Small birds can get through poultry wire?

[storiesandglass]

We covered our outdoor duck pen with poultry wire - the openings in the wire are larger than chicken wire, but not so large that a predator could get in. That said, we have a lot of starlings and swallows visiting the ducks and EATING THEIR FOOD.

What can I do to keep these small birds from visiting and eating the food without having to totally re-wire this whole thing? Anything I could hang to spook them away or special feeding containers that only ducks can eat out of?! I'm desperate to get a fix in place today.

 

[gilbert2]

You know the giant signs that are on the sides of every street? I have always seen rotating rods on top of the signs. Like a windmill on it's side. Those are for keeping the birds off the top of the sign. It makes me wonder if there is anything related that you could devise.

 

[storiesandglass]

Hmmm that's a good idea... that gets me thinking...

 

[storiesandglass]

I wonder if I could weave something through...

 

[gilbert2]

Have you thought of using shade cloth? There is a kind that is coarse enough to let air through, I think. And since it comes in rolls, you could cover a lot of area quickly.

 

[coach723]

Can you post a picture of what wire you are using? If the holes are in fact larger than chicken wire, a predator probably CAN get in. I'm not sure what the difference between 'poultry wire' and 'chicken wire' is, which is why I ask.

 

[Miss Lydia]

Any wire over half inch a predator can get through especially mink.

 

[hennythpalcrow1]

We used garden mesh in our coop. I'm not really sure if that's the right name. I think it's used to keep birds and other pesky animals off of gardens. But its basically plastic mesh/net (black or green) that comes in a roll from basically any farm supply store. It is much smaller and we just overlapped it with the regular chicken fencing. We did it to make the top of our coop owl proof (we dont have it everywhere but I've never seen birds in the coop either). It's much cheaper and easier than rewiring the area. Hope this helps!

 

[Miss Lydia]

Hardware cloth is the only thing that a predator can't chew through. Expensive but worth it.

 

[storiesandglass]

Thank you for your responses!!