Magpie Keeping .....

How to keep Magpies in an aviary.

Please excuse / ignore this one, if ye not interested. I'm prompted to jot it down simply because of the number of people finding their way here, through Google, looking for advice on how to keep magpies.

 More people keeping them in aviaries the better. They can't do much harm there. They enjoy captivity ~ if treated right. They're interesting and engaging creatures. It's a win, win, win situation.

Ok. Ye want to keep a magpie or two, for what ever reason? Cool. I have done, for some time now. I started off by catching them in a Larsen Trap. and I'd kill the old one, every time I caught a fresh one.

Only, I realised how, once the fresh ones stopped turning up, the last one would live about a week or so, in the decoy cage. As long as I kept it watered and fed it tinned Dog food. Everyone I spoke to echoed similar experiences. Everyone fed their 'Call Birds' tinned food. No one kept their birds long.

Having decided to try and break the mould, first thing I did was start offering my birds a better diet. I gave one a piece of raw, human grade lambs flesh. And that's how I discovered a magpie will exert so much effort on trying to peck a meal out of such flesh, he'll use up the energy he gains from what little he manages to consume. 

Lumps of flesh are no good. Canned pet food is so full of shit, it's little wonder it kills things that eat it.

So, I started trying my birds on fresh, human grade, minced beef. Straight from the counter of my local butcher. Not 'Pet Mince'. Some shit out of the bin, minced. My birds get top quality minced beef. No added salt or other preservatives. Just dead cow. And started living for months in the Larsen Trap.

But, only months. And it was always a relief to see they'd made it through another night and were still in some sort of condition. But, I did note how their condition declined. Tails got rubbed out. Feathers got shabby. Birds became depressed. They just survived, till it all got too much and they gave up.

It actually rather hurt me that, due to lousy service, I was long promising my oldest captive, " Peck, Peck ", a whole new life. His condition was falling away. Shabbier plumage. Thinner body. Visibly weakening. Poor soul keeled over within about forty eight hours of being released into the new Eight foot long, Four foot wide, six foot high, steel framed aviary I bought for him and his more recently caught neighbour. Damn aviary took so long to get here.

But, his erstwhile mate made it. She watched him go and carried on. And she's still out there, in great condition. She actually managed to injure her own leg, within days. I thought I'd lose her as she had to lay down on landing. But, she pulled through. Her leg mended and now I call her " Peg, Peg ", in memory.

Peggie has a new mate. Glorious male specimen I trapped when he came a calling. He settled down admirably within a week. Peg is now so tame, she comes and sits right up by the door when I come to feed them. I could get her feeding out of my hand with a weeks training. But, I have better things to do with my time. I just drop their handful of minced beef on the floor for them.

The mesh is 1" x 1/2". The frame is steel, because magpies, I've found, will peck, peck at timber. They'd reduce a timber frame to a potential disaster in amazingly little time ~ be warned!

They have the expected few branches and bits of foliage, for their amusement and my eye. Most of all, they have a top corner, sheltered from the prevailing winds and rains, by a pair of perspex sheets. 17" long and 10" high. (I'd now consider that the absolute minimum for a pair. Bigger would be better, by far) Above these corner baffles is a sheet of clear perspex about two feet square. They roost in that corner.

Oh; And they Love a bath. Be sure to provide them with a water bowl they can safely get into and have a good thrash about in. Something like a Dog bowl would do, only it'll need constant refilling in the better weather.

My pair eat 3Ilb of minced beef a week. Attending to them is as much a part of my daily routine as my Dogs and horses. Their aviary cost me about £550, delivered into Eire. I couldn't have had one built for less.

Just some things to consider about these intelligent, interesting and rewarding birds, in captivity. Want to know anything more? Just contact me.

Caught A Fuck Of A Magpie Today!

I mean, seriously! This fukka's a Beast!

I've been dimly aware of one 'in the area' for a week or so now. It's seemed to prefer Pat's lower top field. End of my track and towards the river. Between there and the big Ash.

Though Dean O' and I spotted one coming up my back hedge, last Sunday. What ever. I might have glimpsed it once before now, round my aviary. But I know my bird gets agitated when it's around.

Today then, I'm working away here when I catch a glimpse out of the corner of my eye. Spun round and, yeppers; Wild magpie at the door end of the aviary. I actually sent a note to the Bird Track peeps, to say it was on my land and targeted for " Taking Into Custody ". We log shit to the passing hour there. So I logged that at 15:00.

Got back to work. 17:00, I fed the Dogs and horses. That done, I decided to fetch the Larsen Trap down off my porch and set it to work. Then I carried on in here.

Couple of minutes to 18:00 and something else has distracted me. Like; I had the fucker! Great. Told the Dogs to stay out of it and went out there. I shifted the trap round, as I'd previously worked out I'd have to, to give me freedom of movement while reaching in there and catching the bird. Then I slipped my arm in and started trying to grasp the bastard.

Jesus fucking christ! It was like getting hold of a Gyr Falcon! As soon as my hand closed round this bugger, I knew he was big. Then I felt the muscles which were making him so big. Then I felt the sheer bloody force of the bastard! This was a magpie on steroids!

Told him so. Said, " You're a big bastard, aren't ye? Now; In there ye go. " And into the aviary he went.

Checking the grub situation, I figured I'd sling a last bit in there. In fact, I slung a fair old lump of minced beef in. Then sat in here and observed.

Dear god! That fucker didn't hang about either! He picked up a lump the size of a good sized mouse and popped about with it. I thought he'd choke himself. Finally got that down the neck and went back for More! I'm like sat here goggle eyed, just watching the bastard packing it away. I'm thinking, " Hey! I have to Pay for that, ye cunt! " Never seen a bird eat like it in my life!

Anyway, there we are. Now I have what I'd certainly take to be a gendered pair. Hulking great male and a lesser female. Let's see how these two get on in an 8 x 6 x 4' aviary.

Magpies; Curious Things .....

My old bird was finally off his perch, this morning. No surprise. No regrets. No heads hung in sorrow and mourning.

Not because he was 'Just' a magpie. A piece of vermin. A worthless egg thief. Because he wasn't. He was none of those things. Not for the better part of a year, at least. Because that's how long he'd been with me. As one of my little Prisoners Of War. And, as such, he'd received the very best of treatment. That's why he lasted so long.

Anyway, if ye want to read about my POW's origins, look it up on here. I introduced them some time ago. And this was the older of the two birds. I believe a parent to the one I kept in the trap compartment of my Larsen, having caught that one second.

I'd known the older bird was going, for some time now. He'd got shabby. Shabby as fuck, in fact. Quite disgusting, really. Wouldn't have survived like it, in the wild. His feathers were all dirty and loose hanging. Even his wings tended to droop, of late. Ye don't see birds like that in the wild state. Not twice ye don't. One of his toes had curled up. Right fucking mess he was in. It was only his effortless life of luxury that kept him going.

Sheltered from every element. Protected from predators. Fed like a God. All he had to do was wake up. Await his feeding. Eat. Sit watch the world go by ~ warning other maggies that this was his patch. Then settle down for the night. Last nights kip will never end for him.

Never mind. I still have the youngster. The one I caught with him as Call Bird. I imagine this is one of his brood. And the young 'ns as tight feathered, bright and bouncy as a magpie should be. And how she screamed when I caught her up today! Screeched blue murder, as I put my hand in there and caught her by the leg. Couldn't catch much else at that angle. Soon made sure I got a more comfortable and less, potentially, injurous grip on her body.

I wanted to put her into the big, double 'Call Bird' compartment, see? Give her the bigger cage now. Popped her in there and was thoroughly amused to see her bopping about all over the place for hours afterwards. Exploring all this new room to move about in. Obviously loving it too. Good. Happy bird.

Of course, I realised I'd have to catch a fresh one now. Company ~ through the mesh, of course ~ for her. And a back up for me. I figured I'd get round to that. Other things on my plate just now. I had a project to do, on here. That took me from about 14:00 to 17:00. Then I had to sort my horses out. Finally settling down to consider a spin of the Play Station by 18:00.

And that's when I happened to glance out and see a splendid looking 'pie flying off my front gate. " That'll do me. ", I thought. And I went out, up the ladder and set the trap. Fiddly business, hanging over the top of a ladder as I was. But, I did my best. Dropped a ball of minced beef in there. Then I rejoined my oppo's in the fantasy SAS and went off and won yet another battle in the war torn Kuwait of PS2 land.

22:00 tonight, I just let the Dogs out and glanced up at the trap. Couldn't see fuck all in the dark. That niggled me, so I came in and got my torch. Just as I'd suspected; Fucking thing had fired off, due to the bouncing around of the youngster there. Thinking on how a fired on empty trap catches nothing, I resignedly climbed the ladder.

Fuck me! That was fast! Two for breakfast then .....

My Little POW's

It was back in October of 2008. Over seven months ago now then, that I caught a magpie, alive, somewhat by accident ~ and no small miracle. I don't want to go into the details here of how that came about. But it led to the story I'm about to relate.

See, finding this hapless bird in the most - for him - unfortunate circumstances and completely at my mercy, I actually stopped and considered the situation. Rather, that is, than automatically and without thinking, knocking him on the head.

Look at it from my point of view. It was October. Not a lot of nests active at that time of year. So he couldn't be up to much mischief. Fact that he was caught while picking over old chicken bones in my compost box rather proved what his existence was like at that approach to winter. And, anyway, he wasn't a Job. No body had noticed him. He hadn't been bothering anyone. There was nothing in it for me.

Upshot was, I took him in as a Prisoner Of War. He was, after all, the enemy. It would've seemed worse by far, to me, to have let him go free than to have knocked him off. Do that and I'd likely only end up killing him in the spring or summer anyway. Besides which, I'm far from a teenage kiddie with everything to prove to everyone. I have my own mind and that mind said to do as I did.

So it was he came to be transferred to my Larsen Trap (For a bloody good article on these things, which I just happened to stumble across, go have a look at this; Larsen Traps)

I set the trapping compartments, more or less as a matter of course. But, also to see what might happen. See, most people consider there to be a 'season' for Larsen trapping magpies. Spring and summer. I fancied trying out a little experiment.

Guess what? I had another one in days! I left that one in the trap too. Gave it a water drinker and started feeding them both their daily ration of a slightly less than golf ball sized portion of fresh, minced beef.

Then, sadly, inside a week my first one died. I suspect it was the shock of his mode of capture. Perhaps he'd sustained some physical injury that didn't show? Anyway, he fell off his perch, poor old thing. So I transferred the newer bird to the decoy section and got on with my life. For a couple of days or so. Then I caught another!

Now, let me tell ye; There's something rather endearing about these intelligent and soon to become trusting little birds. Take them out of the wider environment and what are they? Gone is the infuriating vision of merciless nest robbers. There's no primal challenge of the sly and sneaking target. They become, I can assure ye, just rather pretty and amusing little things who want nothing more than their breakfast each and every day.

Just to underline here; Magpies like to eat meat. It's the best - if not only - way we can provide their 'natural' diet (unless we intend to go about catching bugs and grubs for them on a gargantuan scale of time and effort!) Furthermore, they Must be fed Every Single Day, without fail. Miss a day? Bird dies. Simple as that.

I've also gone to extreme lengths to keep them protected from the prevailing elements. The trap is wrapped up against the winds and rains. But I've fitted a perspex sheet to the sunny side, so they can enjoy the light, without the rougher weather getting to them. They can't go hide in a birch tree, after all.

So, anyway, there they are. Hopping about in their Larsen Trap, up on my flat porch roof. They've been there for months now and are perfectly happy. They haven't a care in the world and they don't need to work for a living, nor fear being shot as they try to do so. And I'm honestly rather fond of them too. Every day I come up my ladder calling, " Hullo, birds! Here's ye breakfast. " And I check them over as I pop their balls of beef in for them. I'd miss it, if anything happened to them.

Of course, I dare say some of ye may be sitting there thinking; " Oh, come on, Ditch! Ye say ye fond of them, yet ye committing them to a dreary life inside a pokey little Larsen Trap?! " Fair point. Only ye see, I've been busy. Extremely busy. I've had a seemingly endless stream of things to do around here. But now I'm working my way through my 'next jobs'.

Here's my next 'next job'. I've been in touch with Sales and hope to have one shipped over here any time now. I look after my creatures. They'll have one of These.

Here's one of my little mates, look (Click for full picture);