Magpies

[Myrkk]

Hi,

Can anyone suggest a deterent [other than catching and killing one and hanging it near the henhouse] to stop magpies going into the henhouse and pinching the eggs.

We've had no eggs since the weekend and I noticed a magpie puttering into the henhouse yesterday so it must be them.

As of tomorrow we are shutting the chickens out of the henhouse so they will lay in the garden. It's a pain hunting for the eggs but better than getting none!

Ta

[John]

Hello Myrkk
Magpies can be a real pain. What I do is to get a black bin liner or similar and cut it to fit over the pop hole. Pin it across the top with drawing pins then cut the hanging plastic from the bottom up to near the top into strips about 2cm wide so as to make a hanging curtain of plastic strips. It doesn't bother the hens, who still go in and out as normal, but it does deter the magpies.
Hope this helps.

John

[Myrkk]

Thanks John. We'll try that. At the moment they are laying the wrong side of a 30' Christmas tree at the edge of a steep slope. Wonder if we can charge the family danger money for collecting them?

[sandersj89]

Just about to suggest the exact same thing. It worked for us once, did not stop the squirrels though.

Jerry

[Deb P]

I suggest getting a large eagle owl!! That will sort them out!

[peter]

I think an Eagle Owl might also put the chickens off a bit.

[frantony]

Get an air rifle and practise, lol

[vivie veg]

I moved my ducks from the back garden to the field a few months ago and noticed that the local crow and magpie population were taking an interest. Egg production went down, but with not letting them out until gone 9am and this cool weather the egg production has gone back up. Some of my young girls are POL and had been laying outside the nest boxes. So I dug out the china eggs and put these in the boxes to encourage the ducks to lay in the right place. However that evening one of the eggs had totally disappeared and the other one had been abandoned in the field. I picked it up and replaced it in the nest box, but two days later it too dissappeared never to be found again.

I just wonder what the thieving crow or magpie made of them!

[DahlisMarie]

So I dug out the china eggs and put these in the boxes to encourage the ducks to lay in the right place. However that evening one of the eggs had totally disappeared and the other one had been abandoned in the field.
I just wonder what the thieving crow or magpie made of them!

Just had to tell you this one:
I had a very lifelike plastic duck floating in the dam and one morning found it laying under a barbed wire fence on top of the embankment. Went down to the dam and there were fox pawprints in the clay and going out a good 2 metres into the shallows of the dam.
I always wondered what that fox made of the plastic duck. Must have been a disappointment after sneaking up on it and getting wet in the bargain