Wild birds getting in my coop every day now

[PapaChaz]

yes wild birds can give your chickens diseases, or mites or lice......

I will make another suggestion, if you don't have any bird feeders outside, put one or two around the yard, close enough to the coop to get their attention, maybe if you make it easy enough for them to get that food, they'll leave the chicken feed alone. Once these few spread the word, you'll have a much bigger problem on your hands.

 

[harmesonfarm]

So glad I found this thread...got the same problem so i'll be trying everything! those little birds are driving me crazy!

 

[Home Tweet Home]

We have a single female House Wren that has taken over one of our unused laying boxes for a nesting place. We now have 4 tiny brown eggs and we cant move the nest since it is in use.

 

[sawprops]

Same problem here... they even get inside when the door is closed. We've seen them squeeze through chicken wire holes. I think the only way to keep them out is with hardware cloth because they're tiny enough to squeeze through chicken wire. The only remaining issue is when I have the run door open for my girls while free ranging in the yard. They just walk right in and have a meal. Its super annoying!

 

[Home Tweet Home]

The owl might scare the chickens, so I'd say no to that. It is illegal, at least where I live, to kill migratory birds without permission. The best idea is to leave them be as to not get in trouble, and maybe some type of motion-senored light would work. I just have to deal with our Wren, and she's actually not that bad after all.

 

[Rock Home Isle]

I have large numbers of wild birds that come in and feed off the chicken's whole grain rations. I sit outside and enjoy the chirping and the antics of the newly hatched learning to fly. I really don't see the problem...

But if it is a problem and you just can't live with wild birds mixing with your flock...pellet guns are cheap and accurate.

 

[MeepBeep]

It is illegal, at least where I live, to kill migratory birds without permission.

The common house sparrow aka European sparrow that is the cause of most of these problems in the US (native sparrows are shy and generally avoid human contact or buildings) is considered an invasive species at the Federal level, so unless you have a local law that protects them, anything is fair game...

 

[Intheswamp]

European sparrows are flying mice....starlings are flying rats. Open season on both of them 24/7/365...

 

[All Ball]

Native sparrows are not always shy! I have problems with white- and yellow-crowned sparrows eating the feed, flying through the pop door to eat the feed, drinking the water, pooping in the food and water. Will have to shift to special feeders, and put plastic strips on the pop door. These guys are incredibly cheeky for native birds - they try to jump in when the chickens are just starting to eat their scratch. At my last place, the sparrows were much more fearful.

Annoyingly, the chickens ignore them, and the roo even expresses alarm when I chase them away - what a goof!

 

[bucky52]

I am having the same problem. I ordered a sparrow trap. I found it on line. We have caught 10 in the last week. Its a catch and release trap. We placed it under a tree. Near the run. We caught 4. the first day we did put water and some bird seed in with them. We had planned on taking them miles away to release them they all died during the night. The next day we caught a male and female cardinal.we released those. I am finding some just have died in my runs and one was in my feed bowl. They are driving me insane. They poop and fowl the feeders and waterers.I mentioned several time to my husband that we should cover the whole area with hardwire cloth.He said we would have to tear our runs down. And build new ones. My whole area is 30x30.I have invested a lot of time and money in our coops and runs. The sparrow trap is slow but does work. But its so many of them. I read up on sparrows they are disease carriers and invasive. I had mice in the summer.Than had rats now dealing with sparrows.