I got tired of huge numbers of those starlings in the chicken coop, eating and crapping on feed, roosts and eating the eggs. So I sought REVENGE! Went to Menard's and got three of those fruit tree nettings. Fabulous, and put it up against the chain link fencing to keep those rats on wings from entering the run and coop. So it has been three days....4 starlings, one poor Robin vs me. I killed two of the starlings, the other two got tangled up and died from the overnight cold exposure. No biggie but poor things have to suffer tho. I'd rather break their necks than having them exposed. This morning, found a Robin male......beautiful but man, wondered if there is anything I can protect those pretty birds. I know we got many Robins around here. Grackles will not come near it. The house sparrows or those finches, I had to let one female finch go when she got trapped. She is fine but hopefully she will learn not to fly into the fence in the run. Anyone had problems? I love to cut back on the starlings, they don't seem to come around as much now. I had up to 20 to 30 in a 4 x 7 coop and the girls were mad because they got into everything. And it would get rid of the leg mite problems too!
How about tying some reflective material to the netting to warn the birds off. Obviously they cant see it from the air. Tie some strips of white cloth to the netting... just something to let the birds know its there. Grandma used to take pie tins and poke a hole in them and tie them in the branches of the fruit trees. She said the flashing reflective light worked to keep the birds away. While I doubt that worked too well for her it might be useful for you. just a thought.
