Mr. Scarecrow had better perk up! There’s a new scarecrow in town. Or, an owl, to be exact. We’ve got one of those creepy fake owls in the garden now. Supposedly, they scare off birds that eat your veggies. We don’t have a bird problem, unless you count the chickens, so I’m hoping it will scare off the chickens.
Think that’ll work? Chickens ARE birds!
Don’t miss Sandy Eggs today at Farm Bell Recipes.
bonita says:
Birds, including chickens, are not as dumb as they look! (Like I need to mention that here.) Your owl will work better if it is moved frequently. Birds soon lose their fear of stationary owls. It also helps to super glue some strips of fabric to the owl so that the strips flutter in the wind. Even better is some strips are mylar. Another bird deterrent—small (3-inch) foil pie plates. Punch hole in plat, thread string through hole and tie foil plate to in-ground stake. Movement + reflection works well to deter birds. Of course, it looks as though someone has just tossed their trash in the garden…
On June 22, 2010 at 2:38 am
Myrna Mackenzie says:
I hope your owl works better than mine did when woodpeckers were making holes in my cedar siding. They didn’t care a whit about Mr. Owl. What worked, at least a bit, as Bonita said, was attaching long slits of plastic, so that they fluttered in the wind (strips of plastic garbage bags worked well. Not exactly stylish but effective).
Even then…they eventually they soon learned to simply avoid the areas near the plastic strips.
On June 22, 2010 at 3:54 am
Tovah says:
We have that same owl and he worked like a charm to scare the pigeons away from pooping all over our deck. The owl even scared our dogs when we first brought it home! haha
On June 22, 2010 at 7:47 am
Suzy says:
I saw my first “fake owl” last year while on vacation {on top of a hotel) and hubby and I watched that thing for 15 minutes, trying to figure out if it was real!
Scarecrow needs some serious help.
On June 22, 2010 at 8:02 am
Suzy says:
Check out my post today about my lady scarecrow!
On June 22, 2010 at 8:03 am
CasieD says:
I’ve seen one of these owls at our hardware store that has a swivel head. It will move with the breeze! I’ve thought about getting one to keep the birds and rabbits out of my garden, but I’m afraid it would scare away the birds I want to come to the bird feeders too.
On June 22, 2010 at 9:33 am
Karen Templeton says:
Heh. “Our” Walmart and Sam’s has these guys stationed every twenty feet or so along the roof lines. Pigeons strut right past them. :no:
Of course, pigeons aren’t chickens, so… 😉
On June 22, 2010 at 10:17 am
Trina says:
birds get used to them. You need to move them around every so ofter to a different spot in the garden. That way they don’t realize it’s fake.
On June 22, 2010 at 10:36 am
TXLady says:
Haha Suzanne now I know that deep down in your heart you know without a single doubt that the owl is going to be a serious laughing matter for your chickens as they pass by it headed to your garden goodies…..
RuthieG
On June 22, 2010 at 10:38 am
Tori Lennox says:
They look really tacky but aluminum pie plates strung on fishing line are supposed to be good bird deterrents too.
On June 23, 2010 at 3:36 pm