House Sparrows in Coop

[Folly's place]

I may try that scarecrow; I too have those miserable house wrens out there!
Treadle feeders won't work for my young bantams, so I don't have those. Shooting them seem like overkill (pardon the pun!) and difficult to do safely at my coop. Sparrow traps? Then what?
Mary

 

[SimplyLivinthatFarmLife]

I like the scarecrow idea. Good luck and I hate that this is happening.

 

[Folly's place]

Thanks to those wild bird freeloaders, we repeatedly are fighting mites on the chickens. Phooey!
Mary

 

[SueT]

Re the scarecrow, I got the idea from the bird scare balloons sold commercially...
you could buy these or make your own like my plastic bag one, and hang them in several locations.
When I forget to put out the scarecrow, the feed that's outdoors, (fermented feed in dog bowls) disappears by noon. When I put the scarecrow out there, there are always leftovers end of day.
Last year I made a scarecrow that was slightly more complicated. But I eventually took it apart because I wanted the hat back. When I saw the balloons, I knew I could go simpler. I have also put a scarecrow out when my birds are free ranging to discourage hawks, but there's no proof that this works.

 

[moniquem]

I'm gonna try that balloon-crow.

 

[Naser]

Treadle feeder could help...

It will, I have 3 of them

 

[Biddybot]

Easy fix, though it'll take a bit of time and effort on your part... Just watch for when the sparrows go inside the coop and once they're inside, sneak up and close the pophole/door and trap them. Remove from the coop and either relocate or dispose of. In my region, house sparrows and starlings are still classed as invasive exotics, thus don't have the legal protection that most perching bird do...I'm guessing it's the same where you are...

I have this problem with starlings some winters. They go in the chicken house and even try to sleep there at night. I just trap the suckers inside the house and then go inside with a fishing net and catch them one by one. Problem solved.

I'd actually take your house sparrows if I could because they're one of the few 'pests' I'm fond of...I just like their cheerful chatter, tameness, and social behaviour. I USED to have house sparrows, a small colony that would swell to about 60 by the end of each breeding season, dwindle to between 12 to 20 over the winter due to raptor attacks, shrikes, etc. I even put up colourful bird houses for them and fed them and they were happy to use my property as their home base. Alas, a pox virus specific to passerine birds swept through our area some years ago and killed a large percentage of all the resident populations of vulnerable species, including the house sparrows. Only a few survived and their numbers never recovered and they were all gone by the following summer. Still miss them. Oh well...I've got a bunch of mourning doves to support instead now.

 

[Clousic Chicks]

Easy fix, though it'll take a bit of time and effort on your part... Just watch for when the sparrows go inside the coop and once they're inside, sneak up and close the pophole/door and trap them. Remove from the coop and either relocate or dispose of. In my region, house sparrows and starlings are still classed as invasive exotics, thus don't have the legal protection that most perching bird do...I'm guessing it's the same where you are...

I have this problem with starlings some winters. They go in the chicken house and even try to sleep there at night. I just trap the suckers inside the house and then go inside with a fishing net and catch them one by one. Problem solved.

I'd actually take your house sparrows if I could because they're one of the few 'pests' I'm fond of...I just like their cheerful chatter, tameness, and social behaviour. I USED to have house sparrows, a small colony that would swell to about 60 by the end of each breeding season, dwindle to between 12 to 20 over the winter due to raptor attacks, shrikes, etc. I even put up colourful bird houses for them and fed them and they were happy to use my property as their home base. Alas, a pox virus specific to passerine birds swept through our area some years ago and killed a large percentage of all the resident populations of vulnerable species, including the house sparrows. Only a few survived and their numbers never recovered and they were all gone by the following summer. Still miss them. Oh well...I've got a bunch of mourning doves to support instead now.

So I LOVE song sparrows and they aren't interested in feasting on my birds' feed. I also am not a fan at all of mourning doves. We have a nesting pair every spring across the street and they are SOOOooooo annoying! It would take forever to trap them. My neighbor has little cedar trees and she loves that they nest in there and are so "cute"...ugh! Anyway...I think i'm going to try the clear vinyl strip door. My hens are young...so they may be easy to train with this.

Thanks for the suggestion, though! Believe me, I have thought many times about "doing away" with these infectious pests!

 

[Clousic Chicks]

Treadle feeder could help.....so might a pet strip door.

I like the strip door idea! I am definitely going to give this a whirl!
thanks!

 

[aart]

Anyway...I think i'm going to try the clear vinyl strip door. My hens are young...so they may be easy to train with this.

What I've read about 'training' is to add 2 strips on the outer edges of pop opening.
Let them get used to those being there for awhile, then add 2 more, narrowing the opening that they'll have to rub against. Rinse and repeat.
Or put them all up and tie the center ones back to leave an opening they can get thru at first before dropping them all and they have to push thru the strips.
Let us know how it works out...Best of cLuck!