Little birds coming in large groups to steal the chicken feed

[Chris413]

Every day I look outside at my coop, more and more of these little birds are stealing from my chickens food. About a week ago, there was maybe one or two, and now there is at least twenty or more. It is like all of these free loaders are saying to the other birds hey come on down it's a buffet at Chris's Coop. How can I deter the onslaught of the sparrows?

 

[zazouse]

Can you just feed what your birds will eat in 20 minutes and take the feed away till the evening?

I am totally free ranged here but i put down food in the morning and evening and there is nothing left for the wild birds.

 

[Enchanted Sunrise Farms]

Do you keep your chickens inside that coop and pen in your avatar picture? i have some pens made from 1/2" hardware cloth and some made from chain link dog kennels. i don't have a huge problem with wild birds getting inside. They don't eat a lot, mainly picking up leftover scratch from the ground. But the bigger problem is them bringing in pests and disease. All wild birds have mites and probably also have worms and other infestations in their poo, which pose a huge health hazard to your birds.

What i've been planning to do is to cover my chain link with chicken wire or hardware cloth to keep the wild birds out. Haven't gotten to it yet, but it is definitely on my (long) list.

 

[Chris413]

Do you keep your chickens inside that coop and pen in your avatar picture? i have some pens made from 1/2" hardware cloth and some made from chain link dog kennels. i don't have a huge problem with wild birds getting inside. They don't eat a lot, mainly picking up leftover scratch from the ground. But the bigger problem is them bringing in pests and disease. All wild birds have mites and probably also have worms and other infestations in their poo, which pose a huge health hazard to your birds.

What i've been planning to do is to cover my chain link with chicken wire or hardware cloth to keep the wild birds out. Haven't gotten to it yet, but it is definitely on my (long) list.

Yes, that is the coop and run in my avatar picture. I should cut down the feeding of my birds, so the wild birds don't come so often. It would nice to not be feeding the neighborhood. The only reason that I do not do that is because I have a smaller chicken that is the runt of the flock, and the head chicken in charge sometimes doesn't let that one eat until all the others have feasted on the chicken feed.