Magpie

Hi everyone

could anyone please give me advice, j have a magpie in my house who has broken his wing and can’t fly, I seen him/her for a few days struggling in the garden. On Thursday morning she looked lethargic in my garden and did not move away when I approached her, we caught her in a towel and wrapped her in it then put in a box, a few hours later I checked on it and thought it was dead, she / he was lay on his side. After another hour it was stood up and alert. He is now eating quiet a lot and drinking, I have tryed contacting wildlife places that I have found on the internet who all say there full and pass me to other wildlife places, the only support I’m getting is from helpewildllife. Who email me a few times a day offering advice. His/ her right wing is slightly dropped , I will keep her safe and offer food and water as long as possible. Can anyone on here give me any more advice 

thankyou

  • Hi Tracey,   we would usually advise you to contact Helpwildlife.co.uk which you have already done and getting guidance from them.     Due to the pandemic many places as you say are too busy/full to take in more wildlife/birds so you could try contacting a dedicated Corvid specialist like THIS ONE who can offer further advice on what to do.   Good luck and hope this magpie only has a bruised wing and it is not broken as the only thing you could do then is to have it euthanised.     We found a goldfinch with a drooped wing which we took to our local wildlife hospital but within a week it had recovered and was returned to the wild so fingers crossed your bird maybe did some temporary damage and it will heal in time.      There are other rescue centres LISTED HERE

  • Thankyou so much Hazy for your reply
    I should of said it looks like a young magpie from this years babies, I will try to contact the ones you have advised, but most are trying to put me closer to my home address. It is feeding from our hands at the minute, and when offered water it’s drinking it.. He /she is no longer in the box it’s perched on the back of my chair in the kitchen, I’ve put blankets on the chair to stop mess, we’ve also left the door open to the garden , hoping that it dosent fret for his family. I was going to take him to my vet, but was advised against it. Hopefully he too is just bruised and maybe in a few more days he can be returned to his family and friends
    Thanks again so much appreciated
  • Hi Tracey, the danger is that the longer the bird is being hand reared it will become "imprinted" on humans so it would be best if it still has signs of injury (drooped wing) to place it in the hands of a rehabber as soon as you can who will most likely have an outside aviary to place it in if it is still recovering from injury, otherwise if the bird is looking better to place it outside as they stay in family groups for several weeks. Water for young fledglings is best coming from insects the young bird eats; fresh mealworms or dried mealworms which you can soak in water to rehydrate them, or in moist cat food (meat variety, not fish). Guessing you have been given this advice already from Helpwildlife.co.uk
    The dedicated Corvid rescue centres will have the best advice but good luck.
  • Hi
    Yes Hazy I have soaked mealworms which it loves, he’s had chicken , dog food, cheese and suet bites. I am trying for someone to take him/her, but having no success, my fear is if I let him in the garden whilst still not being able to fly, he may go over into the wasteland at the back of my garden, then a cat or the sprawk would get him/her. It is quiet tame and let’s us stroke it,, we refrain from handling him due to his injury. But he has got down from the chair and has made its way into the living room and perched itself on a picture on the table, we will have to bring him back to the kitchen
    Thanks so much for your advice and time I am taking on board what you have said Hazy thanks