# Gardens and birds



## Chiefster23 (Feb 5, 2016)

Going back a few years I read an article that recommended installing bird houses around your garden for insect control. I have 3 now. Before the bird houses I had normal garden pest damage from worms and catapillars. This is my second season with the bird houses and I can report that I have not found a single one of these pests since the birds took up residence. I don’t even get worms in my cauliflower anymore. I highly recommend bird houses for natural pest control. FYI, the houses are designed for smaller birds like wrens and sparrows.


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## Robie (Jun 2, 2016)

Great idea.


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## Illini Warrior (Jan 24, 2015)

something else that's important is a water source - summer & winter - water readily available in the same area as their housing and feeding promotes their probagation >> most people don't realize that birds bring water to their nesting beak full at a time ....


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## Redneck (Oct 6, 2016)

I have all sorts of birds around me, but they don't do anything to control garden insects. I've never seen a bird hunting for worms in my garden. So you actually see these birds actively hunting insects in & among your garden plants?


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## Annie (Dec 5, 2015)

Bats eat gnats and robins eat earthworms. But worms are good for the soil, right? Anyway, the "birds and bees" keep each other in check or so I'm told.


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## Inor (Mar 22, 2013)

Most of our birds, like everything else in the desert, are meat eaters: hawks, owls, buzzards, roadrunners, etc. We do have cactus wrens that are about the right size to eat bugs, but I think they eat fire instead. About twice per week we get one trapped in the wood stove (even though I have screen on the chimney). Then we have to close all the doors in the house, open the door to the wood stove and try to chase the damn thing out of the house before the puppies catch it and get wren squeezin's all over the living room. (The puppies usually win that battle.)


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## StratMaster (Dec 26, 2017)

I had a family of possums living under my house for years... they eat ticks like crazy, and don't do the kind of damage ***** do to a property. So I co-existed with the possums, and tried to discourage coonage. Funny thing: I sold that house, moved about 3 blocks away, and had some new possums under THAT house too... but the same family of ***** turned up there... up in the attic of an outbuilding. Filthy bastards.


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## Inor (Mar 22, 2013)

StratMaster said:


> I had a family of possums living under my house for years... they eat ticks like crazy, and don't do the kind of damage ***** do to a property. So I co-existed with the possums, and tried to discourage coonage. Funny thing: I sold that house, moved about 3 blocks away, and had some new possums under THAT house too... but the same family of ***** turned up there... up in the attic of an outbuilding. Filthy bastards.


Why didn't you just file a change of address card for their welfare checks? That would send them away quicker than anything.


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## StratMaster (Dec 26, 2017)

Inor said:


> Why didn't you just file a change of address card for their welfare checks? That would send them away quicker than anything.


:vs_laugh:


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## Mad Trapper (Feb 12, 2014)

I've had resident barn swallows since I can remember. They spend time in the garden as do sparrows,cardinals and blue birds. The robins hop around and eat slugs.

I watched a sparrow cleaning a potato plant two days ago. Not sure of what? I do know I've not had ANY colorado potato beetles this year. 

Besides the birds, the garden has lots of "good" bugs, I've seen lots of lady beetles and parisitic wasps.


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## Redneck (Oct 6, 2016)

Mad Trapper said:


> I've had resident barn swallows since I can remember. They spend time in the garden as do sparrows,cardinals and blue birds.


I have multiple families of barn swallows but I've never seen them eat anything but flying insects. Only birds I see in the garden want to peck & eat my ripe tomatoes. Wish mine would go after bugs.


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## Mad Trapper (Feb 12, 2014)

******* said:


> I have multiple families of barn swallows but I've never seen them eat anything but flying insects. Only birds I see in the garden want to peck & eat my ripe tomatoes. Wish mine would go after bugs.


Swallows will post on my tomato stakes, take bugs as they travel the garden. Cabbage moths, squash borer adults, ... yes mostly flying insects. Sparrows and other birds will work the soil , especially after tillage. Wild turkeys will get in there and eat slugs, but they damage more than they help


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## Chiefster23 (Feb 5, 2016)

I have never actually seen the birds hunting among the veggie plants. I only know that I haven’t found the bugs and hornworms since they took up residence. I wish the birds would develope a taste for Japanese beetles.


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## Green Lilly (Nov 8, 2018)

We have a lot of cardinals in our yard. I always see them dive bombing the garden area. I thought at the time they were just going after the strawberry patch (haven't been able to pick one good strawberry yet due to something eating them). That makes sense that they are going after bug though.


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## paulag1955 (Dec 15, 2019)

Green Lilly said:


> We have a lot of cardinals in our yard. I always see them dive bombing the garden area. I thought at the time they were just going after the strawberry patch (haven't been able to pick one good strawberry yet due to something eating them). That makes sense that they are going after bug though.


I would suspect slugs are damaging the strawberries before I would suspect birds, especially if your strawberry bed is mulched. One good thing about gardening in eastern Washington as opposed to western Washington is that there are no slugs here.

I got kicked out of a Facebook gardening group for the double sin of saying that in western Washington, the negatives of heavy mulching outweighed the benefits and for saying (correctly) that Burpee doesn't sell GMO seed. The group was run by gardening fascists, apparently.


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## Mad Trapper (Feb 12, 2014)

paulag1955 said:


> I would suspect slugs are damaging the strawberries before I would suspect birds, especially if your strawberry bed is mulched. One good thing about gardening in eastern Washington as opposed to western Washington is that there are no slugs here.
> 
> I got kicked out of a Facebook gardening group for the double sin of saying that in western Washington, the negatives of heavy mulching outweighed the benefits and for saying (correctly) that Burpee doesn't sell GMO seed. The group was run by gardening fascists, apparently.


I'd avoid farcebook and the left winged moonbats in western WA

I hear there is a movement in eastern WA to cede and join Idaho.


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## paulag1955 (Dec 15, 2019)

Mad Trapper said:


> I'd avoid farcebook and the left winged moonbats in western WA
> 
> I hear there is a movement in eastern WA to cede and join Idaho.


There is not a movement, but there are a lot of people who would be on board with that. Personally, I'd rather form a new state, maybe with eastern Oregon, but apparently that's a lot more trouble.


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## esmok (Mar 20, 2020)

paulag1955 said:


> I would suspect slugs are damaging the strawberries before I would suspect birds, especially if your strawberry bed is mulched. One good thing about gardening in eastern Washington as opposed to western Washington is that there are no slugs here.
> 
> I got kicked out of a Facebook gardening group for the double sin of saying that in western Washington, the negatives of heavy mulching outweighed the benefits and for saying (correctly) that Burpee doesn't sell GMO seed. The group was run by gardening fascists, apparently.


People don't understand that GMO seeds are only available for a very few types of crops and those are not even widely available on the home gardener market. All these seed sellers use the gimmick "non-GMO" and that is all it is, a silly gimmick.


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## paulag1955 (Dec 15, 2019)

esmok said:


> People don't understand that GMO seeds are only available for a very few types of crops and those are not even widely available on the home gardener market. All these seed sellers use the gimmick "non-GMO" and that is all it is, a silly gimmick.


It may be a silly gimmick (like labeling meat products "gluten free") but it only works because consumers are too ignorant to know better.


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## esmok (Mar 20, 2020)

Annie said:


> robins eat earthworms. But worms are good for the soil, right?


Yes, earthworms and redworms and the like are not only good, but essential for healthy soil. Their poop is golden and they are good tillers.

As for robins, yes, they eat earth worms. But they also eat malicious insects like grubs of all kinds and other larvae. In my area, they do not seem to eat flying insects, only stuff in the ground. While they do not eat Adult Japanese beetles, they will eat their larvae when they find them in the soil.

When I dig a new garden, the robins are always around up in a tree or on a power line just watching me and waiting for me to leave so they can get their fill. I always throw any grubs and pupae I find while digging about 6 feet from where I am and they come down almost immediately to feast on them. I love it because there is no such thing as a good grub to a gardener. Same goes with moths. I know of no moth whose larvae are benign or beneficial to a garden.


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## esmok (Mar 20, 2020)

I am convinced that the reason I don't get much help from the many birds on my property is because my neighbors have too many bird feeders. There are always birds eating at these feeders. If those feeders were gone, I think I would get more birds eating insects in my gardens. 

Birds are probably just like anything else - they will take the food that is easiest to get. Give them feeders full of seeds and what the hell do they need to go chasing insects for?


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## Annie (Dec 5, 2015)

esmok said:


> I am convinced that the reason I don't get much help from the many birds on my property is because my neighbors have too many bird feeders. There are always birds eating at these feeders. If those feeders were gone, I think I would get more birds eating insects in my gardens.
> 
> Birds are probably just like anything else - they will take the food that is easiest to get. Give them feeders full of seeds and what the hell do they need to go chasing insects for?


Too many bird feeders are a recipe for rodents.


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## esmok (Mar 20, 2020)

Thankfully I don't have a rodent problem, but my next door neighbor always complains about having mice. I told her to get rid of the bird feeders many times, but she refuses. She has this idea that if people do not feed birds then they will die. But the fact is there is no shortage of food for birds and the ecosystems, as well as people, would probably be better off if people did not feed the birds - less bugs. I am convinced of this. 

But nothing I can do about it. So I go out several times a day and 2 times after midnight to kill garden bugs.


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## Wryter (Jan 30, 2015)

Chiefster23 said:


> Going back a few years I read an article that recommended installing bird houses around your garden for insect control. I have 3 now. Before the bird houses I had normal garden pest damage from worms and catapillars. This is my second season with the bird houses and I can report that I have not found a single one of these pests since the birds took up residence. I don't even get worms in my cauliflower anymore. I highly recommend bird houses for natural pest control. FYI, the houses are designed for smaller birds like wrens and sparrows.


My fruit trees attract more birds than i want or need. Lots of birds and no insect pests to speak of, but unless i bird net my fruit trees i don't get much from them. Also, some birds will play hell with your garden. Gambel Quail for instance are two-legged goats. I have to bird net my raised beds to keep the local birds from eating my seedlings.


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## Slippy (Nov 14, 2013)

esmok said:


> Thankfully I don't have a rodent problem, *but my next door neighbor always complains about having mice. I told her to get rid of the bird feeders many times, but she refuses. She has this idea that if people do not feed birds then they will die.* But the fact is there is no shortage of food for birds and the ecosystems, as well as people, would probably be better off if people did not feed the birds - less bugs. I am convinced of this.
> 
> But nothing I can do about it. So I go out several times a day and 2 times after midnight to kill garden bugs.


 @esmok

Was wondering if you could do us a favor and invite your neighbor to join our little forum? She'd be a hoot!

Thanks!

Slippy! :vs_wave:


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## esmok (Mar 20, 2020)

Wryter said:


> My fruit trees attract more birds than i want or need. Lots of birds and no insect pests to speak of, but unless i bird net my fruit trees i don't get much from them. Also, some birds will play hell with your garden. Gambel Quail for instance are two-legged goats. I have to bird net my raised beds to keep the local birds from eating my seedlings.


I guess maybe I should be careful what I wish for.



Slippy said:


> @esmok
> 
> Was wondering if you could do us a favor and invite your neighbor to join our little forum? She'd be a hoot!
> 
> ...


Trust me, you don't want that. I get a headache when I talk to her. She's a local govt employee and I have to explain things to her at least 2 times before she gets it. In fact, I don't think she ever really get it, she just pretends to.


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## maya66 (7 mo ago)

Good to hear! I have couple of birdhouses and I do not know where to position them, also I need to fill the bird houses with anything, and I have installed these sprinklers in my garden for kids.


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## Mr.penguin (9 mo ago)

paulag1955 said:


> I got kicked out of a Facebook gardening group for the double sin of saying that in western Washington, the negatives of heavy mulching outweighed the benefits and for saying (correctly) that Burpee doesn't sell GMO seed. The group was run by gardening fascists, apparently.


It is literally illegal to sell GMO seed to home growers they must of had a deal with a seed company.


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