Blue Jay chick advice (wildlife & long, not pet or stock),

[cassie]

Hi I am hoping someone can help...I work in the veterinary field and today someone brought in an injured Blue Jay. I took it home with me since we do not see birds or have an avian vet on staff. There was a small superficial wound underneath the wing. The bird was unphased by this and is active and alert. The bird is obviously young ( teenage stage ) but its DEFINITELY not a baby anymore..hes fast and strong and can bite HARD lol.. I x-rayed his wing and emailed the films to an avian vet from a diffferent hospital. She told me the bird had a common but serious fracture and would heal but be unreleasable...this was based soley on her interpretation of the xrays. She also advised me to start the bird on Baytril once daily. This means the bird must be medicated and handled at least once daily. There is ZERO dietary info for Blue Jays in captivity....He is so wild I dont know how to set him up in a way that he wont just be panicking and banging against the sides of a cage etc.......and I dont know what to feed him! ughhhhh...he is healthy and with the exception of stress his injury is not 'life threatening' as per the avian vet, but it will render the bird a poor flyer for life. I can you tell you anything you want to know about chickens but I am so clueless on how to help this little guy. I dont even know the best way to set him up for his recovery.... does anyone know anything that can help me???
p.s- already called raptor trust they told me to euthanize bird and I dont know if that is truly necessary at this point
and the nearest rehanber is two hours away and cant take any more birds at this time.....

I had a magpie for many years. I knew it was illegal to keep him but I didn't much care. Got him as a baby. Rescued him from the cat. I fed him dog food and he thrived on it. I soaked dry kibble in water until it was soft but still held its shape. The Blue Jay is a relative of the magpie and they eat the same things so dog food ought to be suitable for your Blue Jay too. He might also like fruit and bread. Food sold at pet stores for Mynah birds would be suitable too but my bird much preferred the dog food.