Beating the Birds (Third Time's the Charm?)

This year, for the third year in a row, we’re working to keep the darn birds from stealing all our blueberries before they are ripe. So frustrating.

Just look at all those little berries we have to protect.

Last year, Wyatt really stepped up the bird barrier “house” but we used the same netting as we had used before and the birds were able to pick it up and walk under it. Seriously, these darn things are smarter than I gave them credit for.

Of course, it should have served as a warning when we had the Yard Bird incident last summer.

Poor little guy was probably going into the netting to catch a bird that was eating our blueberries…and then he got stuck. We might as well have just built a hawk trap as well as it ended up working.

But, this year, Wyatt decided to use wire instead of netting. It is sturdier so they won’t be able to pick it up with their beaks and walk under it to get in. And hopefully it won’t be as dangerous in terms of snagging bird/hawk feet and trapping them.

I wanted to use the chicken wire for the entire height of the sides, which are about 5 feet tall. I had picked up a roll of 2 foot wide wire at the thrift shop this winter, so we just needed a 3 foot wide roll to cover the rest of the height. I unrolled the wires and attached them to the corner posts one at a time with zip ties.

The wire only covered the sides and back, because we are still utilizing the hanging front door.

I used zip ties to attach the two rolls of wire together on each side.

We went ahead and used the netting for the roof portion by draping one piece across the top and zip tying it to the wire sides and corner posts. We figure that’s all sealed up so there’s no way a bird could get in there, and hopefully, they won’t get stuck in it, either. Sheesh.

We also grabbed a new, larger hook for the wind chimes that are hanging next to our strawberries.

The hook we used last year was so small the chimes hung too low to catch any of the breeze. They were basically useless other than just decoration.

Not anymore!

We also added a bunch of mulch to the inside and outside of the little “house” so hopefully the birds can’t “dig” under the chicken wire. I think it should provide the extra protection we need.

It’s a little hard to see in the photos, but there is about 3-4 inches of mulch piled up on the inside of the “fence.” I figure that should help keep them from going under the wire…if they could even fit under there.