# Injured Magpie



## NinaPeas (Nov 8, 2007)

Hi Everyone, 

One of the babies that I have been watching over the past weeks in my garden, I found injured yesterday, it has a limp and was quite under weight. I'm going to hold onto it for a couple of days, and if there is no improvement I'll take it to the vet.

I'm just wondering, what should I feed it. I don't want tot give it process foods, but all I could do this morning was give it some raw bacon, and small pieces of bread soaked in egg.

Any ideas?

Thanks


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## Shiv1 (Nov 8, 2007)

My grand parents started looking after a little magpie which had a brocken wing they fed him on beef mince and surprisingly he grew better and mated the year later now they have to look after a minature coloney


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## Just_Joshin (Nov 8, 2007)

NinaPeas said:


> Hi Everyone,
> 
> One of the babies that I have been watching over the past weeks in my garden, I found injured yesterday, it has a limp and was quite under weight. I'm going to hold onto it for a couple of days, and if there is no improvement I'll take it to the vet.
> 
> ...


Worms!! Go give a section of your garden (a small one) a good soak with water, come back in 30 minutes to one hour and have a little scratch around. You should find a couple of worms.


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## SnakeWrangler (Nov 8, 2007)

Was it feeding itself prior to the injury? If it wasn't you might need to mash its food up. If it were me I would gather worms and a range of insects for it. I have no doubt mince will be fine for it, however you will want to release it and you want it to know how to feed itself, it isn't going to find mince in the wild, but it will find worms and insects.


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## moosenoose (Nov 8, 2007)

Yep I reckon the worms are also the go. A few mashed crickets might be good?? I think the trick is keep the food coming every few hours during the day, but in very small amounts. I've managed to look after a little Magpie over the past 5 days and it seemed to be thriving (mind you it wasn't injured) I also used a water dropper to give it little amounts of water a few times a day to keep its fluids up. Good luck 

(ps: If I was a bird I'd be scared being looked after by me, my past record with them is appalling :lol: By the way, I've given the bird off to a registered native bird carer in the area, I figured it would have a much better chance of survival with them than me )


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## Jonno from ERD (Nov 8, 2007)

They will eat pink mice and rats like there's no tomorrow, too.


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## NinaPeas (Nov 8, 2007)

It's a resident family, and it was fine yesterday. It's not a baby baby, it has all it's feathers, and has been eating small amounts on it's own, and also being fed by the parents.

The parents have been picking on them a bit lately (time to find their own way), so I thought maybe it had been picked on too much, but now I think maybe it's been attacked by something or flown into something.

I'll get some preservative-free mince to try and fatten it up a bit, and a variety of insects as well. Do you think a few mealworms would be ok?


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## Inkslinger (Nov 8, 2007)

Wombaroo make an insectivore mix add that to lean beef mashed egg cheese and parsley.


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## NinaPeas (Nov 8, 2007)

I think cheese would be too fatty, and I want to stay away from human food (even though that's what the parent's have been feeding them their whole lives lol)

Does anyone know how to tell the sex of a magpie when it's still young? I know the males backs are while and the females grey when they are older


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## Inkslinger (Nov 8, 2007)

http://www.birdcare.com.au/magpie.htm

This should help and no cheese is not too fatty


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## nuthn2do (Nov 8, 2007)

Take it to the vet there's obviously something wrong with it. If you choose not to it _*needs a high fat diet *_of cheap beef mince and insectivore mix like wombaroo or vetafarm. Feeding young birds lean meat is like giving a baby skim milk.
Don't give it dairy or bread unless you want to kill it


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## Inkslinger (Nov 8, 2007)

[SIZE=-1]This is the html version of the file http://www.birdcare.asn.au/pdf/magpies.pdf.
*G o o g l e* automatically generates html versions of documents as we crawl the web.
To link to or bookmark this page, use the following url: http://www.google.com/search?q=cach...ies&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=9&gl=au&client=firefox-a[/SIZE]

[SIZE=-2]_Google is neither affiliated with the authors of this page nor responsible for its content._[/SIZE] [SIZE=-1]These search terms have been highlighted: [/SIZE]*[SIZE=-1]feeding [/SIZE]**[SIZE=-1]magpies [/SIZE]* [FONT=arial,sans-serif]*Page 1*[/FONT] *BCCS FEEDING ADVICE FOR MAGPIES*
(and other insect eaters- Ravens, Currawongs etc)
  The Bird Care and Conservation Society Inc. discourages the public from *feeding* wild
birds. We advise that native trees should be planted that provide nectar, pollen, seed
and berries, and attract insects. This will be a permanent food source that will never
go on holidays or move house leaving the birds who are relying on a food source to go
hungry.
Different birds have different dietary needs and generally eat a wide variety of food.
Table scraps do not provide good nutrition for adults birds - or parent birds who are
rearing young.
*Magpies should never under ANY CIRCUMSTANCES be fed raw meat. NOT even as*
*an occasional treat.*
Insectivores such as *magpies* need a protein-rich diet with lesser amounts of
carbohydrate and fat and they have extremely high calcium requirements.
If you feel that you must feed wild *magpies* we recommend the formula below. Only
feed a small amount per day so that the birds will rely on natural food sources that
will provide *ALL *their dietary requirements.
*Formula *
1 can Pal puppy food
Wheat germ
Heinz High Protein baby cereal
Wombaroo insectivore mix - (available through your vet, or pet shop)
One tablespoon chopped parsley
One chopped hard-boiled egg
Half a cup of grated hard cheese ie- Old Bitey
One tablespoon of calcium carbonate
*All of the above ingredients must be used.*
*If any are left out nutritional deficiencies can occur*
Add equal amounts of Heinz high protein baby cereal, wheat germ, and Wombaroo
insectivore mix to the can of Puppy pal (one spoon of each at a time) until the mix is a
moist crumble. Add the grated cheese, parsley, egg and calcium carbonate.
This makes a large supply that can be frozen in small amounts with each days supply
being defrosted as necessary. *All food must be fed fresh or freshly defrosted daily.*
*All feeding dishes must be washed in hot soapy water daily to prevent disease.

Also too if you take the animal to the vet (well in Victoria anyway) they will put it down.
*


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## NinaPeas (Nov 8, 2007)

nuthn2do said:


> Take it to the vet there's obviously something wrong with it. If you choose not to it _*needs a high fat diet *_of cheap beef mince and insectivore mix like wombaroo or vetafarm. Feeding young birds lean meat is like giving a baby skim milk.
> Don't give it dairy or bread unless you want to kill it



I wont feed it lean meat, but I will get preservative free mince. The parents have been feeding it bread, and it's all I had in the house, so better than nothing.

If it doesn't improve by tomorrow I'll take it to the vet, I'm just concerned they will put it down, some vets will because they have no-one to charge to costs to. And I don't think there are any wildlife carers in my area (I've tried before with injured possums, birds etc)


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## nuthn2do (Nov 8, 2007)

Inkslinger said:


> *Magpies should never under ANY CIRCUMSTANCES be fed raw meat. NOT even as*
> *an occasional treat.*
> Insectivores such as *magpies* need a protein-rich diet with lesser amounts of
> carbohydrate and fat and they have extremely high calcium requirements.
> ...



Wombaroo is complete apart from the fat content needed for young birds, obviously they have not done much research.


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## Gregory (Nov 8, 2007)

Or you could do the right thing and hand it over to one of the Wildlife Rescue organisations and have an experienced carer rehabilitate it. It'll stand a fighting chance then.





Greg.


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## Pandora (Nov 8, 2007)

SA Dept. of Environment and Heritage 08 8124 4700 

SA RSPCA 08 8231 6931 

SA Fauna Rescue of South Australia 08 8289 0896 

Try one of these numbers!


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## Chris1 (Nov 8, 2007)

when mum called the vet to see what she could feed the magpies in the back yard she was told good Os (as in the dog bikkies) cut up smallish and soaked in water.
that with a few worms from the garden would probably be ok,...


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## Inkslinger (Nov 8, 2007)

nuthn2do said:


> Wombaroo is complete apart from the fat content needed for young birds, obviously they have not done much research.



They are highly specialist care and I would think they know a dam site more than you do, Magpies do not survive on just insects. More native birds die from well meaning Good Samaritans than survive, these people often rely on out of date information passed on by word of mouth.

The right thing to do would be to find the origination in your area that deals with injured wildlife.


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## ccmattyjayde (Nov 8, 2007)

I haven't read all the posts because I'm about to head out the door lol so this has probably been said already but oh well.

My Grandpa feeds adult magpies and their babies every single day on thawed out mince  They're healthy as anything and FAT! 
So that might be a good food for the little one


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## Thumpage44 (Nov 8, 2007)

Lol i hate magpies so much, but the animal shelter were i sometimes work feeds them mealworms.  Bloody magpies...


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## waruikazi (Nov 8, 2007)

Contact a wildlife rescue org and ask for their help they should be able to give you the contact of a bird person.

I would also encourage you to become a carer, you obviously have the good intentions and enthusiasm.

This is the website for the SA Fauna Rescue http://www.faunarescue.org.au/

should give you some good tips and all the info you need to become a carer. Just do it, then you can look after these animals without breaking the law.


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## MoreliaMatt (Nov 9, 2007)

Call the animal welfare league.... they will give you a number of one of the bird carers from fauna rescue for you to ring direct....

even if you dont want to give it to a carer, call the carer anyway, they are always happy to offer you some advice!


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## NinaPeas (Nov 9, 2007)

Thanks everyone for your imput. I have raised magies before (in my youger years) just couldn't really remember what to feed them exactly.

I gave it some dog food, egg, parsley, wombaroo, calcium, baby food etc etc and it ate it with gusto! But I will try and find someone in my area to give it to to get the proper care (I would've done that anyway  ). I'm wary about bringing it to the RSPCA, as they wont even accept stray dogs, unless they are from a council dog catcher.

I'll let you know how I go anyway


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## Naxx (Nov 9, 2007)

my stepmom is president of the friends of native wildlife group, she took care of a baby magpie since before it had full feathers and was just a little chick, start it out on womberoo magpie mix with thinly cut slices of beef heart. beef heart is lean and high in protien and the womberoo gives the needed nutrients. and before anyone jumps on the raw meat thing, she did alot of research and talked to alot of specialists and they suggested beef heart so blah on ya!

sadly when it got old enough it learned to fly a little bit and just enough so he could fly over a few fences and never be seen again as it didnt kno how to get back


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## Inkslinger (Nov 9, 2007)

NinaPeas said:


> Thanks everyone for your imput. I have raised magies before (in my youger years) just couldn't really remember what to feed them exactly.
> 
> I gave it some dog food, egg, parsley, wombaroo, calcium, baby food etc etc and it ate it with gusto! But I will try and find someone in my area to give it to to get the proper care (I would've done that anyway  ). I'm wary about bringing it to the RSPCA, as they wont even accept stray dogs, unless they are from a council dog catcher.
> 
> I'll let you know how I go anyway



Way to go most vets RSPCA etc will put them down as cost is too high to save something not endangered. Just keep feeding and to give water tooth brush works well


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