your situation with care. If in doubt, contact the RSPCA or a local wildlife centre.
Q6. Why do young seagulls sometimes approach humans?
Young seagulls can be curious creatures. They may be slightly wary of people.
Q7. Do seagull parents leave when the baby has grown and can look after itself ?
When the young seagull is able to fly and search for food by itself, parents will leave them. Some young seagulls are able to manipulate their parents into feeding them for longer by crying at them.
Q8. What is the best thing to do if there are cats and foxes living nearby and there is a seagull baby?
Unless the baby is threatened or has fallen out of its nest, I would suggest do nothing. As sad as it seems, there is a food chain in this world and not all chicks reach adulthood. However, if you do happen to save a chick from being someone’s lunch, do contact a local wildlife rehabber or the RSPCA as they would be able to offer the best care to a chick.
Q9. What to do when you see a juvenile seagull pacing around and calling for its parents?
Juvenile seagulls will call to parents for food. This can very well continue long after the juvenile gull has gotten old enough to feed itself. This is normal behaviour of juvenile gulls – they will take advantage for as long as they can. There is no need to take any action.
Q10. Should I return a lost seagull baby to its nest?
Seagulls are less tolerant of other gull’s chicks. Therefore, it can be dangerous if you place a chick in the wrong nest. Unless you are absolutely certain, I would place the gull in a short extension room or shed roof. That way they are out of reach of predators. Parents will fly down to feed their chicks.
Q11. What to do when young seagulls fall off the roof and no sign of parent?
It could be that the parent does not want to interact with its baby when you are nearby, they may see you as a threat. I would advise leaving the young gull alone for a few hours, and if you are able to, pop out to check on it regularly. The parents should fly down to feed the gull. If you are able to and you know which roof the gull belongs to, you can put it back up or place it on a shed to keep it away from predators. If after a day and no parent has come to feed the gull, or if the gull is in danger then it may be a good idea to contact the local wildlife centre.
Q12. I can’t go out because of protective and aggressive seagull parent in the garden?
Once a seagull has built its nest, you can not do anything to remove the eggs/chicks/nest without a license from the council. If there is a particularly aggressive gull in your garden, you can contact your council. However, the best way would be to prevent them nesting in the first place. Proof your property, keep it clear of rubbish and secure your bins to ensure gulls will not see your property as a good feasting ground. Gulls will attack you if they are concerned that you will be a threat to their chicks. I would advise keeping a safe distance, do not provoke the gulls and bring an umbrella out as a means of preventing them from hurting you. Once the chick is grown, they will leave.
Q13. What are seagull chicks’ common predator?
Foxes and weasels will feed on chicks. Some cats may also go for a really young chick.
Q14. How long before seagull chicks start to fly?
Dependent on species, gull fledglings will begin to fly around 6-8 weeks old.
Finally…
Hopefully these can answer your questions about baby seagulls. If you find a stray baby seagull and not sure what to do, make sure you check out this article about finding a baby seagull.
If you have any more questions or suggestions, please leave a comment in the box below!
Thanks this did help alot
Each year we have a herring gull pair nest on our neighbours house.Last year a huge buzzard killed one of the chicks and this year we witnessed the buzzard eat the young chicks on the roof top despite being mobbed by 8 gulls including the parents. It is heartbreaking to see the gulls nesting knowing that this buzzard is now terrorising all the birds in the local area . You know its coming as you see magpies and pigeons flying low and away and you hear the gulls start to squeal and gather to try and protect their young. How can we protect the herring gulls nest ?
A young seagull has been looked after by a vet ,who was hoping the R.S.P.C.A. was going to collect to finish the rearing. He has asked if I might complete the job as the R.S.P.C.A. have said they are unable to collect it ( me being an animal lover).
I have a spare rabbit hutch, would it be possible to put him in that until its ready to fly. My pets include 3 rabbits, 2 cats and 1 hen, all have their own pens etc.
The seagull is no more than 2 weeks old.
I am currently vacationing in Brighton and have a baby chick wandering around my very small mews, both mother and father are guarding the chick.I cannot go outside the front door as both gulls attack me.This is a holiday let with no umbrella is there something else that I can use to show my indifference to the chick ?
A week old baby seagull was blown off a neighbours high house roof. I have put it onto their flat roof extension. The parents are feeding it and keeping an eye on it, but there is no shelter on the roof, will it be ok or is there any thing else that we can do for it.
Hi, I got seagull chicks on my balcony(3rd floor)! They don’t bother me -except for the poo all over the floor- and I know soon they will fly…I am very worried today as we are experiencing torrential rain and it will carry for the whole week and they have no shelter…will they survive or so I have to figure out how to cover them? Please help!
Hi Folks, i had a baby seagull in my garden which i caught and put on my shed roof the following day it had gone, probably lunch for a fox, i now have another which i managed to put up onto a flat roof in next doors garden and it seems to be doing ok, it cant fly but keeps trying to and ending up on the garden so i return it to the flat roof, you mention the RSPCA and the RSPB, these guys are absolutely useless, unless you find and injured or an animal in danger between the hours of 11 and 4 and not at weekends your ok!
David Mandeville
It’s nice to know that there’s people who genuinely care for gulls and other animals.
we found a baby fledgling on the ground and it was not able to fly properly, I am assuming it fell of the roof! We spoke to the RSPCA about this problem before, they have told us to place the bird in a higher place so they can launch themselves. This bird has been sitting on our window ledge which is quite wide and more like a small open balcony for two days now. I have been giving it some tinned fish as I am unsure if the parent is around, although I believe they are on the opposite roof. I think this bird is ready to fly and has been beating its wings over the last few days. Obviously I wan the bird to fly off and not be dependent on me feeding it. I have been doing lots of reading up on this and as much as it says do not interfere and leave the bird alone, you just want to give it a change in life. Any advice on how best to move forward in the hope it can launch itself off my little balcony would be most welcomed.
A young Seagull has been in the garden for 2/3 weeks. The Mother watches from above but is now taking time away from her observation point – more and more frequently.
I have been feeding the baby twice a day. She/he is well developed with a health wingspan.
I wish she/he was ready to leave now as I haven’t been able to be out in the garden with my dogs – and I am wondering
if the high walls surrounding the garden are restricting her/him.
Or perhaps I am making her more reluctant to leave because of feeding.
Any advice would be much appreciated – thank you.
Is there anyone able to give me advice on my post (12th August) – it would be so helpful to learn more of how I should be with my ‘resident’ fledgling. Mother’s visits are decreasing – and the little one seems dependent on me – and even attached to her ‘home’. I don’t wish to hamper her in any way but don’t wish to be impatient either.
I have been feeding a baby seagull for two weeks now it cannot fly and was coming to meet me every time I went out now I have not seen it in three days do you think it’s ok
All of you are wonderful for caring for these beautiful birds. Unfortunately I do not have the answers to any questions as I myself am wondering what exactly is the best food to feed a juvenile seagull??? I’m not sure exactly what type of gull he/she is, but it is BEAUTIFUL, and the BIGGEST gull I have ever seen!!! It seems to be quite picky with food. I’ve tried giving it sardines but it isn’t really thrilled about eat that. He comes to my home every early evening, waiting for me to bring it something to eat. I want to make sure I am feeding it the best possible food, because I do not want to contribute to anything that may impact this bird negatively. So does anyone know what I can feed this bird ????
It’s so nice to see people taking a genuine interest in these birds, and helping them, especially any chicks that may need it. I personally have never seen a baby seagull, and as much as I would love to see one, I wouldn’t want the responsibility of caring for one because I would have no idea on what to feed it!!!! Here in the USA most people despise seagulls, and would never go to the extent as most of you have to help one. I wish you all the best when caring for these babies as well as maybe their parents, and hopefully someone will eventually answer your questions.
Why do some refer to gulls as seagulls as this is a misnomer.
Many gulls never see the sea.
I have a herring gull nesting on an adjacent roof. An immature gull is sitting in the nest. The adults tolerate it. It is at least a year old. Is this unusual behaviour? I haven’t observed it before though the adults have been nesting there for the previous four years.
Just saw first flight of a fledgling gull. Quite a privilege. I’m lucky enough to have the same pair nesting on my roof every year. When the young gull took its first flight, the parents stayed with it and both were calling. Then around a dozen gulls appeared from nowhere and surrounded the gull mid air. Were they protecting it ? When it landed back on the roof they flew off.
I have been feeding a Herring gull fledgling (about 4 to 6 weeks old as far as i can tell).
I have seen on various websites that Fledgling Gulls need feeding 3 to for times daily, however I haven’t been able to find out how much to feed each time. At the moment I’m feeding about 200g a day, but the gull is always hungry.
I’ve also seen that fledgling gulls will continue to plead for food even if they don’t need it.
Anybody know how much food, gull fledglings should be eating a day?
Nice to read positive comments on here I had been feeding baby and bruv for over a week suddenly the be dussapeard from my garden butnparents return as usual
Are you all mental? Seagull divebomb all of the people who live in our apartments, poo every where, make loads of noise 24/7, prevent us from using the garden, poo over our cars every day and are a huge pain in the butt!!!
I’m thinking about getting a pet buzzard
What to do if a juvenile seagull is being heavily attacked by other gulls? To leave nature take its course, or intervene and save the young gull?
We have noticed that their is now only one parent for the baby and think something not to nice has happened to the other one, will the lone parent abandon the chick if he/she is not able to cope? It is really heart breaking hearing the chick crying for such long periods of time, and there us no way we are able to help as the chick is on a roof top. Please can you tell me if there is a possibility that the lone parent will leave the chick. Thank you
My gps have a baby gull that seems to have been pushed out of the nest from a new baby roof.he is being fed sardines in tomato sauce .the parents are still dive bombing people and checking on him from a distance but nothing else he is growing but is half the size of his siblings can anything be done to help fatten him up to help him fly
We have had a baby gull and parents on our roof for the last 4 weeks, they were originally on my neighbours roof. The baby started flying about 10 days ago. We have not seen him now for 36 hours but the parents spend most of the day on the roof calling him, they look so sad! I fear something may have happened or is this a common thing, can he survive alone?
I, like many of you, have been feeding gulls. I just love how each one has a different and unique personality, well, the ones that I see regularly anyway. Just yesterday though, I noticed what I believe to be a mother gull and her two juveniles on a rooftop. They have been there the past two days just hanging out I suppose. However these two juveniles have been nonstop crying at their mom for food I assume. One of the juveniles finally came to where I was feeding others and managed to get his or her fill, the other one is hell bent on being fed by mom or dad, unfortunately the parent is NOT giving in. I was hoping it would follow its sibling down to where I was, but it didn’t. I have seen it fly, so I know that’s not an issue. I am concerned though that this young gull will only get weaker as the days go on. I have never seen a gull cry for hours like this, frankly, it’s a bit heartbreaking and I don’t know what, if anything I should do??? Sometimes it’s difficult to get food to the juveniles, especially when the older gulls try chasing them off, or steal every bit of food they find!!! But both mom and her baby seem pretty persistent, yet neither one has given in yet, and I’m wondering how long this juvenile can go without food or water??? Every time I look out my back door, the juvenile is on the roof. It doesn’t matter if the mother is there, if the sibling is there, or if it’s all alone, it hardly leaves that roof at all. Does anyone know how long this will continue before the juvenile finally gives in and finds its own food????
I really don’t want to come out one morning and find the poor thing dead, or too weak to fly.
I wish people would stop interfering with nature, taking chicks/juveniles out of their natural environment where they often have the best chance of survival, then trying to palm the problem off on others when they realise the major job they’ve taken on! It’s perfectly natural to see a young gull on it’s own after hatching, leave it alone, the parents will continue to fly down and feed unless you keep nosing and scaring them off unwittingly. Sorry, but if the chick gets predated then it gets predatated, that’s the food chain! If you see a bird of prey taking it, wow! Lucky you, what an honour! Bear in mind Herring gulls are very opportunistic feeders and will happily munch down on other birds eggs and even chicks! If you feed them and encourage them onto your land, other than the tremendous noise and mess, you could be contributing to other species becoming prey to them. Plus youre encouraging future nests as your providing a food rich environment! If you insist on taking a youngster you’re looking at feeding several times a day for around 6 weeks till it can fly, then the adults will usually feed juveniles for up to a month following that. Your in for a tedious, very noisy couple of months!
I have had a young herring gull who has been visiting me for the last 2months, he used to turn up with one of its parents. I now only see the parent once or twice. I have named the young gull Sid, he will take food from my hand. I feed Sid around 8.30am then around 5.00pm, if I’am late Sid will hammer on our conservatory door, if I’am working in the garden Sid sits on the conservatory roof watching me. If I can’t see him any
where around I just have to whistle, he will appear from nowhere. I love all birds Sid is welcome as long as he wants to visit my garden
I have had getting gulls for 3 years , nesting on my roof, coming in the door to squawk at me. I have been feeding them and their babies. Unfortunately the nest has been disturbed this year.
I have two English bull terriers who have been sharing my small garden with the gulls and their babies as well as showing no interest when the gulls come in looking for food.
The gulls, despite knowing me for 3 years, and their respective chicks have never shown fear with my dogs but, unlike my small garden birds, remain very suspicious of me and will remove themselves if I get near them.im glad they do stay away but find it extraordinary they trust my dogs instead
When are they able to eat by themselves and no longer need to be fed by the parent?
It was very distressing today to see adult gulls attacking a juvenile full. The young bird was almost totally missing it’s tail and was vainly trying to defend itself mostly unsuccessfully. The adult birds followed the young one wherever it tried to go. Why would this happen?
Please can we educate marinas to add ramps to moorings (esp Dover) as seagull chicks are too young to fly out of water before 3 months? (2 months for ground flight approximately). Fatalities every year – upsetting to watch/see.
We took a large baby seagull home fallen from nest kept him 3 weeks he has changed. He is a juvenile now and seemed ready to fly been feeding him fish and cat food. Today we released him from shed cage in garden as trying to fly a bit. He practiced in the garden for a couple of hours now hes flown off. Flew to neighbours roof then has flown off. We will give him food if he returns. We are proud to have saved him as he would definitely have died.
I have one in my garden found it on its back feet up, in the middle of the road a saw a few run over it (not the tyres ) I stop in the lay-by and run over to it expecting I was going to put it out of it’s misery., when I picked it up it didn’t look damaged apart from being semi conscious, I suck in the car and drove home, by the time I got there it was awake, I was lucky to have an empty aviary I put it in gave it the old tin of sardines from the cupboard, it made a full recovery and is getting better at trying to fly it should be gone in a couple of days eating the best fish and prawns, I know they messy but my two parrots are so interested it keeps them amused all day.
we have had three babies on an adjacent roof (at work / warehouse roof) We get them every year but this year they had three. Two moved flew away as normal behaviour seems to have shown over the year but one has been left behind. He squaks for food all day (parent still providing and keeping an eye on it sometimes) but we think he might not be able to fly? Is this possible or is he just lazy?
I have a brown juvenile seagul who seams to think I’m it’s new mum, he sits on my flat roof crying for some food, I chuck a large dog food meal (like the pate ones in a tray)
Also have one seagul I have been feeding for years, he sits very quietly whilst I feed the smaller birds then he makes a mwah mwah mwah noise…..only 3 times and then he gets his dinner. He’s very patient. I called him Steven (after the actor Stephen seagull seagal) I’m starting to think tho Steven was a Stephanie n she palmed me off with her baby!
Once they’ve eaten they fly off til the next day
will a seagull rear a chick on its own ,the one i know of has lost its mate
When feeding the chicks, the Father Gull seems to regurgitate the food and immediately eat it before flying off.
I have seen this happen twice today. At one point, father had hold of one end of some food, and the chick had a hold of the other end. Father won the tug-of-war and ate the food.
Why is it doing this?
The chick is approx 4-6 weeks old at the moment (today is 1st July)
I have been keeping a watchful eye on. family of gulls on my neighbours roof… They have 3 chicks.. I am not sure if one of the parents has been injured as I got the SSPCA out today to an adult with a broken wing but not sure if it was a parent? The 3 chicks are older but still fluffy. Can one parent care for them alone?
5 weeks after one of their 3 chicks died, the parents still come to their old nesting spot and appear to be very distressed, almost sounding like humans wailing at the loss of a loved one.
The body of the chick lies in the gutter of the roof on which they nested, next door to us.
We watched the nest being built, the parents taking turns to incubate the eggs and then, the 3 chicks once they’d hatched, start to find their feet and stretch their wings.
It was always apparent that one chick was slower to develop, despite extra attention from it’s parents; our whole family were devastated when the chik died.
Is this typical behaviour for seagulls, or indeed any bird?
All of these questions, I have questions. Where are the answers?
I have a nest on my roof and the baby gulls are around 4-5 weeks maybe older there are 3 chicks in total but for some reason one has been left on my garage roof while the other two still go to the nest if it wants it could get to the nest but the mother/father has no intentions to feed this one which is so sad to see what can I do I don’t want to see a chick suffer
What can be a reason that one of two seagull chick (around 6 weeks old) is dead. We had both of them in my work place garden and i found one of them dead this morning.
Thanks for this Information . I am sitting in a park a juvenile gull is very close, looks a little lost and is calling out. I was concerned enough to search the internet and feel ok not to call the rspb. Thank you 😊
Do female Herring Gulls leave the male soon after mating? Curious, as I’ve watched them mating and then fed them both for weeks afterwards (on our roof) only for the male to return on his own. No sign of her or chicks.
2 baby’s seagulls have fell out of there nest they are about 3-4 weeks old there mum is feeding them on the ground but now another baby has come looks around the same age but definitely not from the same nest It’s walking around with the other baby’s and laying with them but the mum pecks it every time she feeds her own no really aggressive but more like a warning will she look after this one as well
I rescued a baby herring gull that had fallen off the roof. Luckily have a flat roof below the high roof it fell from. I’ve been feeding and giving it water and ( touch wood) I think it’s progressing well. Problem is one of its parents keeps flying down and steeling the chick’s food, so much so the chick is frightened of it. What do I do?
We have a fledgling seabird, similar to a gull. Cannot fly yet. We have been feeding it about 150g of pilchards per day, split between 2 meals. Is that enough food?
my dad found a baby seagull, he did not see its parents nearby at all, it was completely alone. He took it home and we fed it and gave it some water, what should i do? he keeps making sad noises, its like he is crying. We make sure that he is comftorable and keep him well fed. Please help, we are unsure of what to do.
Seagull chick about 4 weeks old did not survive last night’s storm. Parents still calling for it. What should we do with the body. Seagulls noisy and aggressive. Still living in back garden