What wild birds fit thru chicken wire?

[Kikiriki]

I had Carolina wrens nest in my patio, they came in through a hole about 1 x 4 inches with room to spare. They left poo that splattered big, but some were pretty small...like the little poos on a car sometimes. They were mainly white, and looked like a small dollop of vanilla frosting. Maybe 1/4 tsp sized. They hatched their eggs and I cleaned the patio today. They carry all kinds of nasty things, and can certainly be spreading to your hens, although they say all birds carry, but don't get sick unless they are stressed.

To help with the parasites, natural solutions include garlic in water, peppermint, and Nasturtium, and wormwood (artemesia annua)


You could put up window screen to keep out unwanted visitors, but you need to do a major disinfecting. Believe it or not, pinesol is a really good general disinfectant. If this is dirt floor, you need to take out 4 inches depth of dirt. Scrub everything with the pinesol, hot water, let it stay on for at least 10 minutes.

The article links are below


http://www.ca.uky.edu/smallflocks/Factsheets/Natural_remedies.pdf

http://www.agrosecurity.uga.edu/annexes/Annex09_Cleaning.pdf

 

[Barrdwing]

Quote:
Swallows eat insects; they don't like grain or feed. I wish the swallows would nest at our place again, but they don't like the dogs.

Sparrows, on the other hand, are a huge problem for getting into our feeders, the little nuisances.

 

[elmo]

Mice droppings don't look anything like bird droppings. If what you're seeing looks like little black pellets the size and shape of rice grains, then that's mouse poo.