HELP!!!! BIRDS ARE TAKING OVER MY DAD'S GARDEN !!

Ok all you nice people out there in garden land. I need your help. My dad and his wife worked hard planting their corn, and now the birds have arrived with their forks and knives in hand. They covered their patch with a sheet of plastic and found where the birds had pecked thru that. (they also put straw on top of their seedlings to hold in the moisture). After the seedlings started to sprout(what was left of them) the birds came back. Does anyone have any suggestions? He is desperate for some advice here-he has even contacted a Farm Agent to see if he can obtain some arsenic to soak his seeds in or maybe soak them in hot sauce or something?? Please help if you can, would appreciate it very much. Mtn

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Hi Karma, thanx for your prompt reply I'll pass that along to him, he mentioned also about a squirrel that was visiting his garden(s) helping itself to things. He did shoot at it LOL he is fed up with doing all that hard work and the varmints coming and destroying it. I don't blame him, he's 70 years old and all that work is not easy for someone that age. Thanx again for helping, mtn

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LoL I'll tell him when I call him in a few minutes with your suggestion. Where do you live, I'll send him right on over, LOL just kidding !!! mtn

I don't know how effective this would be with wildlife, but my neighbor bought one of those motion-detecting talking frogs and set it next to his pond to scare his cat away. It works - at least for the cat. The sudden sound sends the would-be fisherman scurrying every time.

My second choice is the shotgun, assuming his eyesight is still good. Does shooting at birds deter them? Yep, especially the ones that get hit.

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Now, Karma in fairness to me, ya gotta admit that I DID suggest a humane deterrent first......I suspect ya'll have a mental picture of me as a gun-totin' Annie Oakley type, but it just ain't so!

LOL go_vols, we iz neighbors, and we know how to deal with them dern varments, don't we? (I'm in NC, by the way). I will be glad to pass all these suggestions on to my dad. I hope he can still see well enough to 'light 'em up' LOL (he used to be a cop) Thanx ladies. mtn

Get you some fake rubber snakes and place those around and change in different locations every once in a while. It really works.

i use a 410 shotgun-was my dads! I carry a pocketful of fire crackers and I have a pellet gun-look like annie oakley some days> I still have never gotten a sweet cherry off that tree. If its not the birds-its the squirrels. We are buying a moving hooting owl this year. I talked to you this morning in chat-welcome again to daves garden-our home away from home!
dori

They use an air cannon here in the cornfields and berry patches. It makes noise like a gun, but no bullets. it's either on a motion detector or a timer.
Calalily

I read this in our electric co-op magazine, but I haven't tried this myself. Take the cd's you get free in the mail from internet servers and put two on a post so they look like owl eyes. Let the other ones dangle so they catch the sunlight. I hope this helps and it's free to try.
Carol

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I saw a news item on TV recently where these people got rid of birds going after their seeds by leaving a radio playing heavy metal or loud rock music all day. Might annoy the neighbours, that's the only thing. But if there's nobody near it might be worth a try.

Hi Everybody, thank you for all your responses to my Dad's problem. I mailed him all the ones I had up until yesterday, so now I have some more I can tell him to try. I know he really appreciates your help too. If you hear of anymore, please let me know, OK? Again, thanx. mtn

If that annoying motion detecting frog will scare away the squirrels, rabbits, and ground squirrels that are beginning to eat everything in site then I will have to pick one up ASAP. Do you think it would keep the deer from eating the daylillies?

We feed the birds but the crows are particularly thick this year. If a gun wasn't illegal I would have already dispatched a couple of dozen critters in the past couple of weeks. My father use to kill the squirrels and rabbits with a sling shot. I don't think I could hit anything with the slingshot but I might have to start practicing.

Mountain, I wish your Dad the very best of luck in solving his bird problem.

Thank you Happy! It's a shame the laws are so strict we can't use guns and rifles for what they are intended. I love birds and wildlife, but I read somewhere that man has dominion over the animals that were/are put on this earth. What happened to that I wonder? My dad did take his shotgun out and tried to take out a squirrel that was helping himself, the bum. He got a little shot in it I think, before it scampered away. He had to put up a fence to keep the deer out also. So it's not just birds he's dealing with, it just that for right now they seem to be the biggest threat. He and his wife had worked really hard planting that corn, and that's not easy for someone 70 years old. That is why I wanted to help him. (he just turned 70 April 25). I don't know how old his wife is, she keeps that under a big lock and key, but she doesn't look a day over 55. (she is my stepmom, but don't tell anybody, lol). As for the sling shot, do we need to start calling you Ellie Mae? LOL have a nice day now!! mtn