How to keep wild birds from eating all my chickens' food?

[SophiaMoon]

I just moved the feeder into the coop and so far, knock on wood, no wild critter has figured out to go up the ramp and into the coop to get the food. Mind you my Dad was not happy i had stopped feeding the chickens til i showed him the feeders new location.

 

[4 the Birds]

Hang old CD's from a string!

I have just tried this recentely. Tie CD's on a string and hang them where you want to keep away the birds. The wind will spin the CD's and scare away birds and perhaps aerial predators. Hang them in the run and outside near the run if you free range. This has worked so well that I hang them in the dog pens as well to keep birds from stealing dog food and pooping in their water buckets. It is not great looking but hey it works!

 

[canesisters]

I have a chicken trigger feeder. I load up about 75lbs of feed into a trash can and don't have to worry about it for weeks. There is no food laying around for anything to steal. The chickens peck the trigger and get a few pellets. They eat as much as they want and when they're done, there's no feed left laying around.
http://triggerhappychickens.co.uk




(this was taken when they were first learning to use it and I was keeping some in that bowl)

 

[SophiaMoon]

My neighborhood squirrels and chipmunks would turn that trigger feeder in to a self serve buffet. Nope I am going for the permanent stopping power of snap traps, mouse and rat where the chickens are not going to be. And non lethal scare tactics where the chickens are. I like the CD and fake owl ideas. So now i got a start.
One tip for those who use the snap traps - tie a strand of fishing line to the trap and the other end to a weight of some kind so that the trap,especially the mouse ones if tripped by a larger creature then expected stays where you want it.

 

[Rowen]

Hello,

I had a problem on wild birds. What i did is, I bought a chicken feeder from this site http://thecarpentershop.net/mediumplywoodchickenfeeder.html

Since then, no more wild birds. It's low cost feeder and works great.

 

[VaticanChickens]

I put one of those plastic owls on top of the chicken run to scare off the sparrows (which is left open during the day as they're free range) - but the chickens saw it and wouldn't go back into their coop. I just figure that feeding all those wild birds is good Karma.

 

[ylyfox]

I am having a MASSIVE starling/wild bird problem. My chickens (23) live in a stall with access out to their run at all times. So wild birds can not only get in through the chicken door but through the vents under the roof. We aren't talking about a few wild birds we are talking THOUSANDS! Its like a horror movie. They devour everything in site including full 2 gallon heated water buckets several times a day (and poop on or in everything they touch) the walls are covered in poop from them roosting. I have three owls up, they roost on the owls!!! I tried blocking up the wholes but then I just trap them in the coop unless I shut the chicken door and stop the chickens getting out. Its crazy! Any advice?

 

[cressrb]

I have had a huge problem with birds feasting on the chicken food, too. Our coop set up was such that we could put
bird netting over the top and down the sides. Not so pretty, but it did solve the problem so far this winter. Hopefully,
by summer they will find food elsewhere.

 

[VaticanChickens]

I 'solved' this by putting out a bird feeder. They like wild bird seed better than the Chicken grain.

 

[Naser]

My neighborhood squirrels and chipmunks would turn that trigger feeder in to a self serve buffet.

If you hang it instead of putting it on stones, they will find it hard to reach the trigger