How do I get rid of a flock of birds?

[MountainMama1]

We have a flock of birds that is eating up all of our expensive feed! I've tried hanging CDs, a fake owl, and my husband has even tried shooting at them with a pellet gun. Does anyone have a suggestion on how to get rid of them? They are eating 6-8 lbs of feed a day. I can't afford this! My hope is that they'll fly south for winter soon, but my husband thinks they will stick around. What should we do?

 

[Y N dottes]

a fake owl on a stand maybe.....

 

[Egghead_Jr]

What kind of birds are they? Do they even migrate? If you keep your birds in the run and cover it with netting or something the invading flock of free loaders will eventually move on to greener pastures.

 

[what did I do]

Move the food into the coop.

I saw someone who strung fishing line in a grid above the chickens to protect them from hawks. Electric fence wire above the food might work. Not one wire but many.

 

[Justahannah]

Maybe change your feed location/method? Sounds like right now it's outside and available all the time, just a free for all for the little birds. You could try leaving the feeder in the coop only, or putting a small amount out once a day, or try a different kind of feeder the little birds can't get into? I built a treadle feeder that takes a couple pounds of pressure to work the lever, so my chickens are the only thing in the run heavy enough to open it up. My paint job's covered in dust and poop at this point, but I'm not losing any feed to birds or rodents so it's doing the job . https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/676809/just-built-a-treadle-feeder If food's not available, the little birds will likely leave to find a place that it is.

 

[Gallo del Cielo]

I'd second the treadle feeder suggestion. You can find plans to make one in my sig. line and commercial versions are also available. There are other auto-feeder designs that are easier and cheaper to construct. The trigger/lever activated bucket feeders are well reviewed and can be seen in this thread. Also see post #10 & #13 in this thread for a very cleaver auto-feeder design. I would point out that the success of these types of feeders depends on training the chickens to use them.

Moving the feeder into the coop may or may not help. In my case, I had my original feeder in the coop and the wild birds found their way inside, which was a problem. You can see the measures I took to deal with them mid-way down "my coop" page.