The Poultry Keeper

sasha.p · Joined: 04 Sep 2005 Posts: 472 Location: gwent

right at first we thought maybe a rat was eating our eggs then we thought it may of been one of our chicks turning into an egg eater but then we set the camcorder in the hen house and what did we see a magpie! the damn thing is fitting through our netting on the roof of our run any advise appreciated how do i catch this little sod and obviously its not alone i have taken to letting my chooks out late just to save our eggs Shocked

kated · Joined: 01 Nov 2006 Posts: 1736 Location: norfolk

Magpies are vermin, I'd like to be able to shoot them as they steal songbirds eggs and chicks, but I suppose that's a bit hard as they have always done it and are just a balance for nature. Try cheap plastic garden netting stapled over the top of your cage. I kept sparrows out of my cages with that, so magpies wouldn't have a chance.

mojo · Posted: Sat Jun 02, 2007 8:34 pm Post subject:

if all else fails find your local gamekeeper and borrow a maggie trap

rogermohr · Joined: 17 May 2007 Posts: 77

What do magpie traps look like they have just eaten my whole nest of 10 eggs of rouen duck eggs now im mad..and i try to shoot them..when i walk out side with the gun and they here the house door open they fly away

thehenman · Joined: 12 Oct 2007 Posts: 171 Location: lincolnshire

http://tinyurl.com/27avsr

there called larsen traps ,i made one myself when i kept having my duck eggs eat before i got up in the morning ,basically you have 2 compartments on the trap in one side you have a live magpie hopping about from perch to perch this will attract the other local birds who will hop into the other side ,once they hop in the door closes so they cannot get out,then you can despatch or do whatever with the bird your caught,make sure though you feed and water your decoy bird though Wink

Magpie · Joined: 28 Aug 2007 Posts: 541 Location: Norfolk

I suppose I ought to keep my head down Shocked

. You should hear the racket when my Lakenvelders start yelling at a Magpie in the hedge Twisted Evil

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One of the local sellers of pheasant rearing/poultry stuff sells timber/wire mesh larsen traps with plastic decoy birds in. Saves you remembering to feed/water your decoy bird - and finding one in the first place Smile

. Can't remember the name but they have stalls at Royal Norfolk Show and at Fabian Eagle pure breed auctions in Norfolk.

Tim

Timbo · Joined: 03 Mar 2006 Posts: 191 Location: Cranfield, Beds.

Yes, the decoys work quite well. I've used them when shooting and providing you are completely out of site and completely still, you can get them but they have fantastic eye sight... In moderation there is no harm with having these birds around but as mentioned earlier they do steal many song birds eggs and chicks and in numbers are devastating to the bird population.

The Larsen trap isn't hard to make if you have a bit of chicken wire spare and a few hours. Failing that, what I did once was trap the actual nest box - I put a drop down door on the front, which was hooked on the edge of a stiff piece of wire then attached a stiff wire that went straight down through a drilled hole in the top of the box to a 'see-saw' under the nest so that when a bird lands in the nest, the weight pushes the catch off and shuts it in. I caught 3 chickens before I got the Magpie thief mind you.

Keep your head down anyway Tim! Laughing

Spana · Joined: 30 Apr 2005 Posts: 2067 Location: North Cornwall

This is a home made Larsen trap. Theres a good chance it would work without a call bird if you just put a couple of duck eggs in. They really love duck eggs Evil or Very Mad

If you want to make one PM me if you need any help.