I HATE BIRDS

[bevann]

Any suggestions of keeping birds away from my farm.We have no trees except in front yard far away from barn so birds nest everywhere especially under the hoods of vehicles.If I leave hoods up on trucks and tractors they will not nest, but if it rains and I put hoods down they are back in business overnight.Even find eggs in nests.I have had fire in vehicles, lice on horses and grandkids from birds.I have used rubber snakes(the original red neck hood ornaments) and bird repellent which smells like moth flakes. NO SUCCESS.We have closed up nesting places and most of the pigeons are gone, but these other birds have got to go.My cars and dogs are covered in bird poop and I have even had bird poop on my head plus countless times in my hand when I open a gate. I know they eat bugs , but this is ridiculous.

 

[txminipinto]

get some cats!

 

[sundancer]

Glad to see I am not the only one with an issue with birds. We have a dozen or so sparrows that think our barn/under the vehicles/under the deck is home. So everything gets messy for sure. We have tried hanging things up to keep them away - no luck. This started over the past year. I finally came to the conclusion, the only difference is, I had to have my 2 cats put to sleep (they were very old and not doing well) I guess it was then an open invitation for the birds to move in. I guess I am going to be in the market looking for a barn cat or two

Good luck with the bird situation. unfortunately a cat maybe the only solution!!!

 

[ChrystalPaths]

Owls, plastic ones work

 

[Genie]

I have heard an owl works.

Get a big plastic owl and perch it somewhere!

We have had them in the barn and the cats have taken care of that. They used to roost on the litter carrier track and when they ruffled their feathers I think they shake out lice onto the horses.

 

[Marty]

I got it too and my owl is useless, they crapped on him too!

You might try hanging pie plates or old CD disks from fishing wire wherever you can. It used to work for us pretty good but I haven't tried it in a couple of years. Good luck.

 

[Magic]

I agree about CATS!

We have two barn cats and not only do they keep the mouse population down, they catch a bird here and there too. I was feeling really bad about that but now hearing about how birds can take over a place, I'm not feeling nearly so bad!

I feed my cats a regular, high-quality food, but they do lots of hunting anyway-- it's a hobby/obsession with them.

 

[Reble]

I had this problem not last winter but the winter before, it was after the summer I was feeding these guys really well.

I did not fill my bird feeders as much last summer and no birds in my barn fall or winter.

Less birds this spring too. No more problems, might just have to except it this year, and hope next year will be better.

I tried, noise devices, have cats, nothing seem to work here.

 

[Genie]

Just thought of something else I was told...someone got a huge yellow ball and painted a smiley face on it.

Maybe that won't work either and the birds will do what they did to Marty's owl

 

[~Lisa~]

I got it too and my owl is useless, they crapped on him too

 

[Little Indian Acres]

We are having the same problem with birds at our new barn. A couple of days ago my daughter and I tried to close the indoor arena doors and they had made HUGE nests between the door and the wall. I swear they had a whole bale of hay shoved between the doors. These doors were only opened a couple weeks ago, so I cannot believe how much hay they put there. It must be awful boring to move that much hay one or two pieces at a time.

We are moving some of the cats over there and may add a couple of new ones.

 

[Doobie]

Try cutting out the shape of flying hawks, painted black and putting on around the yard... it is suppose to look like the shadow of a hunting hawk to the birds and they stay away!!! (so I've read anyhow!! lol)

 

[Marsha Cassada]

the owls work, but you have to have the kind with the rotating head. And you must move them around, even if it is only a few feet. Positioning them in the same spot for a long time stops working.

We tried to discourage swallows with streamers and a rubber snake (real enough to scare a human being). They simply built their nests on top of the snake and streamers.

 

[bevann]

Tried plastic owl-they perched right next to it.Tried shiny swinging streamers-they flew right under that. Tried very expensive bird predator machine which makes weird noises-scared the horses every time it went off, but the birds didn't even move.Have 1 barn cat and he catches a few, but some are up so high(very old dairy barn with big loft, but they aren't in there_) cat can't get there.Under the hoods of vehicles is biggest problem.More help needed.Thanks

 

[lilmiraclesfarm]

a BB Gun and lots of coffee

 

[maplegum]

Rubber snakes. Yes, rubber snakes, the ones kids play with.

The husband read this somewhere on the internet as we had birds eating all of my plants!

We bought a couple of rubber snakes and placed them in the garden bed.

It works and only costs a few $$$

 

[Dona]

Hmmmmmmm......guess I'm lucky. I haven't had a problem with over-zealous birds. Altho, I have barn cats!

I DO have swallows in the barn & I love them. Have never had any problems with lice either. The swallows help to keep the bugs under control & I love watching them.

 

[Margo_C-T]

Sorry to hear you are having such a problem!

I can't really give any advice; I have barn swallows and king birds who like to nest in the barn, and I don't really mind, though the swallows, in large numbers, are REALLY messy(while the kingbird parents carry off the babies' poops, the swallow babies quickly learn to turn around, hang their little bird butts over the nest edge, and 'let 'er drop'...UGH!)--and, having a lot of them becomes VERY noisy! I began trying to limit their reproduction several years back by letting them raise one nest of babies, then either removing nests relentlessly, or by removing eggs from nests--both of which require me to move a step ladder all around and climb up and down, up and down...lots of work, but it did help - it got to where there were 10-15 pairs(or more?!) nesting in my barn, and if each raises a couple of nestsful of babies, that's a LOT of birds to have come back next year and raise even MORE!

My efforts have paid off, though...this year, so far, the 'returnees' arrived VERY late, according to what usually occurs, and there seem to only be about 8 of them...I SO hope that is all that will come; 3 or 4 pairs would be MUCH easier to have around than 10 t0 20 pairs!!

The REAL bird 'pests' around here are the ravens...I need to buy a new pellet gun, to 'discourage' them from stealing the babies of all of the other native birds, along with the baby rabbits, along with shi**ing into my horse feeders and waters as they arrogantly perch there! I actually found a CAT's lower leg lying on the ground below my utility pole yesterday...ONLY a raven could have dropped it there...they are VERY smart, but wicked.

Margo

PS--Places like Farmtek have strips of 'no-perch' material to battle the birds, but it is pretty expensive. I tried the fake owl thing once; the birds ignored it COMPLETELY; it might as well have been invisible!