Sparrow trap Question?

[clacasse88]

I have been losing tons & tons of feed to sparrows & have had enough. I put out a trap a few days ago and it has been working very well!

My only question is: Once you capture them what is the humane way to rid of them? My DH has been taking the trap at night and driving them miles away. Well, this has been done this 3 nights in a row and haven't even put a dent into our problem. With that said, what are you doing to rid of your sparrows humanely???? We went from losing feed $ now to losing gas $ . . . and how do we know they aren't flying back?

Feel free to PM me with how you are taking care of your sparrow issues. It would be greatly appreciated!!!!

 

[mickistoy]

for as small as they are i would use a container filled with water and offer "swimming" lessons to any takers

 

[mrkep]

I have been trapping & shooting sparrows ( English house sparrows) for 4 years to protect the purple martins and bluebirds that nest around my property. I have read that if you try to relocate a sparrow, it will get back home before you do. That said, when I trap sparrows, I put the entire trap in a plastic trash bag then spray a little starting fluid (ether) in the bag, and close it up for 15 mins or so. When I take the inert sparrows out, I learned to wring their neck, apparently they can hold their breath. You don't need to feel bad about disposing of them, they are an invasive species, brought to N. America in the late 19th century, and as such, are not protected by game laws. I believe that after I eliminate 5 or 10, the others seem to understand that this area is not a healthy place and they stay away.

 

[nzpouter]

Quote:
they probably beat him home..... kill them... drown or this http://www.alysion.org/euthanasia/

 

[Mattemma]

Into the water or bag them and gas them. If interested you can contact local wildlife animal rehab and see if they need some live food.

 

[moetrout]

Pellet gun, lawn chair, and your beverage of choice........

 

[clacasse88]

Thanks for everyone's feedback.

 

[Sonoran Silkies]

It seems to me that if you put the feed inside the coop, and wire the coop and run with wire that has small openings you have solved your problem with less $ cost and significantly less cost of life. You could also build a treadle feeder that would prevent a bird that small from getting to the feed.

 

[clacasse88]

Quote:
I agree with you 100% and my DH and I are working on getting the correct run/coop design set up. At this point in time, I have three coops each with a separate door to the run. Feed is placed inside and the doors are left open during the day, so the chickens can access the feed. I did want to close the doors when the chickens were out during the day, but then the chickens wouldn't have access to the feed and by putting out in the run would obviously cause more of a sparrow issue. The sparrows are nonstop in/out of the doors. We tried to put rope dangling from the door openings to deter the birds & it did work initially (maybe a day or 2), but once they got used to taking their time going in/out they became fine with it. It was eyeopening to see how much the sparrows were eating the few days the sparrows did not frequent the feeders. It was huge!!!!

Also tried owl statues, wind spinners, etc. which nothing has worked.

Our ultimate goal is to cover the top of each run with netting. We are converting our 2-car garage into the new chicken coop, but this will take us a while & want to deal with issues as they arise.

I will have to research the treadle feeder you suggested.

Thanks!

 

[tinychicky]

DON'T kill them. just don't. please. keep working at it or just deal with them. don't kill for nothing.