A plague of starlings

[curly_kate]

The starlings at my house are driving me crazy! When I got home today, it was obvious they had had a smorgasbord on the scratch I put out for the chickens. It doesn't matter where I put the food, those little (*^!@ get into it. I've decided I should feed primarily later in the evening when the starlings have gone away, but the hens are pretty hungry in the morning, esp. since their scratching grounds are covered by snow right now. I'm thinking of getting some kind of bird of prey decoy to sit on top of the coop where the chickens can't see it but the starlings can. Any ideas what a starling would be afraid of? Or are they too smart for that sort of thing?

 

[Javamama]

We finally had to cover the run in bird netting and even then it took about 3 days for them to give up and move on. I didn't try a decoy, but we sent the dog out every few minutes to chase them off. They were going in the coop and crapping everywhere. It was disgusting. Of course, my dumb hens didn't seem to notice I think a rooster would have kept them away but we don't have one.

 

[Denim Deb]

Shot gun. I hate starlings. They're an invasive species.

 

[curly_kate]

I agree with the disgusting-factor. There is poo everywhere! And we have a rooster, but he doesn't seem to do a whole lot of good. Unfortunately, the run is huge, so covering it really isn't really an option. The dog doesn't really care about them either. I might have to investigate the shot gun option.

 

[Denim Deb]

Check into your state's regulations. If they're a real problem, I think there are legal things that you can do to get rid of them.

 

[dacjohns]

Starlings are not federally protected. Shot gun. You might not kill a lot but they might get the message.

 

[Mattemma]

I would recommend the repeating house sparrow trap. I have one and it works for starlings too.

 

[Denim Deb]

Can you feed your chickens inside for now? The starlings are less likely to go inside a building from what I understand.

 

[curly_kate]

They'll go right into the coop & make a mess in there. Little *&%$#! I will have to look up the sparrow trap. Might let DH do some target practice with them. I'm not a very good shot, so I'm afraid I'd end up taking out one of my hens! Thanks for the tips!