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I found a baby magpie in my backyard; his parents had abandoned him because of other chicks. I tried to keep him in the nest, but everytime they pushed him out of nest and I finally brought him inside.
I have kept him for a week and half; I feed him crickets, earthworms, rice, etc. But he does not eat on his own. How to train him to be independent? Secondly, he is learning to fly, looks strong enough, can fly 4-5 feet (120-150 cm) max. When and how to leave him in open world?
I raised a crow under similar circumstances; fed him mostly earth worms. In hindsight, he should have had a more balanced diet. I suggest commercial food for hand raised parrots and worms.
We had his cage outside. When he was about full size we had the door open during the day. He figured out flying by himself, no problem. In winter, he was often loose in the house. He seemed to like to fly to the shoulder of visitors to scare them. We tried to get him to return to wild but apparently it did not work.
We moved about 100 miles after a year. He was loose outside at the new house but left after a month. Friends in the old neighborhood said they saw him there; he liked to get close to people, unlike wild birds, and it often frightened them. My point is, it may be not be easy to get it to return to nature but I don't know how to do that; maybe some help on the Internet.
