Starlings and really cold weather

[foxtrotters19]

Starlings - starlings and more starlings.
Eating the chicken feed, bird poop everywhere!!
We have done hardware wire, and bird netting on the chicken run.
We have one of those Grandpa feeders, but when we first got the girls did great for the first week, then the 2nd week when you raise the step the girls were scared of it (this was before the bird netting) so we did the bird netting and lowered the step back to the ground and well we just never raised it. The starlings are finding a way to get in through the netting. .

So tonight I am going go out and try to zip tie every little place where a starlings might be getting in.
I am thinking of taking the Grandpa feeder out and putting a feeder in their chicken coop for a couple of days.

My main concern is the weather is going to get very cold here in Oklahoma, chance of snow and temps dropping into the single digits and on a couple of nights into the negative.... How do I keep my girls eating and warm without the STARLINGS!!!

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated it....

 

[FeatheredFriends&Horses2]

In his book Hentopia, Frank Hyman has an excellent idea for a "chicken vending machine" which we built for our coop. It might work for your situation. It's basically a 5 gal bucket with 2-4 holes drilled in the bottom of it. Large eyebolts are put in the holes, and golf balls are threaded on. Then the bucket is filled with feed and hung. The chickens learn to peck the golf balls to get a tiny amount of feed to fall out. They gobble up that feed within a second or two, before going back for more. My chickens love it, they think it's a pretty fun and delicious game.

 

[foxtrotters19]

In his book Hentopia, Frank Hyman has an excellent idea for a "chicken vending machine" which we built for our coop. It might work for your situation. It's basically a 5 gal bucket with 2-4 holes drilled in the bottom of it. Large eyebolts are put in the holes, and golf balls are threaded on. Then the bucket is filled with feed and hung. The chickens learn to peck the golf balls to get a tiny amount of feed to fall out. They gobble up that feed within a second or two, before going back for more. My chickens love it, they think it's a pretty fun and delicious game.

Do you have a picture?

 

[FeatheredFriends&Horses2]

Do you have a picture?

I don't right now, but I can get one. It might not be until sometime tomorrow though.

 

[foxtrotters19]

I don't right now, but I can get one. It might not be until sometime tomorrow though.

That's perfect.

 

[foxtrotters19]

Wondered if this would help keep the starlings out of the chicken feed?

 

[IQL]

Starlings - starlings and more starlings.
Eating the chicken feed, bird poop everywhere!!
We have done hardware wire, and bird netting on the chicken run.
We have one of those Grandpa feeders, but when we first got the girls did great for the first week, then the 2nd week when you raise the step the girls were scared of it (this was before the bird netting) so we did the bird netting and lowered the step back to the ground and well we just never raised it. The starlings are finding a way to get in through the netting. .

So tonight I am going go out and try to zip tie every little place where a starlings might be getting in.
I am thinking of taking the Grandpa feeder out and putting a feeder in their chicken coop for a couple of days.

My main concern is the weather is going to get very cold here in Oklahoma, chance of snow and temps dropping into the single digits and on a couple of nights into the negative.... How do I keep my girls eating and warm without the STARLINGS!!!

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated it....

Hello Foxtrotters19, wondering if you were able to fix the starling problem? They just arrived last week - in swarms - and have been invading the coop, dropping everywhere, and unnerving the chickens. "Fortunately" its cold and snowy here in Canada so when I closed the coop doors yesterday -keeping the hens in and starlings out - the hens were not upset. However, they normally free range during the day so I don't want to be keeping them closed up all the time because of the blasted nuisance birds. If it were spring, I'd let the girls out and close the coop while they were out but I can't do that in the winter as they like/need to go in and out. If you received any great ideas / or found a workable solution, I'd be grateful for the share. Thanks!

 

[Al Gerhart]

Control the feed, control the vermin. Foxtrot, you do know that I make the medium ratproof chicken feeder right here in Oklahoma? The grandpa feeders are tough to use due to the guillotine style door, which needs weeks long periods of blocking the door open to acclimate the birds to the door opening up over their heads, which in turns allows the vermin to learn where the feed is located.

But stopping starlings is easy with a good treadle feeder.