Dealing with birds

WillyCKH

WillyCKH

CPSC Moderator
Staff member
I'm getting some unwanted visitors on my patio. These blue chickens are stealing my sphagnum moss and making it a murder scene every few hours. They even dig up my Sarracenia purpurea yesterday, the poor plant that survived winter and just trying to recover!
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I use BBC sticks with pointed end up ! Work for me against birds and squirrels. Good looking unwanted visitor ! Mine are all black !
 
I need to use chicken fence and nets otherwise crows, squirrels and cats destroy everything :(
Usually, a few inches of fence around the pot can do the job and is not that ugly but that won't work against the more adventurous ones.
They really like LFS for their nests.
 
I did mount chicken fence over wood posts to make a dome over my CP pots. However, the table is ... full of pots, there is no place to put the posts/fence...So I use BBC sticks, lot of... LOL
 
Beautiful plants and setup!

Im sure you have heard of motion activated sprinklers. Since your on a patio an impact sprinkler would not work for you but with a few plumbing parts and some misting nozzles.. I’m sure you could re-engineer one of these to mist all that nice moss every time a visitor comes and keep the moss happy and lush throughout the summer!

Just make sure you have a two way water valve to turn it off so you can look at and water the plants without getting misted also o_O
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That's a nice idea. I plan to try reflective tapes first and then plastic owls. I don't want to rig up contraptions on the patio yet because we are renting and to be honest I don't know how long we will stay here.
 
That's a Stellar Jay. The Jay family are pretty clever and persistent, known to "steal". Brace yourself! Maybe you can configure a PEX tubing dome or tunnel and drape it with bird netting (1" openings) so you can access the plants. It can be found in dollar stores and garden centres. Owls never worked for me either despite frequently relocating them. I've placed rubber snakes, and peppermint oil infused sponges throughout my veggie garden to discourage chipmunks and squirrels. It works for a while and then becomes less effective. When live snakes visit it is a very good deterrent. ;)
 
A friend of mine in Calgary had a dog which the jays would plague. One jay would cry out from the roof and his dog would run to the house and bark at it. Then the confederate jay would fly to the dog food bowl and gorge itself. Eventually the dog would notice the theft and run to the bowl. Then that jay flew to the roof and started calling. The first jay would then fly away. When the dog was occupied barking at jay 2, jay 1 would alight at the bowl. This would go on until the dog and the jays finished the food. You can judge which was smarter, bird or dog (German Shepherd). Avian neurons are much smaller than mammalian ones, so small bird brains can pack a lot in a small space. So maybe dinosaurs were clever despite relatively small brains.
 
Okay it seems to be working so far with the reflective tape! As long as there is wind and sun, the birds would be wary to approach. The male Stellar Jay did come shortly after the installation but he only took a piece of moss before the tape's sound jump scared him.
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Hey my passion is photography and I just wanted to state the first picture is really good. They're all good but the first one is so cool the way it shows off the bird.
 
Maybe some sort of dollarstore netting setup will work... orchards use netting over fruit trees in tbe okannagan to prevent birds from eating say cherries
 
WillyCKH said:
Okay it seems to be working so far with the reflective tape! As long as there is wind and sun, the birds would be wary to approach. The male Stellar Jay did come shortly after the installation but he only took a piece of moss before the tape's sound jump scared him.
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Love your patio, Willy...nice and neat plus no neighbor in short distance (sight) !!!
 
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