Sparrows

[Greg Hyovalti]

How do you get rid of unwanted sparrow. These things are taking over, Crapping all over my deck and every were else. Is there a way to get rid of them?

[Dotch]

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How do you get rid of unwanted sparrow. These things are taking over, Crapping all over my deck and every were else. Is there a way to get rid of them?

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You're talking about English or house sparrows, right?

Not sure if you're a rural or an in town resident but yes, there are things you can do to at least thin them down. Finding ways to keep them from nesting if you've got outbuildings that are attractive to them like ours are is a start. We live on a farm so keeping the amount of feed spilled or uncovered to a minimum is essential. I growl at the wife about this every so often. Every so often she growls back.

BB or pellet guns will help some if you pick off the locals that may be roosting at your place after dark but you almost need to get into trapping them to really make a dent in their numbers. Google "Repeating Sparrow Traps" and you should come up with some places that sell traps for these dump happy little birds. Had a 2 place trap that had to be reset all the time. Was a pain. Got a repeating trap this spring and was amazed at how many I caught. After 200 I lost track. It really cut down on the number of sparrows around the building site this summer.

However, this time of year sparrows seem to bunch up so all the sparrows my neighbors allowed to hatch out are at my place crapping on things in the shed and using the automatic waterers as their personal birdbaths and toilets. In additon to being messy, they are also capable of spreading disease such as salmonella and coccidiosis amongst others. Slowly but surely we're catching the little *#@$, a few a day. May need to place my trap in the areas where they're frequenting to improve my odds. One main thing to keep in mind is that sparrows like to hang around other sparrows. The repeating traps allow you to use those you've caught as decoys, provided you treat them humanely and keep them alive with food and water. I kept some alive during the heat this summer for a month. Drove the wife nuts but that was part of the fun of it. Disposing of the birds for me isn't too hard. They go in the compost pile that is hauled out to the fields in the fall.

Understanding sparrow feeding habits and nesting habits was important too. Using things like corn screenings or oats in the trap limits the attractiveness to other birds so you tend to catch sparrows only. During nesting season, baiting the trap with nest building material such as feathers, string, wool, etc., was deadly and attracted primarily males, as they are the nest builders. Males are the primary culprits when it comes to raising cain with bluebird houses. They pick a house and will break the eggs, kill the babies or other birds if they try to nest in it. The instructions that came with the trap were extremely helpful and gave a lot of hints to make the trapping more successful. Hope this helps.

[harvey lee]

Another thing that might help is to take a pair of your wife,girlfriends panty hose and cut them off at the knees.Put 10-15 moth balls in each one and tie closed.Now, hang them in your shed,trees or anywhere they hang around.They do not like the smell.I know of towns that have trees on thier main streets that do this to stop the birds from sitting over the cars and doing thier thing on the paint.

Make sure of course that taking her hose is o.k.

[Greg Hyovalti]

Thanks guys I think I am going to try the trap that Dotch recommended. I do live in a rural area and have a pole barn but it is sealed off so they are not in my barn. But my neighbor has a horses and some out building were I am sure these things are nesting. He is not the most friendly person so talking to him about were they nest is out of the question. I was either going to go with the 12 gauge or my other thought was mixing up some bird seed with Deacon but not sure if this would work. I think the trap is my best bet

[Dotch]

No sweat Greg. I caught 10 yesterday after moving the trap as mentioned. Know my neighbors would look at me a little funny (they do anyway) if I said something about their lack of sparrow control too. The D-Con mixed w/birdseed or other grain will kill them (I have not done this; know of people who have) but one runs the risk of poisoning other birds if they eat the stuff directly or of secondary poisoning should a bird of prey happen to eat a poisoned sparrow. Probably not legal as a result of those two things. I enjoy watching birds especially the small hawks chasing the sparrows when they come around, particularly when they're successful. Working hard to re-establish bluebird habitat on our farm as well. Part of why I live out here in greater Bugtussle.