BUTCHER BIRDS

[suffolk]

helo Im a newby on here...Anyone know how to deal with butcher birds ? Will they kill my birds through the small mouse/snake wire ?

[matcho]

The answer to your questions is a resounding YES.If you have perches close enough to the wire they will be able to reach in with their slender beak with a terrible hook on the end and cause fatal injuries, heads, wings pulled off and through the wire. It is a natural thing for them as they are predators and anything in their area is considered fair game. My advice is this, dont have any perching areas for them to get close as they have a certain hypnotic thing going for them. Finches, especially fledglings will come to the wire and just sit there. Don't get me wrong but they are "locals" and a truly beautiful bird in looks and song. I have them here, cause a bit of grief in fright but when their distinctive (beautiful but blood curdling) call is made all of my birds shut down. They soon get bored and leave. If they can't get a feed there they will not waste their time.

I assume you do mean either the Pied or Grey Butcherbirds that look like a mini Magpie because some call Indian Mynas "Butcherbirds" and some even call Noisy Miners "Butcherbirds". I am referring to the mini Magpies.

Good luck.

Matcho

[suffolk]

Yes im talking about the black and white type..They look a bit like a mudlark or a magpie...My Orange cheeks hang on the wire looking out..so im very worried...
will have to put up another wire in front of existing wire so they cant reach them..
Thanks for your reply!!

[Craig52]

Probably not so much with the 6mm weldmesh,but the birds can cause their own injuries being spooked and thrashing around....Craig

[suffolk]

Thanks for that..They also wake me up early in the mornings with there melodies..
I wonder if there is a deterrant for them ..i dont want to kill them ...just get them to move on somehow..

[suffolk]

anyone know how do deal with them in a nice way?

[BrettB]

I don't think you will find any Myna's in Narrogin.

The mouse wire does a reasonable job, but the finches can still get terrorised. This seems to do most of the damage.
Keeping perches away from the periphery and double wire on the roof with a small gap between reduces casualties further.

Welcome from another West Aussie

Cheers
Brett

[suffolk]

The ones i have here look like this..

[natamambo]

Yep, a nice specimen of a pied butcher bird.

We have one that hangs around our aviaries far too often but so far hasn't done any damage thankfully. It's so "tame" the other day it was on the clothes line less than 3 feet from me, just watching me. All my aviaries are 12mm wire but solid roof and no perches are close enough for him to hypnotise the birds (I hope, no damage so far and he's been hanging around for over a year).

[Bmac27]

You can get predatory bird deterrents from garden stores or Bunnings .
There are a few available these days but keep them well out of sight of the finches ...
Welcome from a fellow Westerner .
Brad