Problem with Birds

[LizGled628]

Here in New England, we have been pummeled with a TON of snow this winter. While my coop is holding up quite nicely, I noticed our run roof started to cave under the weight of ice and snow. I cleaned it off and reenforced it, but yesterday I noticed at least a dozen black birds (and one lonely blue jay) were flying around in the run, while my chickens hid in the coop! It was like a giant bird cage! I opened the run door and shoo-ed all the birds out, and found a small hole in the wire where they must have flown in. I patched it, cleaned the run, and let the chickens back out. This morning, I saw one lonely black bird in there, and when I looked inside the actual coop, I saw several birds perched on the roost along side the chickens next the light! I can't find any new holes in the run walls, and I'm thinking they must have hidden in there from yesterday? Whatever the case, I need to keep these birds away...I've heard that birds can bring a lot of disease into a coop. Any suggestions on how to get the existing birds, huddled around the light, out of the coop, and is there anything I can put outside of the coop to scare them away until i can figure out how they are getting in there in the first place?

Thanks for any help you have to offer. Once the weather clears, I am going to search that run from top to bottom to ensure that this never happens again!

 

[sfw2]

Turn the light off for a while? How big is the coop? Can you go in and chase them out?

 

[Aubrinator]

Wow...

I've had a rabbit accidentally shut in my coop, but never anything more than that!

 

[LizGled628]

Yeah the coop isn't big enough for me to crawl into. The roof is hinged, but I can't get it open because it's extremely heavy and completely iced over. Should I be worried about the chickens catching something from the birds? I was pretty surprised that they would snuggle up together on the roost like that.

 

[dewey]

What size is the wire? Maybe you could drape & secure fine netting over it until you find the access point?

 

[dawg53]

Sorry, but I got a good laugh from this. I can only imagine what it would look like, a bunch of blackbirds roosting with your chickens. I kinda feel sorry for them in a way.... seeking shelter from the wicked cold and snow yall are having up there. However, you should be concerned because wild birds carry all kinds of diseases and parasites that can be passed on to chickens. I recommend that you somehow get those birds out, use a broom to shooo them out if you have to. The broom will scare your birds too, but if you can get them all out of their house, it'll be worth it just to get rid of the wild birds. Then you could purchase plastic netting and use it to cover your run, it's cheaper than chicken wire. I've had to do the same thing to keep wrens out of my chicken pen. I already have small diameter chicken wire all around and above my pen, but the wrens were easily getting thru it. The plastic netting took care of that because of its smaller diameter. Good luck.

 

[Pinky]

Quote:
My chickens try to eat any little bird that tries to land in their run

The only thing I have accidentally shut in my coop was a turtle.

 

[dawg53]

Quote:
My chickens try to eat any little bird that tries to land in their run

The only thing I have accidentally shut in my coop was a turtle.

I actually had a Leghorn catch a wren and kill it a few years ago. I saw her do it and I ran over and got the wren before she ran off with it. I couldnt believe it!

 

[Pinky]

Quote:
My chickens try to eat any little bird that tries to land in their run

The only thing I have accidentally shut in my coop was a turtle.

I actually had a Leghorn catch a wren and kill it a few years ago. I saw her do it and I ran over and got the wren before she ran off with it. I couldnt believe it!

You sure you don't have a new breed of raptor

My hens try their best to catch them. I have seen small skeletons that look like baby birds in the run before, but not sure if they killed it or just ate it

They tried to eat the turtle that was in their coop, but couldn't figure out how to get past the shell. I moved the turtle, but it stayed in its shell for a while before it left.