Know of a way to defeat starlings?

[WalkingOnSunshine]

I have a 7 lb. crumble feeder in my pullet pen. The pullet house is up on stilts, so the feeder sits underneath it to protect it in case it rains. I'm having huge flocks of starlings descend on it and they're eating me out of house and home! Anyone have any good solutions?

 

[RedDrgn]

I was going to say a pellet gun, but if you've got them in droves...

Re-locate your feeder. I'd put it inside of your coop so that it's much less visible to the roving starlings, and a bit less accessible. I'd recommend probably keeping the coop closed up with the food inside (and chickens, too) for a few days just to make sure the starlings have nothing to feed on in the area....alternatively, after moving the feeder, also move the coop just to screw up their pattern. The only way that you're going to get rid of them is to remove their known food sources, because if they can grab lunch, they'll keep coming back.

 

[Mike Winters]

hmm poultry netting? you can kill them to if you have a .22 or bb gun

 

[WalkingOnSunshine]

Too many chickens roving around for the .22--don't think I haven't thought of it!

Moving the feeder inside is a good idea. For a while I was overcrowded in this pen and didn't want to take away any floor space inside the pullet house, but I've since given 12 birds to their rightful owner (I was brooding them out and getting them to laying age for her) and sold off all the roos, so now my pullet flock is about half the size.

Starlings are crafty little buggers. Think they'll go inside the house? Then I'd have to worry about their poop, etc...

 

[GatewayGirl]

I think Starlings are more of flockers than peckers - like they swoop in droves - very groupy, instead of like catbirds or crows - very sneaky and curious. (not had this prob.)

I'd try just putting out enough feed that the birds can eat in a few minutes - and refilling later if necessary ... if I had a 7# feeder left out, either my girls and boys would be scarfing on that until they couldn't walk, ignoring the grass and bugs and worms and such - not healthy ... and if perchance they didn't eat it all, overnight I'd be bringing in mice, rats, skunks, cockroaches (eye worms!), possums - and with the mice and rats: snakes.

Don't know your set up (other than your Mack Daddy Hen House!!), but mine free range and put themselves up in the coop at night (unless we have some grumpy broodies in there!) and we lock them in after dark. If you have the time & $$, consider bird netting over the whole enclosure?? Couldn't hurt and could possible defend a little from overhead predators.

 

[jak2002003]

I think you are feeding you chickens too much and there is excess food laying about.

This will attract many other animals to eat the uneaten feed. Thank goodness you have only starlings - rats would be worse.

I suggest you feed you birds in the coop for a few weeks and then the starlings will move on looking for more food.

You can feed the birds several times each day. Or even just 2 times. Just let them eat as much they want. Wait till they have finished eating and take the left over food away.

After a week or 2 the starlings should have gone, and you can then leave your chicken more food if you like, but I would still feed inside the coop.

Good luck.

 

[RedDrgn]

Too many chickens roving around for the .22--don't think I haven't thought of it!

Moving the feeder inside is a good idea. For a while I was overcrowded in this pen and didn't want to take away any floor space inside the pullet house, but I've since given 12 birds to their rightful owner (I was brooding them out and getting them to laying age for her) and sold off all the roos, so now my pullet flock is about half the size.

Starlings are crafty little buggers. Think they'll go inside the house? Then I'd have to worry about their poop, etc...

Yes, they are smart and if they find the feeder inside, they will go after it. I'd make sure it's not within clear sight from the outside and only leave an opening large enough for the chickens to get in/out of the coop. If that doesn't work, consider erecting a tunnel out of bird netting that extends several feet out from the coop door that will have to be traversed on foot to get into the coop. Now, I don't know how your chickens would react to that, but starlings wouldn't be too keen on a passage that would inhibit their flight (and therefore escape) over an extended distance like that.

As someone else mentioned, consider rationing your food instead of leaving it free choice. In other words, only put out what the chickens will eat within 5-10 minutes. If you have the ability to give them measured rations through the day (which would ensure no leftover food lying about), that'd likely do the trick, too!

 

[WalkingOnSunshine]

I think Starlings are more of flockers than peckers - like they swoop in droves - very groupy, instead of like catbirds or crows - very sneaky and curious. (not had this prob.)

I'd try just putting out enough feed that the birds can eat in a few minutes - and refilling later if necessary ... if I had a 7# feeder left out, either my girls and boys would be scarfing on that until they couldn't walk, ignoring the grass and bugs and worms and such - not healthy ... and if perchance they didn't eat it all, overnight I'd be bringing in mice, rats, skunks, cockroaches (eye worms!), possums - and with the mice and rats: snakes.

Don't know your set up (other than your Mack Daddy Hen House!!), but mine free range and put themselves up in the coop at night (unless we have some grumpy broodies in there!) and we lock them in after dark. If you have the time & $$, consider bird netting over the whole enclosure?? Couldn't hurt and could possible defend a little from overhead predators.

LOL, that's the LITTLE pullet house. There is a 20' x 20' enclosure around it right now, inset into my 75' x 125' chicken pasture. It's to keep the pullets eating pullet feed until they're big enough to join the laying flock. The hen house is built like a house, 14' tall. I can't really net anything. Yes, the hens go into the hen house each night. The pullets go into their own house. You can see the pullet house to the left in the photo.



I see people are saying to feed less--this is really the right amount of feed. There are 27 17 week old pullets on that feeder, and no grass or bugs to speak of. We're in the middle of a drought here in Ohio--I've never seen anything like it, and that includes 1988. I guess I can try to only put out half a feeder of food at a time--blah more work! I really don't want starlings inside the Baba Yaga Pullet Hut--that cure might be worse than the problem.

I really hate starlings. At my dad's farm, we encourage hawks. Too bad that isn't the best idea here.

 

[Mattemma]

A repeating sparrow trap.Got one from TX that caught bigger birds,but to small for chicken to get in.Also firecrackers,bottle rockets,or any other noise maker.The trap is best imo.

This is the trap I bought 2 years ago.....

http://www.sparrowtraps.net/?gclid=CJDIm9aS2LECFUMCQAodaywAfg

Works well.Have caught cardinals in it,which ofcourse I release!

 

[Gallo del Cielo]

The quickest and most direct way to deal with unwanted wild birds is to prevent them from accessing the chicken feed. Sparrows and doves found the chicken feed in my coop, which was not visible from the outside, and were eating more than my chickens. I would have dozens and dozens of sparrows inside my small coop at any given time before I removed the food and took other measures to limit their access to the coop (see details on "my coop" page). My wild bird problem was largely eliminated once I built a treadle feeder. Once the wild birds couldn't access the food, their numbers visiting the yard greatly decreased. It also had the added benefit of limiting loss of chicken feed to wild birds and rodents while allowing the chickens free access to food. There are other auto-feeder designs that are easier and cheaper to construct. The trigger/lever activated bucket feeders are well reviewed and can be seen in this thread. Also see post #10 & #13 in this thread for a very cleaver auto-feeder design. I would point out that the success of these types of feeders depends on training the chickens to use them.