Forums > General Discussion   Shooting the breeze...

Anybody have experience with hand fed magpies nesting nearby?

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Created by Haircut > 9 months ago, 26 Jul 2018
Haircut
QLD, 6480 posts
26 Jul 2018 10:57AM
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We've had some very tame magpies visiting us for over a year, and now they've decided to build a nest in our yard, half way out on a palm tree frond, overhanging the pool, of all places.

Do I need to start wearing a motorcycle helmet? Will they still be friendly once they lay and have chicks?

I'm not sure if they'll even get that far because the branches swing around a lot in the wind. I think this frond has quite a few months left in it.

patsken
WA, 703 posts
26 Jul 2018 9:12AM
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Get more food for them because you'll be feeding the babies soon as well!

The guys that we have had hanging around for quite a few years bring the young ones with them to "knock" on the front door when they want a little extra food. They also ****e all over the verandah but that's okay

elmo
WA, 8659 posts
26 Jul 2018 10:59AM
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Friendly Magpies (not the footy jumper type) are the best thing since sliced bread and if you are good to them they'll teach their offspring to like you as well, so when you're out in the garden they'll come up to you for a ferret around.

Always talk and whistle to them and they'll sing back to you

I've read that Magpies have very long memories and can recognize individuals who have wronged them, cyclists are just fair game it seems.

DARTH
WA, 3028 posts
26 Jul 2018 11:22AM
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elmo said..
Friendly Magpies (not the footy jumper type) are the best thing since sliced bread and if you are good to them they'll teach their offspring to like you as well, so when you're out in the garden they'll come up to you for a ferret around.

Always talk and whistle to them and they'll sing back to you

I've read that Magpies have very long memories and can recognize individuals who have wronged them, cyclists are just fair game it seems.


Ive had magpies and crows that Ive fed, very friendly.

gs12
WA, 393 posts
26 Jul 2018 12:08PM
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They are fun to have around but we stopped feeding them as they cr@p all over the balcony. They eventually stopped coming (and crapping )

decrepit
WA, 11829 posts
26 Jul 2018 12:46PM
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some friends of ours had tame magies in a tree, well tame until they had young, then they got attacked.

rod_bunny
WA, 1089 posts
26 Jul 2018 2:01PM
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DARTH said..

elmo said..
Friendly Magpies (not the footy jumper type) are the best thing since sliced bread and if you are good to them they'll teach their offspring to like you as well, so when you're out in the garden they'll come up to you for a ferret around.

Always talk and whistle to them and they'll sing back to you

I've read that Magpies have very long memories and can recognize individuals who have wronged them, cyclists are just fair game it seems.



Ive had magpies and crows that Ive fed, very friendly.


The crows around me bring me gifts... rocks and bits of plastic.
The young magpies will happily follow me into the garage or sit a sqwark around me when I've been working on the boat in the driveway.

I don't feed them often maybe once or twice a month.


Yay
www.bbc.com/news/magazine-31604026
Boo
metro.co.uk/2015/08/14/parents-of-little-girl-who-received-gifts-from-crows-face-200000-lawsuit-over-bird-poop-5342646/

japie
NSW, 6683 posts
26 Jul 2018 4:05PM
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We had a couple of tame ones, hand reared, which were friendly with the wild ones and never had a problem. Some visitors did but always the same ones. One mate used to visit with his squash racket.

They provide some really spectacular amusement as well . I watched one pulling the other around the lawn by its tail feathers when on its back. Another time two of them were standing beneath a shrub, jumping up to latch on to a low hanging branch with their beaks. Really weird non bird stuff.

HotBodMon
NSW, 573 posts
26 Jul 2018 5:55PM
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They seem like they would make great pets. I wonder how many owners came home to a pile of feathers on the floor from those Cat and Magpie cute video uploads

Adriano
11206 posts
26 Jul 2018 4:13PM
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They sure are characters. Just don't leave any food around unattended during a BBQ our when eating outside. Once part of the family, they'll happily fly up onto a table and hack away at some expensive prosciutto or hunks of cheese. They love cheese.

You need food sentinels!

crakas
QLD, 446 posts
26 Jul 2018 8:10PM
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If you feed them, they will still be friendly when they have chicks. They are reasonably intelligent, recognise people and generally never attack the people that feed them.

At one house we had about 10 show up each arvo to be fed by the kids, they would even wander into the house looking for a feed. ... Never got attacked once while riding or walking around the area, but watched others get attacked.

Haircut
QLD, 6480 posts
26 Jul 2018 9:00PM
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japie said..
They provide some really spectacular amusement as well . I watched one pulling the other around the lawn by its tail feathers when on its back.


thanks all.

japie
that's what these ones do too. it's like a wrestling match. they'll suddenly stop wrestling and both lay on their backs with feet in the air for about 10 seconds, then start again

Does anyone know what kind of palm this is? We've got 6 of them this size and they don't grow / drop seeds of any kind. How would they reproduce? Apart from date palms, I've never seen trunks this thick.

i.imgur.com/GlBKPT6.jpg' />

HotBodMon
NSW, 573 posts
26 Jul 2018 9:30PM
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^ Cuban Royal , and one day it do this



Haircut
QLD, 6480 posts
26 Jul 2018 9:42PM
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Aha! thanks hotbodmon.

any idea how often it develops seeds? There's been nothing for a couple of years so far

HotBodMon
NSW, 573 posts
26 Jul 2018 10:01PM
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Not sure haircut? The seeds themselves germinate well in a neglected bag of moist sphagnum moss as I once found out. So u may have more than 6 in years to come- bats frequent them around here. Hope your maggies scare em off

sn
WA, 2775 posts
26 Jul 2018 8:09PM
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From '79 to '98ish we had an extended tribe of maggies nesting and living in 3 trees surrounding our Wembley Downs home, they used to preen our red cloud kelpie and golden retriever - and use the fur in their nests!
Originally, we fed them cheap mince, but it got a bit pricey after a while, so weaned them onto rolled oats, which they never refused.
It was common to find the maggies - especially the younger ones - following our dogs into the house where they all cornered mum into the kitchen
Dad had a few problems with the maggies joining in with his racing pigeons for the afternoon exercise flight, we would often find a couple of embarrassed magpies in the loft who had got a bit too enthusiastic and followed the pigeons through the trapdoor, any caught got the privilege of a free worming treatment.

Never got swooped, pecked or pooped on by the maggies, but they did beat the dogs to my toast a few times.

Was pretty awesome seeing our kelpie sharing her food bowl with her 6 pups, and a mob of maggies - with no agro from any of them.

Subsonic
WA, 2964 posts
26 Jul 2018 9:00PM
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My dad hand reared an orphaned chick, taught him to fly, then opened the window. He used to fly in each morning and pull dads bedsheets back (get up and feed me....).

best alarm clock ever.

busterwa
3777 posts
26 Jul 2018 9:30PM
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I have a community of magpies and 2 butcher birds .. bunch of kangaroos. duck in pond out front ducks . Got munt duck at the moment who returns every years Last years he raised like 5 chicklings. I can call the maggies in now typical food sluts Chuck left overs out they be tapping on your window for more.
Its great to be able to accommodate pets like that as if you go away you don't have to fed them.

You can feed them but take a couple of years before they wont swoop. Me can go out back and whistle and the whole clan comes in for a feed. great biodiversity

djt91184
QLD, 1211 posts
26 Jul 2018 11:48PM
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Nice in pastry yum, magpie

Adriano
11206 posts
26 Jul 2018 10:41PM
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That's blackbirds, four n twenty to be precise....not maggies.....shall we start with the nursery rhymes again?

FlySurfer
NSW, 4412 posts
27 Jul 2018 1:41PM
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I've got some outside my yard, and the male is only aggressive between Nov-Dec, and only if you move fast like on a push bike... and he always warns before dive bombing me.
No issues when I walk or work or make noise.

djt91184
QLD, 1211 posts
29 Jul 2018 10:51AM
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Adriano said..
That's blackbirds, four n twenty to be precise....not maggies.....shall we start with the nursery rhymes again?





Wtf are you banging on about now resentful bastard ? "Blackbirds to be precise " Cuckoo

saltiest1
NSW, 2475 posts
29 Jul 2018 10:56AM
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I love my Maggie's. Just be careful what you feed them. If it's mince and it's often they will develope soft beaks and no longer feed.
They need a high calcium diet (bones and stuff) so best to grab a magpie mix from pet store or make your own.

Macroscien
QLD, 6791 posts
29 Jul 2018 10:58AM
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DARTH said..



Ive had magpies and crows that Ive fed, very friendly.


Me too, Friendly crows and parrots too,\ comes to eat from hand. a bit troublesome as soon as they try to eat everything laying around, so gave up close encounters.

sn
WA, 2775 posts
29 Jul 2018 7:39PM
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saltiest1 said..
They need a high calcium diet (bones and stuff)


we "dusted" our maggies rolled oats with some type of calcium powder, as advised / supplied by vet @ Dads pigeon racing club.

busterwa
3777 posts
30 Jul 2018 5:58AM
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shame the foodsluts cant be toilet trained they **** all over the patio and patio funiture

Haircut
QLD, 6480 posts
6 Aug 2018 9:46PM
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i think we already have at least one hatched chick. I can hear squeaks and parents are bringing worms to the nest. They must lay eggs very soon after building the nest?

We have a parrot, dog and 4 people living here at the moment and no one has been swooped. so far so good

Haircut
QLD, 6480 posts
10 Aug 2018 7:29PM
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we're not there yet. i think dad's bringing mum food while warming nest and she's making the squeaks. nothing's hatched yet

just lost the lowest frond on the left, and theirs is next. not sure this is going to end very well

SandS
VIC, 5904 posts
10 Aug 2018 7:49PM
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Haircut said..
we're not there yet. i think dad's bringing mum food while warming nest and she's making the squeaks. nothing's hatched yet

just lost the lowest frond on the left, and theirs is next. not sure this is going to end very well


get up there and save them you weak bastard !!!

landyacht
WA, 5921 posts
20 Aug 2018 5:49PM
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i have a family of 12 that will come down to feed and just play on the south side of my shed, but not the north side. I think it may be a n area out of view from the lookouts. they are great friends with the 28 parrot flock. and the parrots will sit by the magpie nests and keep watch whilst the maggies feed. , when the parts are feeding on the ground the maggies keep watch for the kites, ospreys and eagle in the area. they recognise the smell of coffee and toast. and come to the window at breakfast

Haircut
QLD, 6480 posts
20 Aug 2018 9:53PM
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yeah they seem to know the smell of toast and coffee, or the sound of the coffee machine.

not 100% sure, but we think they might have hatched. mum's now leaving the nest and they are both being fed by hand when i have brekky. the nest has survived 30 knots + wind gusts last night

are the chicks much quieter than black birds and other chicks? there's hardly a peep from the nest other than faint noises that's hard to tell if it's still just the mum telling dad she's hungry. they might have hatched much earlier than i thought



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Forums > General Discussion   Shooting the breeze...


"Anybody have experience with hand fed magpies nesting nearby?" started by Haircut