Trapping Myna Birds

Yep I disagree, got 15 the other day.

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Good effort! Where are you and what were you using for bait?

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Hi Cam,

I use dried Dog Food and a few pieces of white bread, near the entrance.

Only using white bread outside the cage, helps other birds not going into the trap.

I find once you have your first Myna, others will try and join them in cage. I was thinking of adding a Mirror to cage, as I heard that the reflection of the birds attracts them into the cage. But haven’t done this yet,

Thanks…Gary

Hi Gary

People seem to have different experiences. Adrian Gilbert was the one who said only use white bread (which worked well for me) whereas in Oz they say dog/cat food which for they weren’t interested in at all. But maybe I needs to get a specific flavour. I even dyed it red for the buggas, but no cigar on that one. In winter I found that the caller bird made little difference and I was able to get bird in regardless. But there could be many factors to that. Adrian said not to prefeed outside the cage, but I don’t think it’s a bad idea. Do you have sparrows getting into the cage? I found them to be smarter and more able to get out to door and maybe 30% of them could squeeze through the mesh. They’re unlikely to go for the dog food I would have thought. Cheers, Cam

I have 2 PG Mynas traps available for anyone who wants to pick them up from Waiau Pa (Franklin). I made them myself, but will give them free to anyone who’s going to use them for the their intended purpose. I’m moving and can’t take them with me.
Cam

Hello Cam, do you still have these traps available?
Thanks Maihi

Sorry, the last one was sold on Trade Me. I have some left-over mesh that I may sell at some point if that is of interest. I’d need to see how much is left. ~Cam

Thanks for the response, no problem, I have some mesh and will give making the trap a go. May I ask if you had much success with it? Any tips? Thanks

I think I wrote most of this above, but here’s what i sent someone else last week as a summary

I had reasonable success myna trapping, but best if more people were doing it of course. I caught 1000, but they just kept coming even though I never saw more than about 20 at a time.
• I got the super cheap white sandwich bread loaves from Woolworths and created a U shaped peg to pin about 4-5 slices in the middle of the first cage.
• Brown bread was no good. Cat biscuits were laughed at.
• Only tend to your trap in hours of darkness or they will catch on. I just went out after sunset each night and put frozen bread in.
• I put a corflute roof on and added a water bottle.
• Best done in winter when cold, wet & windy. They need to eat more when cold. Probably won’t work at all in summer as they’ll be busy nesting and they’ll be warmer.
• Max catch was 29 in one trap in one day, but varied wildly with 5-11 being a common catch.
• Scatter a small amount of white bread outside to get your first birds interested.
• I’d say put the trap close to some tree branches to deter hawks which can get interested and scare the mynas off.
• Once you have your first bird, you’re on the gravy train. Always keep a decoy bird after each cull.
• Most catches will happen in the morning when they’re hungriest.
• I live on an orchard and the flock in on windy days. Windy and cold days were best for me.
• Sometimes caught sparrows, but they nest on our buildings, so not a fan. Very rare to catch anything else.

Pretty awesome traps really as they are quite species specific. I just need a way to automate the culling each night!
Cam

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Hello, I’m based in the Waitākere ranges west Auckland and am wanting a PG style Myna bird trap. I don’t currently have the time to build one, anywhere I can buy one? Thanks in advance.

I don’t know of any for sale, but you could employ a school kid or men’s shed to make one for you. A men’s shed may do it for free. I’ve just moved to Titirangi and have some remaining mesh I’d like to on-sell.