25/11/2025
This poor bird was put to sleep this week. His beak was twisted out of shape and his legs bowed so badly that he couldn’t run. He has been eking out an existence for the past few years by being fed table scraps, dog food and chicken mince.
He had metabolic bone disease. Metabolic bone disease in birds results in painful degenerative changes in the bones that result from nutritional imbalance and deficiencies. Imbalances of calcium, phosphorus, and Vitamin D3 can lead to soft or brittle beaks, claws and keel, bone fractures and enlarged parathyroid glands.
If you talk to bird carers, and avian vets they will tell you that this is one of the biggest causes of euthanasia of black and white baby birds that come into care.
What makes this so heartbreaking is that in many instances the reason for MBD is entirely preventable because it is due to humans feeding these birds or the birds parents when the bird is still in nest. If you are feeding mince, bread, seed, sausage, chicken or pet food to wild birds you may well be part of the problem.
Human food is not natural for magpies and can make them sick. A natural diet for these birds consists of insects and small animals.
We often hear I love my local maggies and feed them regularly. If you truly care then don’t feed them regularly and don’t feed them human foods.
**** If you really want to help then a compost heap or worm farm can augment the natural food supply during these dry times and still bring these magnificent birds as visitors to your yard******
