Getting rid of Sparrows

[PortugalBreeder]

Quote:
Ever tried a scarecrow?

 

[Pele]

Wow, I never realized how lucky I am that my chickens actively chase sparrows off.

It's hilarious, they have their own "SQUAK!" call to get the other chickens to join the chase.

 

[chkn]

Quote:
I wish mine would do that. Hmmmm, I wonder if I FEED one to my chickens, then maybe they'll get the idea!

 

[Pele]

You never know, it might! I'd only worry about disease from the icky things.

My hens patrol my yard like the 8th battalion, searching for intruders in their domain. Sparrows get an armed escort out of my yard the moment they touch ground.

The first time I saw it happen, I almost fell out of my deck chair laughing.

 

[Kev]

The trap works very well on sparrows. Mind you, may have to wait several days or change locations- the first couple days it did not catch any. Then finally, got a few.... moved to a different location and WHOA........ in just one day there must have been 25-30. WAY more than I thought were in my area.... Next day in same location caught 15. Used chicken feed as bait.

Another time I noticed the next door neighbor had a bird feeder and used the standard bird seed mix, and it was mostly sparrows visiting it. So I put out the trap again with bird seed as bait.. that again got tons sparrows but also some native birds(white crown sparrows, a towhee and house finches). Of course let the natives go.. as they are not the problem birds going in my coops. btw despite the neighbor having a bird feeder, sparrows were still forcing their way into the coops in large numbers, daily.

A possible con for some is having to kill them. They(house sparrows) REALLY should be killed NOT "released somewhere else".

p.s. it seems to help a lot if you leave one or two sparrows in the trap. Put in a bowl of food and water for the bait birds.

 

[columbiacritter]

I am lucky, in my rural neighbor I have very few non native birds and don't really mind feeding the natives. I wish I'd done a bird count before I got chickens vs now with so many native birds eating really healthy vitamin enhanced chicken chow.

 

[ralleia]

The English sparrow (aka house sparrow) is a non-native species. It is aggressive to (often killing) native birds (particularly bluebirds) and multiplies rapidly. As such, many bird enthusiasts use passive and/or active measures to try to control the house sparrow, which birders refer to as HOSP.

I've been waiting since last week for my traps to arrive. I've read that one experiences far greater success by using "decoy" birds--previously-trapped HOSP that you keep in a cage next to the trap (or in the trap, as Kev said). This week two juveniles volunteered to be my decoys by invading my greenhouse. Netted them, wing-trimmed them (for recapture if they escape) and am awaiting the traps to swing into full operation.

Many of the raptor rescue operations are happy to accept HOSP for their operations; that is the intended destination of those that I trap.

Being non-native, HOSPs are generally not "protected" by law, native species are however.

 

[Chicky Monkey]

I had heavy fencing that enclosed two horse stalls, but sparrows came in and helped themselves to whatever I put out for my chickens. I went to get regular 'chicken wire' to put over the heavy fencing to keep them out, and the guy at Tractor Supply said they could squeeze through! Ahhh! He then told me that my concern about the sparrows transferring mites to my chickens was very unlikely....mites usually stay on their hosts. So far, my chickens are mite-free.

 

[Dennq]

Wood dowel, wrap with natural gum rubber, dip in kerosene to make rubber very sticky and sprinkle with sesame seeds and place near coop. Sparrows will stick to dowel. My friends father used to do this and kill the sparrows and eat them. He was a boy in WW2 .

 

[Mattemma]

I have the resetting trap. LOL,you will catch all kinds of things with it like chipmunks and cardinals.

I also have a door trap set in one of the nest boxes,and that works great even though it is just one bird at a time.