[lord flynn]

If they do come back I wonder if the old idea of hanging a dead crow would deter them?

I have tried this-one year it worked, last year and this year it didn't make any difference. they are around again this morning -not loads of them.

[Ghdp]

In case it helps anyone - we have been struggling with Magpies pinching eggs. The latest deterent is a line of black dog poo bags with a weight in the bottom one hanging in the enclosed area of the hen run. It hangs about 12 inches off the ground and is about 6 feet long. It flaps enthusiastically  on very little breeze and to date it is working. (Scares the life out of me regularly in the half light !!)

[alexander]

I have had magpies and crows eat eggs in the nest boxes of the hen shed and even fly away with an egg in the beak.
When they hang around to try to do this I blow out an egg then fill the shell with hot chilli sauce or mustard and leave it in the nest box. When the culprit gets to eat the egg and gets very hot chilli or mustard it usually stops the egg thefts for a long time.

[Marches Farmer]

I was watching a David Attenborough programme recently and it showed an Australian marsupial carnivore  called a quoll, which is being wiped out because it's poisoned by cane toads (an introduction to control insect pests in crops - they never learn, eh).  Bear with me on this one .....  They're now training the quolls not to eat the toads by capturing them, feeding them toad sausages laced with emetic then releasing them back into the wild.  They're now seeing evidence the parents are teaching young quolls (quollettes?) not to eat toads.  I was thinking of doing the same when the corvids have young in the nest next Spring - injecting a few sacrificial eggs with hot chilli paste and leaving them around the farmyard.

[davet]

I have often heard of the idea of filling eggs with mustard or chilli to dissuade egg-eaters, but I've also heard that birds can't taste the heat of chilli.

Maybe mustard is different.

[Marches Farmer]

Shall we run an experiment - I'll try chilli and someone else could do mustard and we'll see what happens a couple of generations down the line ....?

[Penninehillbilly]

Shall we run an experiment - I'll try chilli and someone else could do mustard and we'll see what happens a couple of generations down the line ....?

To do a true test it would need a few doing each, the rest of us will be the 'contol' (have I got that Right? ) ?

[lord flynn]

well in desperation I let the geese back in with the ducks-I had separated them in the spring due to the geese giving the ducks a bit of a hard time. they do chase everything out of the paddock and the ducks have learned to steer clear (there is loads of space, water and shelter etc). still waiting on ducklings but they won't be going out front anyway.

[Marches Farmer]

Shall we run an experiment - I'll try chilli and someone else could do mustard and we'll see what happens a couple of generations down the line ....?

To do a true test it would need a few doing each, the rest of us will be the 'contol' (have I got that Right? ) ?

Do we need a Control?  We all know the *****s pinch eggs and chicks.  I wonder how long the corvids normally live?  If two did chilli and two mustard for, say, two nesting seasons in a row there might be a perceptible difference in Year 3. 

[Penninehillbilly]

Shall we run an experiment - I'll try chilli and someone else could do mustard and we'll see what happens a couple of generations down the line ....?

To do a true test it would need a few doing each, the rest of us will be the 'contol' (have I got that Right? ) ?

Do we need a Control?  We all know the *****s pinch eggs and chicks.  I wonder how long the corvids normally live?  If two did chilli and two mustard for, say, two nesting seasons in a row there might be a perceptible difference in Year 3.

I was joking, but for some reason my smiley changed to ?
:-).

[Marches Farmer]

Ah, I often feel like that too.  Well, I shall try the chilli eggs next Spring and let you know how I get on.

[landroverroy]

I have often heard of the idea of filling eggs with mustard or chilli to dissuade egg-eaters, but I've also heard that birds can't taste the heat of chilli.

It's true - they can't. I regularly give my peafowl their feed heavily laced with chilli powder as it's meant to be a remedy/preventative against blackhead. Not only do the peafowl eat it with relish    but my hens and wild birds do also.

[greenbeast]

I wonder how long the corvids normally live?   

Ravens probably 20+ years in the wild. 40-70 in captivity
Crows, maybe less, at a guess

[Black Sheep]

Interesting article:

http://www.iflscience.com/plants-and-animals/ravens-are-able-to-plan-for-the-future-just-like-apes/all/

Could explain why some of the measures used below don't always continue to work.

[darkbrowneggs]

Had a pair of ravens nesting always in a tall tree and never had any problems from them.  I might be wrong but I thought is was only crows and jackdaws that formed large groups in the breeding season?


A ravens call sound more like a croaky duck, and seems slower than the higher 'caw-caw' or rooks or crows.



Also chill, pepper, spiced eggs of any sort do not work as the birds do not have the correct taste receptors.  But washing up liquid in a blow egg can put them off.