Quick word about comments ...
Comments here are 'moderated'. In as much that I have to physically see them and wave them through once you hit Send.
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Please don't post it several times. Get frustrated and storm off, never to be seen again. It's just a measure I was forced to put into place by doxxers, spammers and other, mentally unstable's.
Okay. So, I'm a bit of a Bird Nut, among other things. Yeah? Thinking about the wild birds around me takes up a fair proportion of my attention, every day. It's like I'm always up to something, concerning them.
Feeding them, 7 / 52, is a given. But, more than that, lately I've been focusing on 'Baiting' them. Luring them into certain, tightly defined corners. Places I can build up their numbers, ready for the day we catch the lot and Ring them.
I have a separate feeder station, over in the corner of the home acre. It's heaving with small birds, all day, every day. We can put a Mist Net across for them.
But, I have designs on some bigger stuff too. I've been Ground Baiting, with rolled oats, for about three weeks now. Already I'm getting half a dozen or so Magpies and fifteen or more Rooks. I want to Ring that lot!
To this end, as I wait for my Single Clap Net mesh to be made, I'm planning to set up a Crow Trap for them. That's why my aviary has been down there this past few days. Door open and half the roof off. They're already used to it. Feeding right outside.
And I stand up, every hour or so, and record a swift head count. So many magpies. So many rooks. Maybe half a dozen newly arrived starlings? I'll be adapting the trap to catch those too. I'm loving it!
But, nothing on earth prepared me for what I saw, when I looked out, at eleven this morning! And here, let me just remind ye; I'm completely isolated here. This is Wild country. People, out here, are like individual ants on their own football pitch. One for every tens of acres of open land.
That's why I was so wiped out to see the Fox! No kidding! Fuckin' real, live, large as life, gloriously healthy and full coated fox! And it's crouching there, in broad daylight, scarfing down my rolled oats as half a dozen magpies pranced nonchalantly around it!!!
I couldn't believe my fucking eyes! Sixty yards away. I was plainly watching its jaws work as it chewed! Big, orange powder puff of immaculate, full winter coat.
None of ye scrawny, skinny, mangy fuckin' urban kebab killers. This was a pure bred, wild as all hell, totally naturally living, free Irish fox. What a fucking beauty!
Watched this thing, on and off, for half an hour or so. Magpies never once bothered it or by it. They just pranced around, helping themselves too. What a fantastic spectacle!
Best bit was, when foxy had eaten his / her fill? They got up and wandered inside the aviary, for a look round! Inspected the mesh for a bit. Looked around some. Then languidly sauntered off into the cover of the rough down there.
Brilliant!
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.
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.
Hoisting myself back onto the horses back (I can't say 'Back into the saddle'. I wouldn't use a saddle on my horse! It just seems wrong, to me) I realise I haven't even shown ye my new gun yet. I believe I told ye about the fun and games I had, getting the damn license processed? Well, that all finally got rail roaded through - by my own bloody minded persistence and that alone! And now I've got my new gun.
Had it, probably, two or three weeks now, I guess? As I've always maintained though; My guns are just tools. Did I mention the new power saw and disc cutter I bought? Maybe. In passing. Much the same with this gun. Only, guns seem to excite some people more than a power saw. So, here's an over view of my latest ~ more 'sexy' tool.
Sorry it's not a very close up and detailed shot. Of course, it's not even a 'real photo', as in taken by me. It's just something I found on Google. Unfortunately, with my own camera, by the time I get the distance to allow for the whole length, I lose all detail anyway. This just seemed like a nice compromise.
As most of ye will see then, it's black. All over. For the less well up on such things; It's what we call a 'Pump Action'. It holds five cartridges in the 'tube' and I can 'stick one up the spout' as well. That means I can fire it. Ratchet that handle at the front back ~ thus making a two part, metallic sound which is actually, probably, a better laxative than even the sound of the damn thing going off! ~ and fire again. Ratchet. Fire. Ratchet. Fire.
Six shots, one after the other. As fast as I can bring my left hand back and squeeze the trigger. We have a word for that sort of thing, in the gun owning fraternity. We call it, " Awesome! ". LOL!
The official name of this gun is a " Mossberg 'Maverick', 88 (Field Model) ". Made in Texas, USA. Only the component parts are cunningly made in, and imported from, Mexico. This allowing the lower price, at least in US! I paid close to £400 for this thing. It's virtually cheap as chickens wings in America. But, I'm not in America .....
However, I've read a Lot of reviews from owners. Can't say I've read a bad one yet. People with this gun seem to like it. Me? I like its weight and feel. I like the way it handles and I Love the sound of that ratchet! 'Aural Sex ', surely? I know Dean O' thinks so too ;-)
So, there it is. I've got it, of course, for magpies. It'll be the ideal tool for rapidly reducing any broods I miss before they hit the ground. That heady period when they're still young and stupid enough to be found bouncing about in gangs of five, picking at what ever ye've left out to tempt them.
Of course, That season came and passed as I tried to get past The Muppet and actually get my damn license. It'll come again. I'll be ready now. Meanwhile, Dean O' proposed a fun little suggestion the other night. He pointed out how we both tend to use only our rifles and bang away at paper targets and plastic bottles, to keep our eyes in.
He said it might be fun if the pair of us should invest in a cheap and basic little Clay Pigeon Trap .....
Now, that does sound like a hell of a fun way to spend a couple of hours down on the bog!
