# Magpie breeders?



## hornet (Mar 10, 2011)

I understand magpies can be kept on licence in queensland, does anyknow know where they can be obtained legally?


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## Snake_Whisperer (Mar 10, 2011)

I was looking a few years ago with no luck. Hope you find one! Magpies are my favorite Aussie bird, I could listen to them all day. Had a wild trio in Brisbane that would hang out on the kitchen bench!


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## cougars (Mar 10, 2011)

Gorge wildlife park here in SA has them..They sell excess animals to the public.Give them a try

http://www.gorgewildlifepark.com.au/index.html


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## raaaa (Mar 10, 2011)

its not as simple as going to a breeder. From my understanding of it you need to have a wildlife cares liscence (anyone can get one) and it needs to be an animal that cannot be returned to the wild. Thats how my friend ended up with hers. There great little birds supper inteligent and super playfull. Good luck.


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## cougars (Mar 10, 2011)

Yes you can go to a breeder,That simple.Your friend must have a rescued animal?? Totally different from buying a bird on permit


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## waruikazi (Mar 10, 2011)

If you live in their range then why not just encourage them to live around your house? Rather than locking them up in a cage.


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## cougars (Mar 10, 2011)

waruikazi said:


> If you live in their range then why not just encourage them to live around your house? Rather than locking them up in a cage.



Great idea


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## waruikazi (Mar 10, 2011)

cougars said:


> Great idea



What's with the roll eyes? Is there something you don't understand?


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## cadwallader (Mar 10, 2011)

i used to feed the locals and they would sing on our deck every morning was so good much better then having one in a cage IMO


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## Khagan (Mar 10, 2011)

waruikazi said:


> If you live in their range then why not just encourage them to live around your house? Rather than locking them up in a cage.


 
Sounds like fun come breeding season haha =p.


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## waruikazi (Mar 10, 2011)

Khagan said:


> Sounds like fun come breeding season haha =p.



Lol, an ice cream bucket with eyes drawn on the back worn like a stack hat works a treat!


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## slim6y (Mar 10, 2011)

Khagan said:


> Sounds like fun come breeding season haha =p.


 
HAHA! Make sure you wear a shiny silver helmet on your head with a big red target sign in the middle....


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## Ramsayi (Mar 10, 2011)

Best birds by far,very entertaining,very clever,had one for years.
The only issue with them is that being territorial the local magpies will take any and every opportunity to attack your pet one


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## babba007 (Mar 10, 2011)

We have had a family in our yard for years. When the babies leave the nest, the mum will come with the babies and sit on the kitchen bench and wait for me to defrost them mince. So cute. Awesome birds.


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## scorps (Mar 10, 2011)

For the people who have seen them for sale what is the normal price they go for?

And waruikazi, Im sure cougars argument would be, why keep snakes just set up a snake freindly house and have them in your backyard. 

Ben


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## Dannyboi (Mar 10, 2011)

They are on the exempt list in SA so you would assume that they would be common but I never see any for sale. Guess because they are so common outside there is no point getting one as a pet. What I would like to see is more predator birds being bred.


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## slim6y (Mar 10, 2011)

scorps said:


> For the people who have seen them for sale what is the normal price they go for?
> 
> And waruikazi, Im sure cougars argument would be, why keep snakes just set up a snake freindly house and have them in your backyard.
> 
> Ben


 
He already has a crocodile friendly school (well, until they get shot).... But well played Ben... Well played!

As for magpies - from what I hear, they respond very well to being hand reared and are marvellously intelligent birds. And yes, they have a beautiful call. 

You can release them during the day - and just let them sleep in the cage at night. But if you don't give them enough time your house will probably be destroyed!

If you leave them in their cage they'll get depressed (possibly).

My parents are avid bird keepers - personal opinions here - I hate captive birds, I love them in the wild...


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## waruikazi (Mar 10, 2011)

scorps said:


> For the people who have seen them for sale what is the normal price they go for?
> 
> And waruikazi, Im sure cougars argument would be, why keep snakes just set up a snake freindly house and have them in your backyard.
> 
> Ben


 
Yes i know a parralell could be drawn to herp keeping. I think the difference is that even wild birds are social, you can form a relationship with wild birds but you can't with wild snakes. But, most importantly, birds need a much larger space than snakes do because they fly. 

But that's reading into my question (instead of answering it) which you shouldn't do because, as apparently cougar has, you get all rolly eyed and it is not what i am getting at.

If they are a local species and they are 'sociable' with people then, i am asking, why not try to attract wild animals to live with you? Personally i can only see benefits to a scenario such as that. Here's why...

1- It is much cheaper. There is no need to house the animals, take them to the vet, you don't have to pay for the animal itself and there are no permit fees involved.

2- The animals are still contributing to biodiversity. The birds are still being birds, flying, crapping, breeding, squawking, eating and being eaten. 

3- It is less time consuming. There is no cleaning involved, no building, no nothing.

4- You are one with nature! You can appreciate nature without having to control it. 

I personally feel no desire to keep any animal that i already interact with in the wild regularly. I don't want to keep possums because i see them crawling around the trees at night, i don't want an eagle because they fly around my house looking for food most days, crocodiles because they live just a 100m over my backfence etc etc.


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## gemrock2hot (Mar 10, 2011)

waruikazi said:


> Lol, an ice cream bucket with eyes drawn on the back worn like a stack hat works a treat!



lol if u feed them they tend not to swoop u.... there used to be heaps at my old work always used to feed them and they were that tame they would land on ur car side mirror and eat from your hand. The only person they ever swooped was the posty i dont think they liked his bike lol lucky he had a helmet


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## damian83 (Mar 10, 2011)

gemrock2hot said:


> lol if u feed them they tend not to swoop u.... there used to be heaps at my old work always used to feed them and they were that tame they would land on ur car side mirror and eat from your hand. The only person they ever swooped was the posty i dont think they liked his bike lol lucky he had a helmet




thats right my olds have a group of them and they swoop up and down the street but not with in a few houses of theres, i use to feed them and they just walk up to you while your sitting on the lawn having a beer and sing to you, its such a beautiful voice, other than a cockatoo


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## cougars (Mar 11, 2011)

Gordo,I understand  Well maybe. Ive kept and dealt with soft bills previously,If they are provided with a spacious aviary with a natural setting and foraging/hunting activity's they do just fine,Thrive actually.How do you suggest people encourage wild Magpies into they're garden? The only way they are really going to socialize with you is by feeding them.Not a good idea really,As I'm sure you already know.

cheers


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## cris (Mar 11, 2011)

As far as i know these are able to be legally kept on an advanced(or whatever its called) licence, most of the interesting species are illegal excpet the some of the small stuff like wrens that require lots work to look after.

With many birds like butcher birds, king fishers etc. the only option is to just be a bad ahs and feed them while they are wild and enjoy them as wild animals. I never feed them illegally myself, but some of these horrible animals steal rats from my hand, its really sad that people would feed them intentionally and cause mass destruction.


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## slim6y (Mar 11, 2011)

damian83 said:


> thats right my olds have a group of them and they swoop up and down the street but not with in a few houses of theres, i use to feed them and they just walk up to you while your sitting on the lawn having a beer and sing to you, its such a beautiful voice, other than a cockatoo


 
Other than a cockatoo??? Are you suggesting a cockatoo has a beautiful voice? I'm not sure you've heard the cockatoos I've heard then.... All the cockatoos, despite their apparent beauty, have voices that sound like a bird that has just swallowed sandpaper rolled in bleach. Black cockatoos are worse than the white ones (without a hint of racism there thank you). 

We had a beautiful big lemon tree at my old place - one year I let a bunch of cockatoos come in to feed on the delicious fruit. But what I noticed was something quite different than feeding.... They bit into one lemon, decided it tasted awful and threw it on the ground.... They then bit into another lemon, hated it threw it on the ground... They did this with every exposed lemon they could reach!!! 

They really do appear to have the mentality of a two year old!!!

Not sure on magpies in that sense - I understand they're intelligent - but more than a two year old I hope!!!


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## waruikazi (Mar 11, 2011)

cougars said:


> Gordo,I understand  Well maybe. Ive kept and dealt with soft bills previously,If they are provided with a spacious aviary with a natural setting and foraging/hunting activity's they do just fine,Thrive actually.How do you suggest people encourage wild Magpies into they're garden? The only way they are really going to socialize with you is by feeding them.Not a good idea really,As I'm sure you already know.
> 
> cheers



Cougars i'm not suggesting anything, i don't really care that much for birds atleast not compared to reptiles. I'm asking the question why you wouldn't. Either way i don't really care, i suppose you could call it just a curiosity. 

Why is feeding them a bad idea? I did a quick google search, i can't find any reference to it being illegal. Infact i found it to be a rather common practice. Personally i can't see how throwing a fist full of worms out on your lawn every now and then being particularly detrimental to their wellbeing. As for other ways of attracting them, again with a google search, i found there are quite a few simple ways to do it. I wont link the websites because they are forums but if you google -attracting magpies to your garden- you will find a whole lot of information.


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## Fuscus (Mar 11, 2011)

Love the birds but if they see me taking a snake for a walk they sit on the fence and complain. This attracts the blue-eyed honey-eaters who then sit on the fence and complain. This in turn attracts the noisy miners who sit on the fence an complain.

The upshot of this is that I'm able to recognize the "snake alarm" when we get a carpet in the area.


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## bigfella77 (Mar 19, 2011)

Magpies ROCK, we used to have a pet one on the farm. My dad found it as a chick fallen from its nest and was nearly dead so he called a lady up the road who was a WIRES carer and she took it, however she bought it back bout 2 weeks later to release it and we found it a few days later almost dead again as it couldnt fly yet. We just sat it on a pot plant hanger on the verandah and fed it worms n mince for a while till it could fly, It never left us and was never in a cage ever.
We had 4 red kelpies who seemed to like the bird they would let it ride around on their head or back and the bird would fly out and round up the cows at milking time with the dogs. You could call him from on end of the farm to the other and he would come land on your shoulder no worries, he would lie on his back wings out stretched on the lawn amongst the dogs and wait for his turn to have his belly scratched. He was the most awesome bird ive ever heard about and miss him heaps.


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## cris (Mar 19, 2011)

Fuscus said:


> The upshot of this is that I'm able to recognize the "snake alarm" when we get a carpet in the area.


 
Mynahs are good for that, the possums just make sounds like they are being killed for a few seconds and go all quiet like. Its like the possums are plotting against snake photos.


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## sarcastocrat (Mar 22, 2011)

I love Magpies, it's a shame so many people demonise them. Yesterday afternoon there was one quietly warbling to itself outside my window. Lots of worms for it after the big rains we have just had. 

I've been attacked by one before (in an area away from where I lived at the time), and have a bit of a scar on my nose from it. Doesn't change my love for them at all, just makes me aware I need to make friends with the ones near my home!


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## Dannyboi (Mar 25, 2011)

I had a talk with the guy from emblem avairys the other day about Magpies and other less common captive birds. He reckons that magpies and ravens eat parrot eggs so all the nearby parrots freak hence many parrot keepers (a huge portion of bird keepers if you ask me) don't have them. He did say that you can get them and eagles ect ect but you have to be in the right circles.


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## AllThingsReptile (Mar 25, 2011)

magpies are one of the coolest birds around!
i can watch them for hours, they are so entertaining
also for some reason in vic there are no birds of prey (eagles hawks falcons etc) allowed to be kept? any reason for that?


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## Dannyboi (Mar 25, 2011)

No idea but I just found out how much magpies cost in the states 2K amazing!


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## crocodile_dan (Mar 25, 2011)

easiest and cheapest method is to contact a wildlife carer as more often than not they need time and space and provided you are licensed they will often pass on certain species (especially common sp.)


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