pepe said:
roughbarked said:
pepe said:blackbirds are shuffling the mulch around here at present and they are doing the most damage to young seedlings. i do have the little white snail, the medium size slug and rampant earwigs but none are a problem – probably because the snail pellets did their work a week ago.
rat traps with a bit of a strawberry or a tomato or a grape.. even a berry from a cotoneaster or privet,, yes.. rat traps work wonders for those plagued with blackbirds. put something red or black on the trap.
or
if you really want to be nasty try lifting the mulch and placing some ratsak under the mulch.
as the ad says, they go away to die.
too many little skinks to use mouse poison in the open. i’ve got 7 bait stations in the sheds trying to stop the rodent plague. generally i just plant too much and hope some survive. too many good birds to risk the rat trap and i presume the blackbirds are seeking earwigs.
thanks for the ideas – i might need them one day.
;) I’m not a fan of killing things but sometimes drastic measures need to be taken in instaces of feral outbreaks. My mother removed 17 blackbirds in one spring with the rat trap. However in my yard I discovered that the rat trap though occasionally catching the odd rat, may also kill your only banjo frog if left out all night. May also kill other birds if placed anywhere above the ground. This method is best done by setting early .. like around 4 AM and unsetting by 8 AM.. Do not leave overnight .. especially on moist nights. Mudlarks, magpies and other birds that walk around a lot, do not get caught by the fruit baited rat trap. One day, I cleaned up 9 blackbirds with an air rifle only to see a whole new crew arrive the next day attracted to peppercorn berries on a load of peppercorn rubbish I brought home to cut up for firewood.
I’ve never used the ratsak measure but i was informed of it by a cherry grower. So there are people out there who do such things. Another anecdotal comment from a gardening friend was: “blackbirds only seem to eat the insects you do want. They don’t seem to eat the insects you don’t want.”