How to keep Black Birds out?

[only ice]

The Black Birds are in my feeders and the other birds wont go near it when ther around. They stay around for hrs and clean it out. Any ideas how to stop them from comming in? Thanks

[bmc]

Wrap chicken wire around your feeder. That's what I've done to mine and it works good. I need to get a little smaller chicken wire though, because those darn little cowbirds and red wing black birds can still get in there.

Brian

[LightningBG]

.22

[The_Duckslayer]

Or pellet gun if in town...

[eyeguy 54]

Yup, pellet gun. Good for squirrel control also.

Do you use any millet? I only use black sunflowers in all my feeders. Blackbirds come by once in a while but they swarm on my neighbors feeder with millet in it. I even made the holes bigger in my finch feeder to put black sunflowers in it and the finches just attack it.

[JayinMN]

All "blackbirds" except starlings are native birds protected under the Migratory Bird Act which makes them illegal to shoot.

[eyeguy 54]

Is that in a doc somewhere? I allways thought just the RedWings were protected. Not the common grackle.

[eyeguy 54]

wow, I found the list. looks like every bird is on the list accept the redwing. can't find it on there. looks like I'll be breaking the law shooting crackles.

[Dotch]

We had this discussion a few years back somewhere in these birdwatching threads and there are a few instances where blackbirds and grackles are not protected and control methods are acceptable. One of them is when they are doing harm to agricultural crops in the field. At a birdfeeder in town? Probably not. The chicken wire idea sounds like something worth looking into. It would likely pi$$ the squirrels off too. The grackles are so numerous in our yard that shooting them all would take a lot of time that would be better spent on something else. I like to see the male redwing that comes to our feeders. Those red epaulets are pretty flashy. He and the Mrs. have a nest somewhere in one of the wetlands nearby.