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magpie

Posted: 10 Dec 2013, 07:47
by jusdeb
Just released a young galah back to its wild parents and now have a baby magpie here for some TLC .
Still a fluff ball and no damage just shaken after the storm here .
So has heat lamp and am feeding insectivore mixed with warm water . Its jumping about today , full of beans so what now ?

I wont send any more birds to WIRES as they are under staffed here and the last Corella baby spent a soaking wet night outside in a mixed aviary due to it waking up the Joeys in the middle of the night .

Any tips please ? On its care that is ...oh and if your going to be all blah blah blah about wild birds , rehab etc then save it as my only agenda is to keep it alive at this stage and will contemplate its future down the track a little .

Cheers big ears :)

Re: magpie

Posted: 10 Dec 2013, 10:23
by finchbreeder
Good on you for rescuing it. But you will have to do lots of insect catching to feed it. So put out the lamp with a chute for the insects to fall down, and a bucket under to catch them. Put birdie in a mostly enclosed cage, so it can try catching the bigger insects for itself, but initially you get to tweezer feed the smaller ones to it. Have fun, good luck.
LML

Re: magpie

Posted: 10 Dec 2013, 15:02
by matcho
Deb,

I know you have furkids so try some of the dry food soaked maybe with a bit of grit/calcium and vitamin supplement as well as the insects. Good stuff! They are real characters.

Ken.

Re: magpie

Posted: 10 Dec 2013, 16:55
by Diane
Nice to see you here again Deb.
Back in
October last year my daughter in law had a young magpie handed in to her and I posted the same question, got some good replies in this topic.
viewtopic.php?f=211&t=12937&p=120889&hi ... aw#p120889

Re: magpie

Posted: 10 Dec 2013, 20:03
by matcho
So Deb,
How is the little bundle of fluff going? Please keep us informed (with photos). I had one as a kid and then later in life when I was a butcher, stayed out the back on a perch. Mince meat only is not a good diet. Used to have parent bird turn up at the front door with chicks, opened the door and she/he would bring them in up on the counter for their morning feed and then be gone until the next day. Ah, they were the days. Had a pet crow as well, now they were fun!

Ken.

Re: magpie

Posted: 10 Dec 2013, 22:38
by jusdeb
Going good , had a bit of a turn earlier which I think may been a need for electrolites , as soon as it got a drink with Spark it came good .
Thanks for the tips , will it much insects at this young age ? its all fluff still with some wing feathers just opened ?

We feed a pair and their young who come to the front door daily , suspect it may be thiers as their territory is quite large .

Cute little bugger hasnt got a bite in it yet ..fingers crossed if gets a better feed reflex and starts putting on some weight soon .

Re: magpie

Posted: 11 Dec 2013, 06:19
by GregH
Hi Deb. I hope that you are getting to be friends with the magpie so that it begs. I still remember the claws of the last one I saved as I had to force its beak open when it first came to me. The best food advice I was given is to feed soaked kitten food pellets (readily available, high protein, easily stored and a lot easier to catch than insects). If you're going to rehabilitate it then you can worry about training it to catch insects later.

Re: magpie

Posted: 11 Dec 2013, 07:45
by E Orix
I noticed earlier on in this post someone suggested grit.
This is not needed as it is a Softbill and does not have a gizzard.
What it will need further on is an occasional cricket etc. apart from being protein and food the
hard outer cases of the bugs act as a pipe cleaner for their digestive system.

Re: magpie

Posted: 11 Dec 2013, 12:18
by jusdeb
Got a recipe going with lean mince , insectivore , rice cereal , bread crumbs and calcium from the fauna rescue web site and ............. taking it like a boss . Feed reflex kicked in and all . yay :thumbup:

Re: magpie

Posted: 11 Dec 2013, 12:20
by jusdeb
http://www.faunarescue.org.au/bird-insectivore.htm

Just for future reference folks . This was one of the better pages for recipes etc .