I need to trap some small birds, any ideas?

Matt Shade

Matt Shade

Joined
Nov 24, 1999
Messages
4,981
After having the north wall of our barn torn down for 2 months last summer while an addition was supposed to be built( we tore down wall to save materials, contractor showed up to rebuild a month late) our barn is full of small birds, I'm pretty sure that they're either sparrows or finches. (They're about 3" tall with a brown head and body and off white chest )
Anyway, I've got a cheap pellet/BB gun that I can shoot inside the barn with and not risk doing much damage. But its hard to get a good shot at them. I also have started one trap thats made from a coffee can. I need to get it hung and balance it still so it will trigger right when they land in it.
I looked at the post on snares and saw a pole snare that looked like it might work.
Can anyone explain how the overhand knot and the perch stick are set up better? Would it work for a brid that small?
And finally, do you have any other ideas? Its starting to be a mess with them ****ting everywhere and getting into everything.
Thanks.

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I may not be the sharpest knife in the drawer... but I've got the sharpest knife in the room.
 
Hi Matt,

I'm not into the habbit killing finches which is a protected species in Holland.
Sparrows however are quiet tasty (when young they are the best) and you only eat the breast mussles.
You'll get about 1/2-3/4 ounce brest mussle from each Sparrow.

One way to catch them is to find a horse paddy and collect the long tail hairs hanging on the fences and make small snares that you attach to a wooden board (loads of them) and then put that board in the barn and put some birdfeed on it (sprinkle the board) the chances are good that when one tries to get at the food he'll get entangled (snared) with a leg in one of the "snares". You have to visit reguarly because your have to get a snared bird out fast.

Second option use "poachers bird glue" it's a sticky non-drying glue often made by boiling "misstle toe" seeds or some other stuff smear it on places where they reguarly sit (roost) and they get stuck.
It works like the cockroach traps that have sticky glue inside or the old kind of fly paper rolls to catch fly's on.

Good luck catching them (no Finches please
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) only Sparrows.

Good recipe is fry the breast just short in hot real butter and add pepper and salt (at the end) they taste like miniature steaks
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Best Scouting wishes from Holland,

Bagheera


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[This message has been edited by Bagheera (edited 01-17-2001).]
 
Okay....nasty but it should be effective.

Get yourself some of those sticky mouse traps (about 4" x 8")....place some food on them and you will probably have a few glued birds....

Or, get yourself some 1.5" nylon mesh fishing netting....hang it up.....

Another option. Pay the neighbor's kid a bounty on them. Provide the pellets and gun and some cash per bird....if the kid is like me when I was young (ie wanted money), the birds will be gone in no time...

Diligence

 
I'm not having any luck shooting them myself so far. The barn is a horse barn so I can't just start taking lots of shots. Theres a plastic liner that keeps the roof from sweating ( painted steel) so I can't risk tearing that up. And then there's the added problem of people and horses to watch out for. They're pretty gun shy too. The pop sends them flying. I probably should pump my gun up to full power.
If I can get them down out of the rafters or to land somewhere that they're backed by a board I'm pretty sure I can hit them. I need to get the sights adjusted a little better on my gun first. I may get a scope too.
The glue idea sounds good, I can put those out in the rafters and check them every day after school. The pellet gun should work for removing them once they're stuck
wink.gif

I'll look into soem of teh other snare ideas to. With 10 horses in the barn theres an abundance of horse hair
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Any other ideas would be great too.

Oh yeah, I'm not sure that they are finches. Someone else called them that while they were over once. If they're finches its sometype thats very common because I see more of them around here than any other type of bird. I'm sure that 2 dozen or so less won't hurt them any.
Thanks.

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I may not be the sharpest knife in the drawer... but I've got the sharpest knife in the room.
 
Our sparrow population has been hit for six by intensive farming methods and the protection of sparrow hawks and the lack of pest control of magpies and such. Unless they are doing real damage don't worry yourself much about it. If you leave your doors open then you are bound to have a few. Some birds in the barn can do more good than harm; they eat the insects and spiders and spilt corn that attracts rats.
Do invest in one of those sparrow traps, they last for years and work. You can make your own with wire mesh and one way holes as found on lobster pots. Keep the holes small, leave the trap to weather and prebate it open for a while.
A quick way of deterring small birds is to borrow a hawk for a week and exercise it in the barn. All birds of prey scare the living daylights out of song birds.
Once you have emptied the barn remove nesting material, food and sources of water. Then keep the doors shut.

[This message has been edited by GREENJACKET (edited 01-18-2001).]
 
Hmmm... what's to keep other birds from coming back next year. Seems to be futile...

Maybe try a scare-finch
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I bought a 3x-7x by 20 variable power scope and have taken care of a few of them now , theres only a half dozen left
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They won't come back next year because the barn won't be opened up like it was last summer. They don't give us any trouble with just the barn doors open. They came in when there was a 54 ft hole in the side of the barn where we had taken down a wall. The extension is built and everything is back to normal. If I get rid of the 6 that are left the problem should be solved.
Thanks for the tips.

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I may not be the sharpest knife in the drawer... but I've got the sharpest knife in the room.
 
Here's another suggestion...Get 1 or 2 domestic cats. The bird population will decrease and the cats will fat!
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[This message has been edited by K Williams (edited 02-03-2001).]
 
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