Dozens of small birds.

[Raggedyroad]

We have tons a small birds flying in during the day pooping all over the coop and water feeder and just plain making a big mess all over their area. Also, they are eating up all the scratch I throw out for my hens and are going in the coop and eating up all the feed. I have to clean off the 1/2" of frozen poop from their ramps each night in order to close them and secure my coop.

We bought a Hawk decoy that we move to a new place each day. Total waste of money. They fly in and perch right next to it. I am thinking about buying reflective ribbon. Will this stress out my hens?

Any suggestions from those of you who are experiencing or have experienced the same problem?

 

[hayley3]

I feel your pain.
I've been placing feed outside away from the barn to feed the cardinals and maybe that's helping to keep those small birds outside somewhat. I do use one of those trough feeders with the handle that runs down the middle of the feeder so they can't sit in the food at least.

 

[TalkALittle]

Could you run netting around everything? The chickens would only need a 12-18" gap at the bottom the walk in under it but it might prevent the wild birds from just flying in.

 

[aart]

Treadle feeder.

 

[hayley3]

Thanks Aart...I'd never seen a Treadle Feeder...what a great idea that is!

 

[Raggedyroad]

Thanks for the suggestions.

The treadle feeder is a great idea to keep the loss of feed to a minimum.

The netting would work, however I still need to get in and out of the run easily several times a day. I will think on it to see if I can come up with a way to get in and out without a hassle. Also this won't alleviate the poo problem. Might lighten it up a bit though.

Giving feed to the wild birds in a separate area may work but I personally feel that would just encourage more to fly in.

My hubby, not using common sense, weird! LOL!!! & not LOL!!! Decided shooting a couple of the larger wild birds with his pellet rifle would send a message. Bad idea on many levels. 1st off I didn't like him shooting them for any reason. 2nd birds aren't rocket scientists after all, seriously, how long did he think that would work if at all? Plus he left the one he shot on top of the run. A hawk flew in and snagged it up within 30 minutes. Now I have hawks flying around daily looking for another free meal. Dumb idea at best and this is a highly intelligent guy we're talking about. Jeeze!!! Now that being said, I do realize he was feeling a bit desperate since it's been costing us a small fortune to feed them. But now not only do I have all those pesky little birds pooping on everything, the run, top of the coop, water feeder etc......... I also have the issue and stress of hawks flying over the coop a dozen or more times a day looking for another free meal. I figure it's only a matter of time before one of my girls becomes the next meal. So maybe it's best to not get rid of the wild birds to give the hawks a target other than my girls.

We had been feeding the chickens crumbles and switched to pellets. I thought that would diminished the birds going in the coop but it's like they are all bringing their friends and neighbors now. We went through a 50 lb bag of feed in 6 days. I will have to make a treadle feeder I guess. We can't really afford the cost to buy one pre-made.