The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Growing => Vegetables => Topic started by: eryl on April 01, 2021, 02:00:45 pm
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give me your best shot everyone - how do you keep birds off your veg?
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Grow inside a cage. Don't know any other methods that would really work.
Or next to andog kennel? Its only certain thing ms and usually only in spring. Brassicas are usually eating by pigeons when they are little etc
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I have little wooden arrows directing the birds to my neighbors allotment - he thinks its funny but it really works - or it could be the nets I have over everything.. :innocent:
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https://www.amazon.co.uk/Doors-Garden-Net-Tunnel-Cloche/dp/B07FXJMCW3/ref=sr_1_10?dchild=1&keywords=net+cloches&qid=1617310309&sr=8-10 (https://www.amazon.co.uk/Doors-Garden-Net-Tunnel-Cloche/dp/B07FXJMCW3/ref=sr_1_10?dchild=1&keywords=net+cloches&qid=1617310309&sr=8-10)
I found these 'garden skill' net cloches on Amazon. They are nice and big: a metre tall, a metre wide and 2 or 3 metres long, with unzippable windows to enable you to tend your crops. They are much cheaper than the 'harrods horticultural' version. They fit perfectly over 1 metre wide raised beds, or on flat ground.
If they are too small or too expensive, try Geoff Hamilton's old fashioned way of making hoops out of blue waterpipe then fixing net over, pinning it down tightly. We are suffering a bit from pigeons which have destroyed our brassicas, also hens and geese during Bird Flu lockdown.
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https://www.amazon.co.uk/Doors-Garden-Net-Tunnel-Cloche/dp/B07FXJMCW3/ref=sr_1_10?dchild=1&keywords=net+cloches&qid=1617310309&sr=8-10
I found these 'garden skill' net cloches on Amazon. They are nice and big: a metre tall, a metre wide and 2 or 3 metres long, with unzippable windows to enable you to tend your crops. They are much cheaper than the 'harrods horticultural' version. They fit perfectly over 1 metre wide raised beds, or on flat ground.
If they are too small or too expensive, try Geoff Hamilton's old fashioned way of making hoops out of blue waterpipe then fixing net over, pinning it down tightly. We are suffering a bit from pigeons which have destroyed our brassicas, also hens and geese during Bird Flu lockdown.
I have cheap polytunnel from ebay - partially covered only with chicken wire. Thats where I'm going to grow all the vulnerable veg and currant bushes - chickens ate all the fruit last year...
Muscovy drakes got to my sweet corn just before it was ready.... they loved it... It must have been delicious...
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garden way too big for nets or covers - would cost a fortune. anyone used these silver discs that you can hang round the garden? the reports about them are very good. Anyone had any luck with sonic scarers? Dont tell me about old CD's or video tape - both useless.
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What about hawk silhouettes flying high? I haven't tried them because I don't want to scare my hens or the wee birds, or acclimatise them to hawks, as we have plenty of real ones they need to run from. I have heard of owl shapes on a pole, with refective eyes as being worth a try too.
I use CDs but eventually the pigeons just duck under them.
There's zip wire which snaps in the breeze.
Last year I hung Tibetan bells all around the place - they sound nice but the pigeons quite like them too.
On a farming scale there are the birdscarers which go off like cannons at irregular intervals, mainly directed to rooks, but if you value your sanity and that of anyone within a couple of miles then you'll come up with something else.
Scarecrows which blow in the wind and twizzle round? The pigeons would probably soon work out that they're all threat and no action.
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Plastic owls and hawks are useless I'm afraid...
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Plastic owls and hawks are useless I'm afraid...
I'm not surprised - birds aren't daft :roflanim:
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How big an area - the whole area or specific planting areas?
At allotment we put a cage over the brassicas and canes with string zigzaged on beds, plastic bottles on top of canes.
Neighbouring plot has plasitc owl with rotating head, and bird feeders!
Biggest problem is cats and slugs
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give me your best shot everyone - how do you keep birds off your veg?
I think it's time to be more specific [member=201115]eryl[/member] . We're struggling away trying to help in reply to a one-liner. Which particular birds are you trying to keep off which particular veg, and exactly how much of each kind of veg do you have? Also, what outlay can you afford or must the solution be free?
Which silver discs are you meaning if not CDs? Are any of the suggestions we have made so far of any interest? What measures have you tried in the past?
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firstly ,thank you all for replying. Obviously the birds im referring to are pigeons and corvids. It a large area so netting or any other covers are out of the question. Owls, hawks (moving or otherwise) do not work, neither do CD's or video tape. OIve seen these silver rings advertised and they have a 5 star rating (i know that sometimes means nothing) - wondered had any body tried them. I grow potatoes, brassicas, legumes and root crops. I'll ask again - anyone tried the electronic sonic bird repellents?
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When we moved here they previous owner had used an electronic mole repellant. It used to emit a horrible high-pitched noise every 10 seconds and fortunately she took it with her. The place was deserted of wildlife- no birds of any description and no moles either. They all gradually returned over the first year.
So I'd say the electronic bird repellant would work, but probably too well.
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Yes, if you scare all the birds away you will have slug and insect infestation.
You don't need to cover potatoes and root crops - if you can find a net or cloche to cover the brassicas - that should be enough. No?
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@macgro, slugs are nocturnal and owls eat rodents not slugs and i dont know of any other bird that is both slug eating and nocturnal. Anyway slug pellets work brilliantly. And before anybody says anything, we dont have hedgehogs round here - the massive population of badgers we've got have seen to that. I dont speak any bird language so I cant put up a sign saying ' please birds, just eat the insects, not my veg'. Sounds as if the way to go is electronic so I' will give it ago and report back.
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Passer-by : Oh, that's a very interesting device I see on your lawn. What is it?
Householder : It's an elephant deterrent.
Passer-by : But we don't have elephants around here!
Householder : Yeah, works well, don't it?!
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@macgro, slugs are nocturnal and owls eat rodents not slugs and i dont know of any other bird that is both slug eating and nocturnal. Anyway slug pellets work brilliantly. And before anybody says anything, we dont have hedgehogs round here - the massive population of badgers we've got have seen to that. I dont speak any bird language so I cant put up a sign saying ' please birds, just eat the insects, not my veg'. Sounds as if the way to go is electronic so I' will give it ago and report back.
Ducks do fantastic job with the slugs :thumbsup:
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I know you'll laugh, feel free.
A small highly visible bed away from the house and buildings well stocked for the birdlife , its also offers some occasional fresh meat, sitting in one of the poly-tunnels with the door open in direct line of sight, cant miss !
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not as daft as it sounds rupert!
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Twirling CD's .. the buggers & butterflies didn't like my music tastes so ate the veg instead as revenge