Crows

reilig

Anyone have a problem with crows attacking round bales? They're making muck of bales that have been tipped on their ends. I have tried all the usual - cd stuck to the bales, paint, grease, whistling ribbons, shooting crows and hanging them up but nothing seems to work for me. In Fact, the grey crows have eaten all the crows that I have hung up. The funny thing is that when the meadows were being baled up, there weren't hundreds of them picking through the grass like other years so i didn't think there would be any bother from them this year. But every time I patch they do a job on them again.

A few years ago, we used to be able to get a poison for them that put them to sleep and they died with the cold of the night. This was safe to pets and other animals that burrowed. Does anyone know if this is still available as its getting to the stage where thay are picking through the patches that i already put on.

or does anyone have any other solutions?????

UPCS

We used to have that problem but know we get a net that goes over the bales, which the crows won't land on because they are to scared of getting caught.

johngalway

I'm sure you'd find a few lads in the shooting section who'd be happy to deploy some 12 gauge crow scaring equipment.

kardarie

UPCS wrote: »

We used to have that problem but know we get a net that goes over the bales, which the crows won't land on because they are to scared of getting caught.

+1 on this. We use bale net wrap it def does the trick place a few tyres over some of the bales to hire up the net wrap a little as said above they wont chance landing.

Hope it helps.

tvo

got a novelty childs windmill at the beach a couple of years ago taped it to a long stick positioned between the bales little or no crows since

aristo

I got some crow and pigeon poison last year so i might still be allowed:rolleyes:
Just put net on bales yesterday 20 x 15 metre net €120!

reilig

johngalway wrote: »

I'm sure you'd find a few lads in the shooting section who'd be happy to deploy some 12 gauge crow scaring equipment.

I've taken the 12 gauge to them myself, but its like shooting fish in a barrel. The more you shoot, the more that will come back.



Thanks for the info guys. Looks like a net might be a solution. I also saw on google where it is possible to get poison for them in ireland and feed it through a fowl feeder which is only accessible to the crows so i might look into that some more.

teepee

you could hire this lad for a few weeks ,
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dho1mvtAwD8&feature=related
:P

Indubitable

Did you try a scarecrow?

elius

reilig wrote: »

I've taken the 12 gauge to them myself, but its like shooting fish in a barrel. The more you shoot, the more that will come back.



Thanks for the info guys. Looks like a net might be a solution. I also saw on google where it is possible to get poison for them in ireland and feed it through a fowl feeder which is only accessible to the crows so i might look into that some more.

Shoot a couple and leave them hanging. If left on the ground they could be considered as a decoy. Use to do this and always worked fairly well..

LostCovey

reilig wrote: »

I've taken the 12 gauge to them myself, but its like shooting fish in a barrel. The more you shoot, the more that will come back.



Thanks for the info guys. Looks like a net might be a solution. I also saw on google where it is possible to get poison for them in ireland and feed it through a fowl feeder which is only accessible to the crows so i might look into that some more.

Hi Reilig,

The trouble with poisoning them is the risk of secondary poisoning. With Buzzards and soon Red Kites spreading all over the country, this is a risky option.

LostCovey

reilig

I ended up sourcing nets for the bales, came in at just under €200, but recon that i will get a good few years out of them if they are minded.

Connacht Gold sell Crow and Pidgeon poison and feeders for it which they claim are only able to be accessed by crows and pidgeons which they claim will prevent smaller birds being poisoned.

I've tried hanging up the shot crows, but this only seems to give the grey crows more of a reason to eat them.

Jack C

Try two parallel strands of electric fence wire just about an inch apart a few feet above the bales. Hook one up to your fence and earth the other. Make sure wires are pulled tight. I admit that netting is the most effective but this is more entertaining.

pakalasa

Didnt someone mention here a while back that painted concentric white circles frighten them off.

They view them as large predator eyes or something!

Birdnuts

reilig wrote: »

Connacht Gold sell Crow and Pidgeon poison and feeders for it which they claim are only able to be accessed by crows and pidgeons which they claim will prevent smaller birds being poisoned.

.

No offence but that sounds like dangerous BS - Indiscriminate poisoning should never be an option given the huge threat it represents to non-target species(game birds would be at serious risk here) as well as pets etc. Plus signage needs to be put up and the Gardai informed according to legislation. You don't need the hassale of large numbers of dead birds etc. appearing on your neighbours property, local roads, back gardens etc. which will obviously arose supicions

There are plenty of safer more sensible alternatives as outlined by others on here.

reilig

Birdnuts wrote: »

No offence but that sounds like dangerous BS - Indiscriminate poisoning should never be an option given the huge threat it represents to non-target species(game birds would be at serious risk here) as well as pets etc. Plus signage needs to be put up and the Gardai informed according to legislation. You don't need the hassale of large numbers of dead birds etc. appearing on your neighbours property, local roads, back gardens etc. which will obviously arose supicions

There are plenty of safer more sensible alternatives as outlined by others on here.

Somebody should get on to them if what they're selling is illegal?????

They have lots of it in stock and I suppose the way that they tried to sell it to me was that I should also buy the special feeder so that non target birds and pets could not access it. There is no legislation to say that you have to put up signs or inform local Gardai according to our local garda anyway. For some reason this does not come under the legislation for chemical poisons as it only puts them to sleep.

To be honest, dead crows would not be a hassle for me or my neighbours. The majority of neighbours are farmers who are plagued by crows picking round bales in the summer and picking lambs eyes in spring. I don't know if crows are classed as vermin, but I feel that they should be.

Anyway, I get the impression that you are trying to tell me off:

There are plenty of safer more sensible alternatives as outlined by others on here

As I outlined above, I bought one of these sensible options ahead of the poison because i feel that it is more sustainable in the long term.

Birdnuts

reilig wrote: »

Somebody should get on to them if what they're selling is illegal?????

They have lots of it in stock and I suppose the way that they tried to sell it to me was that I should also buy the special feeder so that non target birds and pets could not access it. There is no legislation to say that you have to put up signs or inform local Gardai according to our local garda anyway. For some reason this does not come under the legislation for chemical poisons as it only puts them to sleep.

To be honest, dead crows would not be a hassle for me or my neighbours. The majority of neighbours are farmers who are plagued by crows picking round bales in the summer and picking lambs eyes in spring. I don't know if crows are classed as vermin, but I feel that they should be.

Anyway, I get the impression that you are trying to tell me off:



As I outlined above, I bought one of these sensible options ahead of the poison because i feel that it is more sustainable in the long term.

Your local gardai don't appear to be aware of the legislation contained in various wildlife/use of poison acts - however the regional wildlife ranger will and can act as a court case in Meath a few years ago proved(involved an individual using uncovered posion bait for crows that killed large numbers of non-target species which led to complaints from the public).

I've no problem with farmers dispatching as many crows and other vermin as they like using netting, traps, local gun clubs etc but the misuse/abuse of uncovered poison baits as we already know from the ugly events of recent Springs has devasting affects on endangered/protected non-target wildlife which does nothing for the image that Irish Agriculture needs to cultivate both at home and abroad:(

rliston

Any ideas where I could get a gas banger/bird scarer?

reilig

Birdnuts wrote: »

Your local gardai don't appear to be aware of the legislation contained in various wildlife/use of poison acts - however the regional wildlife ranger will and can act as a court case in Meath a few years ago proved(involved an individual using uncovered posion bait for crows that killed large numbers of non-target species which led to complaints from the public).

I understood that the case brought in County Meath was brought against someone who used a home made poison from farm chemicals. Pigeons, crows and all manners of little birds just died mid flight and fell out of the sky and fell onto a local park and football pitch. The farmer had made a concoction from farm chemicals - silly bugger, he should have got a lot more than the €200 fine!!!

There was another case brought against a farmer in Carlow last year. He was on the outskirts of Carlow Town and sprinkled buckets of the above poison that i mentioned that puts them to sleep, all through a crop that pigeons were destroying. Thousands of birds fell from the sky, asleep, all through the town and most were killed from the fall. The judge severely criticised him for not using the specific feeder for administering the poison which would have prevented the deaths of non targeted birds.

No offence, but I think that farmers would be less likely to act wrecklessly like the above clowns if they were better informed on the safe methods to lay poisons rather than a mass of people making threaths to them about wildlife inspectors and gardai. Crows and pigeons are a major problem for a lot of farmers and some have no option but to exterminate or feel that it is the best option.

I think it would make more sense for someone like yourself, who obviously has a deep interest in wildlife protection (and i respect that) to come on here and advise people of the safe ways to use this legally bought poison rather than threatening that a misuse of the poison will result in a legal action from a wildlife ranger or gardai which could frustrate someone and cause them to use it wrecklessly and unresponsibly.

What I mean is that if you go around telling people that the Guards and Wildlife inspectors will bring a case against them then people will not lay the poison responsibly and safely. If the poison is readily available to buy, then people are going to buy it, but if they think that there is a chance that they can get a conviction for laying it, then they will choose to lay it in a way that they feel that it cannot be traced back to them and usually in an unsafe way. We can talk about moral responsibility and honesty, but in more cases than not, the above is what will happen if people do not know that there is a safe way for laying it.

If the guy in Carlow had been informed that there was a safe way to lay the poison that would not harm other harmless birds, then there is a good chance that he would have used it.
If the guy in meath knew that there was a poison available to buy which wouldn't kill everything in sight, then he might have used it and perhaps even asked someone about safe ways of using it.

Birdnuts

reilig wrote: »

I understood that the case brought in County Meath was brought against someone who used a home made poison from farm chemicals. Pigeons, crows and all manners of little birds just died mid flight and fell out of the sky and fell onto a local park and football pitch. The farmer had made a concoction from farm chemicals - silly bugger, he should have got a lot more than the €200 fine!!!

There was another case brought against a farmer in Carlow last year. He was on the outskirts of Carlow Town and sprinkled buckets of the above poison that i mentioned that puts them to sleep, all through a crop that pigeons were destroying. Thousands of birds fell from the sky, asleep, all through the town and most were killed from the fall. The judge severely criticised him for not using the specific feeder for administering the poison which would have prevented the deaths of non targeted birds.

No offence, but I think that farmers would be less likely to act wrecklessly like the above clowns if they were better informed on the safe methods to lay poisons rather than a mass of people making threaths to them about wildlife inspectors and gardai. Crows and pigeons are a major problem for a lot of farmers and some have no option but to exterminate or feel that it is the best option.

I think it would make more sense for someone like yourself, who obviously has a deep interest in wildlife protection (and i respect that) to come on here and advise people of the safe ways to use this legally bought poison rather than threatening that a misuse of the poison will result in a legal action from a wildlife ranger or gardai which could frustrate someone and cause them to use it wrecklessly and unresponsibly.

What I mean is that if you go around telling people that the Guards and Wildlife inspectors will bring a case against them then people will not lay the poison responsibly and safely. If the poison is readily available to buy, then people are going to buy it, but if they think that there is a chance that they can get a conviction for laying it, then they will choose to lay it in a way that they feel that it cannot be traced back to them and usually in an unsafe way. We can talk about moral responsibility and honesty, but in more cases than not, the above is what will happen if people do not know that there is a safe way for laying it.

If the guy in Carlow had been informed that there was a safe way to lay the poison that would not harm other harmless birds, then there is a good chance that he would have used it.
If the guy in meath knew that there was a poison available to buy which wouldn't kill everything in sight, then he might have used it and perhaps even asked someone about safe ways of using it.

Can't argue with most of that except to say that thankfully there appears to be legislation coming down the line to outlaw all uncovered baits as is the case across nearly all other EU countries including Britain, Germany etc. in response to complaints to the ECJ from the likes of the Golden Eagle trust and others. Obviously this is not the place to go into the ins and outs of this(in respect for the mods position on discussing this subject) but I think that this can only be a positive development for the sake of marketing Irish farm produce home and abroad as well as for conservation in Ireland.

PS: For more ideas about controlling vermin safely and effectively you should pay a visit to the Shooting Forum on boards.ie. Some very impressive stuff regarding crow traps in particular judging on the pictures I've seen there:)

pakalasa

I was in Germany recently. What really struck me was there wasn't sound nor sight of a bird anywhere.....It was real eery, for someone that's used to a daily the chorus of, whatever they are - finches, swallows...:D.
Not a hedge to be seen either.

As they say, you dont miss it till it's gone.:mad:

colrow

rliston wrote: »

Any ideas where I could get a gas banger/bird scarer?

These people have them http://www.maceoinltd.com/

0900

Couple of years back we bought these squares of kind of synthetic covers, we throw them up on the bales with a couple of tires and bobs your uncle, no more patching crow holes!

On a side note, any superstitions regarding crows? Around where I live there thought to be good luck and some people would be very slow to harm them.

LostCovey

reilig wrote: »

For some reason this does not come under the legislation for chemical poisons as it only puts them to sleep.

Fairytale. If it's a chemical that kills them it is a chemical poison.

If it's a sleeping tablet for the poor stressed out crows it's a fairytale.

LC

reilig

LostCovey wrote: »

Fairytale. If it's a chemical that kills them it is a chemical poison.

If it's a sleeping tablet for the poor stressed out crows it's a fairytale.

LC

Thank you. i agree with you. as you can see by my above post, i solved my problem with nets.

Thanks again.

Reilig