Greetings, sorry if this is the wrong place to ask this, but can anyone tell me how to keep birds out of my planter pots? they keep digging through them and while the bigger plants won’t be bothered by that the small ones get destroyed, saw that you could use some oils with isopropyl alcohol to keep them away, any tips are appreciated.
Physical exclusion is probably the way. Birds don’t really have a sense of smell so I’d highly doubt any essential oil gimcrackery would actually work. You can’t deter them with spicy stuff either, because that’s like trying to deter a fat man with a perimeter of hamburgers. (Peppers evolved to be spicy because mammals care but birds specifically don’t, and the peppers want birds to eat them and spread the seeds.)
Use nets, put your stuff in one of those mini greenhouses, something like that.
Already ordered some netting and some feeders and bird food to give them an alternative or will that make it worse? some colleagues of mine suggested to hire someone to destroy their nests to force them to relocate, would that really be the only solution?
Netting is the best option.
Please don’t destroy the nests though.
If you use netting, please check it regularly so no one gets trapped in it. They will get injured or starve. It does not take much to damage their feathers or bones, and they have very fast metabolism.
Once a nest has eggs in it, it is illegal to do anything with it. (US/Canada)
If room allows, you could push in some stakes/sticks big enough they can’t remove. That would block the spot they want to build and not hurt any animals.
Also would advise against miscellaneous essential oils. Birds have a very powerful respiratory system and can absorb things they shouldn’t at toxic levels due to how efficient their breathing is.
Bought some 1m long sticks for my tomatoes awhile ago before i switched to “tower pots” if that makes sense and had these sticks just waiting to be used for something so i’ll probably use cable ties and sticks to hold up the netting.
Birds? Or rodents? Birds don’t usually dig much. Maybe nesting?
Isopropyl alcohol evaporates in seconds.
Nope, birds, pigeons, crows and i don’t know what they are called but they are small, black and have a yellow beak, caught them in the act yesterday evening.
Edit: also found bird shit at the crime scene.
sounds like the MO of the common starling, they are known to dig up new plants. In the US they are a notorious pest.
My thoughts exactly
Nah these were completely black, looked them up and it’s the common blackbird, ordered netting for defense and feeders and bird food as a deterrent, hopefully if they have something else to eat they’ll leave my stuff alone…
Actually found a half dead mouse today, might have been poisoned or a bird dropped it, didn’t see any injuries but it couldn’t move and didn’t seem to breathe normally just long deep breaths when it could manage, used gloves to wrap it in some paper and dry grass and left it some food in the shed but it probably won’t survive the night.
Get a bobblehead owl statue
Already have a hawk hanging outside, hopefully the owl will do better…
Blackbirds get into my pots and garden beds. They’re useful in that they eat a lot of earwigs and other pest insects, but in delicate places they do wreck a bit. Heavy enough rocks can stop them, or bunch up some chicken wire. Or carefully cut some chicken wire to size and they can pick through it without digging it all up.
Already ordered some netting, feeders and bird food to keep the pots safe and give them another target.
