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Scared crows


Dirty Harry
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We have had a bit of a problem this last few weeks with Jackdaws pecking open the bin bags and scattering the contents everywhere on bin day. There have been loads about the farm and they have been getting into some feed we have in a polly tunnel and making a real mess. A few days ago I went out with a shotgun to have a pop at them and got one before about 150 flew off and sat in the nearby trees.

They came back about 10 minutes later and resumed being a nuisance.

The following day we had closed the polly tunnel up but about 30 birds had managed to get in underneath the mesh doors. I shot at one outside and saw all the birds inside were trapped as they could not fly out. I decided to very carefully shoot them in the tunnel making sure not to hit any of the kit inside or the sheet. I managed to bag 5 before the rest worked out how to escape but I think it's scared the hell out of the remaining birds.

Now 2 days later I've not seen a single bird on that part of the farm or anywhere near the polly tunnel. Even where we feed the cattle and they usually peck up the leftovers there are none.

I guess they really did have a fright so fingers crossed I won't have to go picking up the contents of my bin bags next week.

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We have a similar problem with them nesting In the fields behind my house,i cannot have a go at them due the location of other houses.they are making a right racket as I type. There numbers seem to be growing every year,I might have a word with the farmer and get the guy who has permission to thin them out in ajacent fields they are feeding on.

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  • 1 month later...

We have had a bit of a problem this last few weeks with Jackdaws pecking open the bin bags and scattering the contents everywhere on bin day. There have been loads about the farm and they have been getting into some feed we have in a polly tunnel and making a real mess. A few days ago I went out with a shotgun to have a pop at them and got one before about 150 flew off and sat in the nearby trees.

They came back about 10 minutes later and resumed being a nuisance.

The following day we had closed the polly tunnel up but about 30 birds had managed to get in underneath the mesh doors. I shot at one outside and saw all the birds inside were trapped as they could not fly out. I decided to very carefully shoot them in the tunnel making sure not to hit any of the kit inside or the sheet. I managed to bag 5 before the rest worked out how to escape but I think it's scared the hell out of the remaining birds.

Now 2 days later I've not seen a single bird on that part of the farm or anywhere near the polly tunnel. Even where we feed the cattle and they usually peck up the leftovers there are none.

I guess they really did have a fright so fingers crossed I won't have to go picking up the contents of my bin bags next week.

 

Can you use a Larsen trap? My granfathers neighbouring farm used a giant homemade one (don't think it had a live bird in it though) and caught over 100 in one day once...

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Can you use a Larsen trap? My granfathers neighbouring farm used a giant homemade one (don't think it had a live bird in it though) and caught over 100 in one day once...

 

I'm assuming you mean a ladder trap ?

 

They are fantastically effective. A farm that was plagued with thousands of jackdaws asked myself an a friend to thin them out last year. Shooting wasn't really practical, as they just got very wary before we'd had 50 in total. So we set up a ladder trap.

Run it with the door open for the first few days, with some white bread inside as bait. Then close the door, but still bait.

 

We took over 600 out of the ladder trap, in a matter of 2 weeks.

Do make sure you fully understand the laws regarding bait, water, dispatch, shelter, how often you must check, etc. if you're going to use them though

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