jimtyp
1st Class Member
Centennial, CO
Conductor
Posts:570
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 | | 05/12/2008 2:13 PM |
| A gang, and I mean a tough gang, of Magpie birds have destroyed a few things on my railroad, like pecking some G scale station benches apart, and hauling off with some G scale sheep!
Any easy deterrents for these birds? They seam to be a tough and smart lot, related to crows I believe. | |
livin' la vida loco | |
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Steve Stockham
1st Class Member
Foreman
Posts:236
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| | 05/12/2008 2:18 PM |
| Yeah, I got a solution! It's called a pellet gun!! (I'm serious!) Those birds are nobody's friends! The only thing worse are pidgeons!! | |
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Burl
Monterey, TN
Brakeman
Posts:34
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| | 05/12/2008 2:47 PM |
| | Got cats? | | | |
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DennisB
southwestern Ontario
Brakeman
Posts:48
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| | 05/12/2008 5:25 PM |
| | Fishing line strung from one small peg to the next. The line is almost invisible, until they land. The line will almost tangle in their feet and frighten them away. It even works on squirrels. Simply string it loosely a few inches above the ground on a 5 inch high dowel. Stick it loosely in the ground so they can escape. Animals and birds have very good memories. We use a similar method to discourage crows from landing in an area. Regards, Dennis. | | | |
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altterrain
silver spring, md
Foreman
Posts:334
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| | 05/12/2008 7:18 PM |
| I hang old cds out in the veggie garden to keep the crows away. They don't like shiny, reflective things.
-Brian | |
Presidents of
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Dave F
1st Class Member
Sandy, Utah
Foreman
Posts:485
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| | 05/12/2008 7:49 PM |
| As mentioned above ..... Cats
Dogs seem to be equally effective. | |
Dave Fulghum,
CEO/Gandy dancer: Lone Peak & Western Railway.
Member, Utah Garden Railway Society.
www.lonepeakandwestern.bravehost.com | |
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Torby
1st Class Member
North Chicago 'burbs.
Engineer
Posts:1256
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| | 05/13/2008 7:04 AM |
| | They used to sell balls with eyes painted on them for scaring birds away. I don't find anything about them now, so maybe they didn't work well. | |
 
Chicago Marathon You don't have to train or run, I'm taking care of that for you. | |
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silverstatespecialties
1st Class Member
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Mik
Indiana, Pa
Foreman
Posts:261
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| | 05/15/2008 12:41 AM |
| I don't know Colorado's game laws, but here in Pa. it is illegal to shoot "non-game" animals & birds, period. (and rather stiff penalties for killing game animals out of season or without a license)
IIRC Ohio OTOH allows the shooting animals classified as a "nuisance" (like feral cats, etc)..... | |
Mik | |
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Torby
1st Class Member
North Chicago 'burbs.
Engineer
Posts:1256
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| | 05/15/2008 7:07 AM |
| | Susan used to send me out with the air rifle to shoot sparrows because they drive the bluebirds out of the bluebird box. I can see Mrs. Bluebird: "Are you kidding me! Did you see what happened to those sparrows? I'm not going NEAR that nest!" | |
Chicago Marathon You don't have to train or run, I'm taking care of that for you. | |
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Paul Norton
1st Class Member
Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
Foreman
Posts:243
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| | 05/15/2008 1:04 PM |
| My backyard is surrounded by a tall cedar hedge. At this time of the year there are a lot of blackbirds nesting in the hedge. They clean the nests of any droppings and deposit them in a neat line all around the edge of the pool. By the end of the day it can be pretty disgusting.
If the cats are out, the birds just land at the other end of the pool. Here in Canada handguns are verboten, and it is against the law to fire any kind of gun within the city limits. So like Brain, I found hanging old CDs frightens them away.
The stand is made with a scrap of lumber, half a coat hanger, a fishing swivel and a piece of line. The CD swivels and flashes in the wind, scaring the blackbirds away. If you live in a windy area, a heavier piece of lumber may be required.
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Paul Norton
Ottawa Valley GRS | |
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jimtyp
1st Class Member
Centennial, CO
Conductor
Posts:570
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| | 05/15/2008 1:24 PM |
| Thanks for all the ideas! I'll try the less dangerous (to myself :-) options like CDs and Fishing line first. Don't have a cat and the dog is too spoiled to chase the birds.
Do you think one of those fake Owls would work?
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livin' la vida loco | |
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Semper Vaporo
1st Class Member
Cedar Rapids, Iowa
Conductor
Posts:821
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| | 05/15/2008 2:03 PM |
| | The fake owls work for a while, but are soon "challenged" and found to be fake. It order to work continuously, it would have to "react" to the Magpie's presence and at least threaten them somehow, which I know of no way to do. | |
 C. T. McCullough
Cedar Rapids, Iowa
SA #37469
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wchasr
1st Class Member
Western NY
Foreman
Posts:321
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| | 05/16/2008 7:15 AM |
| Posted By Mik on 05/15/2008 12:41 AM
I don't know Colorado's game laws, but here in Pa. it is illegal to shoot "non-game" animals & birds, period. (and rather stiff penalties for killing game animals out of season or without a license)
IIRC Ohio OTOH allows the shooting animals classified as a "nuisance" (like feral cats, etc).....
PA? You've got to be kidding me? I've known a ot of folks in PA that take care of nuisance animals that way (& other more creative ways!) Also using the Bow and arrow as well! LOL!
Chas - (Who no longer lives in Pa) | | | |
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Mik
Indiana, Pa
Foreman
Posts:261
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| | 05/16/2008 10:05 PM |
| Posted By wchasr on 05/16/2008 7:15 AM Posted By Mik on 05/15/2008 12:41 AM
I don't know Colorado's game laws, but here in Pa. it is illegal to shoot "non-game" animals & birds, period. (and rather stiff penalties for killing game animals out of season or without a license)
IIRC Ohio OTOH allows the shooting animals classified as a "nuisance" (like feral cats, etc)..... PA? You've got to be kidding me? I've known a ot of folks in PA that take care of nuisance animals that way (& other more creative ways!) Also using the Bow and arrow as well! LOL! Chas - (Who no longer lives in Pa)
Ah, but the excrement hits the bladed motorized cooling device when they DO get caught.... loss of hunting priveleges, impoundment of firearms, rediculous fines, even jail time...ESPECIALLY if the ASPCA gets involved too. | |
Mik | |
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jimtyp
1st Class Member
Centennial, CO
Conductor
Posts:570
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| | 07/22/2008 1:06 PM |
| Did more research and found this article:
scare magpies
My wife made six of these and we have them hanging by nylon thread in some trees in the yard. She got some woods disks for 25c at Michaels and painted them like the article showed. So far so good :-) | |
livin' la vida loco | |
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Tom Leaton
Brakeman
Posts:21
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| | 07/22/2008 6:00 PM |
| My dad used to have a pellet gun with a pump which allowed for lower, non-lethal pressures.
Decades later, I was advised that you can't even use that to get squirrels out of your attic: I couldn't buy pellets because
1.you can't discharge a weapon in the city limits ( and that is a weapon, they say) and
2.squirrels are a "protected species."
...so I used an AM radio to repel them --it worked.
cheers | | | |
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R.W. Marty
1st Class Member
Brakeman
Posts:67
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| | 07/22/2008 7:50 PM |
| Jim,
Usually if you eliminate the attraction you eliminate the problem.
One of the big ones for Magpies is pet food.
Why are they attracted to your yard?
Later
Rick Marty | | | |
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RaTTeR
Passenger
Posts:4
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| | 07/23/2008 12:31 AM |
| Talk radio or rap?
We've had pigeon problems, called the county Animal Control office. Their guy
tells us that there is basically nothing that they can do - I had already netted
over the possible nesting spots around the house. His advice, off the record
of course, get a pellet gun and bag up the bodies at the bottom of the curbside
trashcan. Six down, fifty something more to go...
Alan | | | |
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jimtyp
1st Class Member
Centennial, CO
Conductor
Posts:570
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| | 07/23/2008 9:22 AM |
| That's a good one, I think talk radio or rap would work, the problem is it would run me off too :-) So far the disks I made are working. But supposedly they only work on Corvids, so probably wouldn't help with pigeons. Maybe you could rent a hawk or falcon, that should put the fear into them.
They seem to be attracted to my G scale items. They pecked some G-scale benches to bits that I had in front of my depot. And they hauled off with some G-scale sheep I had in a pasture setting. And of course they crap on the structures. There is a "gang" of them, about 20+, that hang out in the park behind my house. They often seem to have some sort of gang initiation and decide to reek havoc, which seems to be just for the fun of it as they don't use anything they destroy to build nests and don't eat anything, just tear things up and then leave sqwalking like they think what they've done is funny. Well, it probably is to them :-)
Nothing of what I have is worth killing them, I'd prefer to just scare them off. | |
livin' la vida loco | |
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