Birds in the veggie garden

Joe1980

14 years ago

Ok, I have to start up this topic to see what everyone thinks about birds, and what they do if birds become a problem. My situation is that I like birds. I have always had bird feeders up, as well as a bird bath. I also have always looked at birds as beneficial because they eat insects. Well, this year I started a vegetable garden, and figured the birds would be beneficial, because they'd eat the bad insects in my garden. Well, they seem to like my plants more, especially seedlings. I build makeshift lean-tos out of chicken wire to protect seedlings, but they find ways to squeeze in somehow in order to eat the seedlings. I also see them tearing chunks out of the fully grown, mature leaves of zucchini and cucumber plants.

So with that said, what do I do now? I'm not talking about 2 or 3 birds, I am talking about big flocks, sometimes 2 dozen or so birds; a mixture of house sparrows and house finches. I read that birds won't put themselves in situations where they'll be trapped in the events of emergencies. This is not the case, because like I said, they squeeze under my fencing to get at seedlings, and if I walk over to the garden, they get scared and bounce all around under the fence....trapped. I plan to build something a lot better then make-shift lean-tos out of PVC pipe and fencing. Basically a row cover made of fence, one that will eliminate gaps for them to squeeze through. That'll help with my seedlings, but what about my mature plants like cukes? How in the world am I going to protect a huge trellised vine? If I let them have at it, they rip the leaves to shreds. Currently I have to keep scaring them away, but I'd like something that doesn't make me look like the weird guy that runs after the birds like a dope. I also don't know it I want them to go completely away either, because then who's gonna eat the bugs??

Anyone else have any bird problems, and/or soultions for that matter?

Joe

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Comments (5)

wolverine1012
14 years ago
Joe,

I've had problems with starlings pulling up onion sprouts and other small plants, but never to the scale that you seem to have.
Given that I live next to a 600 acre wooded county park and fight lots of critters to keep what I grow, is it possible that you just have particularly tasty plants?
defrost49
14 years ago
At Musterfield Farm in N Sutton NH I noticed a twisted mylar tape that flashed in the wind. They have a huge vegetable garden. I've welcomed birds to the garden but we do not have bird feeders out after April 1 due to local bears. Most of our birds are gold finches, a murder of crows, phoebees, and similar. I suggest that first, you remove the feeders by April 1 to get rid of the freeloaders. We had damage to our strawberries which looked like some ground critters and some birds since some berries were obviously pecked and others chewed. We covered the plants with Agribon garden fabric held down by bricks. This made harvesting a little tedious but worth it since this year we had some great berries. I noticed at Musterfield they had new plantings of some vegetables covered by a lightweight Agribon type fabric. I'm going to do this next year in hopes of protecting squash and cucumbers from beetles.
A neighbor uses the black plastic bird netting available at farm and feed stores but warns that some do get caught in the netting so you need to check daily to free the birds but they don't have a problem every day.

Usually the phoebees and others sit on my pea fences waiting for a good insect to come by, then swoop after it. I haven't noticed any other bird damage but I think chipmunks or other ground critters are chewing on some tomatoes.
Good luck. We have a resident hawk who might be helping out.
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lgteacher
14 years ago
Try cutting back on the birdseed so you don't attract so many birds. I also have sparrows, finches, phoebes, mockingbirds, and hummers, but they don't really bother the plants. The mockingbird does steal blueberries.

Something was pulling out my lettuce sprouts (except the arugula), and I suspect it was a bird. I put a few inverted strawberry baskets over the sprouts. As a saver, I had a few of the old green plastic kind. A rock on top of each one kept them from blowing away.

As far as the birds ripping up mature leaves goes, are you sure someone isn't feeding your birds steroids?
zzackey
14 years ago
I only feed the birds in the winter. I never saw a bird in my garden after a bug. I sure could use a squash bug lover right about now! The netting sounds scary. I know I not always home to check on something that often. I was thinking about putting a bird bath near the garden, now I'm having second thoughts.
Joe1980
Original Author
14 years ago
Well, with the cost of sunflower seed at $25 for a 40lb bag, I just filled the feeders for the last time, until it comes down to normal price range. So from here on out, the birds will no longer have free food in my yard. I was excited at first to see the birdsin the garden, thinking they were after bugs, until I literally saw them tearing up my cukes. I also live 1/2 mile from the 33,000 acre Horicon Marsh Federal Wildlife Refuge, which leaves me with an abundance of wildlife. As for the feeders thing though, I am a bit affraid that when the feeders run dry, the birds will head right to my garden for their fill. We'll see I guess.

Joe