Grey magpie (scientific name: Cyanopica cyanus): A medium-sized bird belonging to the order Passeriformes and crows. It resembles a magpie, but is slightly smaller. Body length 33-40 cm. It is one of the most famous beneficial birds in China.
On the night of June 28, 2021, when I was catching a climbing stick (catching a golden cicada), I found a gray magpie chick with unfinished wings lying on the ground under the big poplar tree, and I thought it had unfortunately fallen to my death.
Just picked it up
Pick it up at the arrow
The encounter was fate, and in order not to be eaten by the feral cat, I decided to take it home. The little one may be frightened and frightened when he catches it, and he screams hard with his mouth wide open. The temperature was very high, and I didn't know how long it had been on the ground, so I went back and quickly filled it with some water. I don't know what this little bird can eat, but I consulted a friend with successful experience in domestic grey magpies. She said she could be fed with steamed buns with egg yolks. Such a small bird could not eat itself, so it had to use the "violent way" to open its mouth with its hands, stuff some steamed buns and egg yolks into it, and then find a small cardboard box to put it inside.
It looks a bit silly
Open your mouth wide to eat
I spent the night worrying about whether it would survive or not, but fortunately I woke up in the morning to see that it was actually a little spirited. I went to the nearby grass to catch grasshoppers for it to eat, turned a large circle to catch two small "flat hooks", went home and quickly stuffed them into its mouth, and the hungry little guy swallowed it in one bite.
After searching the Internet for some articles about grey magpies, the parent birds are almost exclusively fed with insects and larvae. We have a lot of woods here, and decided to catch the climbing stick after shelling, because it has just been shelled, the flesh is fresh and tender, and it is more suitable for feeding small birds.
Go to the woods at night to catch the "climbing stick"
Most of the caught crawling sticks are frozen first, leaving only a few enough to eat for two days, cut into small pieces, sent to its mouth, the little guy still does not open his mouth, will not eat, does not know the feeding signal, can only be forcefully stuffed into the mouth, after a few times, it may have tasted the sweetness, you know that the mouth "chirping" to eat.
Seeing that it was lying on the bottom of the cardboard box and was very depressed, I found some small branches to lay messily in the cardboard box, so that its claws could be unfolded, and it would not let go of the branches, and it could not be dragged down.
The carton is not ventilated and the light is not good, so I consider buying a bird cage for it on a treasure. Compared several, finally found a cage of the right size. The little guy who moved to a new house was happy, and the rounded poles were more comfortable than the branches.
Very happy look
The birds grew very fast, one a day at a time, and at first a climbing stick could eat several meals; now a climbing stick at a time, a dozen a day. In addition to feeding "meat", it also feeds some egg yolks and fruits, and it is particularly fond of watermelon.
After a period of familiarity, the bird has regarded me as its "mother bird", responding when it calls its name, and flapping its wings to watch me when it is hungry. After eating and playing for a while, I went to sleep.
Fly yourself to the table
The little guy is very clingy, and when he doesn't see someone in the room, he will "shout people". When people come, they don't say a word. There are several kinds of chirps, and I can basically tell the general meaning, hunger, looking for someone, happy, frightened, and so on.
The Grey Magpie has a high IQ and can now understand simple commands.
After half a month of careful breeding, its wings and tail are also plump, it can fly, and it has learned to eat on its own.
Has grown up
After all, it is going to grow up, and whether to release it or continue to breed it, at this moment, the heart begins to struggle. Some people say that captive breeding is not easy to release and lacks viability. Don't let it fly, after all, it belongs to nature, and long-term breeding is afraid of destroying its nature and freedom.
Haha, that's a real problem!