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I live in the sticks. I have problems with crows tearing into my garbage bags sitting by the road waiting for the garbage men to pick up. Short of shooting them, what can I do?
b Bald Men Make Better Lovers!
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Scarecrow? Closed container?
*I have a similar problem with a slight twist. I have squirrels that are eating my trash cans. I have the Rubbermaid Roughneck type, and squirrels are eating holes in the lids. I am not imagining this, as I have sat and watched them. I'm not as nice as G Gordon Liddy. Ready, aim, fire! Only a pellet gun though. Ah, remnants of a misguided youth. Lucky for the vermin I'm a lousy shot.Metal cans aren't an option as they are favorites among (ahem) Refuse Engineers for denting, throwing, and other damaging acts.Sean
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That's scary -- must be our profession. After reading your post, my first instinct was suggest building something to enclose the trash. Or better yet, quote you a price.... Something with a "barrel" dormer maybe?
Dave
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Personally i've always thought that just because an animal was hungry, and opportunistic wasn't justification to kill em. I love birds including crows, starlings, etc. Obviously a better trash can is in order.
joe d
*i I have the Rubbermaid Roughneck type, and squirrels are eating holes in the lidsWhat is it w/squirrels? Our beach squirrels eat through any exposed rubber(?)-covered wire on cars' undercarriages. I wonder if someone in one of the gardening forums might have a suggestion. Maybe some nuts scattered about?
*I spend time in Atlantic Canada during the summer where very aggressive gulls and crows will tear apart bags of garbage in minutes. Most folks there have small enclosed stockades made out of 2x4s and lattice with a hinged top to store their garbage. This may be overkill but it works.
*If regular metal garbage cans are too flimsy, get 55 gallon drums with the tops removed. Great for burning garbage too.
*kai - Obviously you are in the i right forum if you are looking for 'nuts scattered about.' :)b Been there, done that, can't remember
*I think I just saw this topic buried in a thread on Cooks Talk board. One suggestion was ammonia poured over the bags. Maybe a tablespoon of ammonia poured over the rubbermaid would help too.The Rubbermaid solved our problem of crows in Northern VA. The squirrels have not learned to eat through the containers yet at the new house, but I keep the containers in the garage except on trash day.The rats in the city of Richmond eat through the plastic super cans.Frank
*G. Gordon Liddy:Jeez man, use some of that hush money you got from Nixon, and hire some plumbers to shoot the rascals. There must be some out of work CIA'ers willing to work for you this time.Or, put some bread into a large bowl of milk and add about 12 hits of LSD (you must have some stash from Timothy Leary, after all these years), and let the mix dry. Spread it out on the ground, and the Crows will be flying into things. Great fun! You can also substitute snail poison, but that might kill some good birds.I love these questions, as they really challenge our building skills.
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To beck with the garbage! Where I live it was a really big mistake to leave my lunch in the back of my 1-ton. The lunch was all over the driveway in about 15 minutes and they even opened the can of Coke.
*To heck with the garbage! Where I live it was a really big mistake to leave my lunch in the back of my 1-ton. The lunch was all over the driveway in about 15 minutes and they even opened the can of Coke.
*Cover it up, Gordy.
*Mark:YOU think it was a mistake to leave it in the back of your truck?! It was an even bigger mistake for me to eat it! And, you didn't even put any Tums in there for me.
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You can say that again!
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I've waited 68 years to tell this story re Crows.
My uncle, now deceased, was entertainment director at the Tulsa (OK) Hotel in the late '20s and early '30's.
About 25 miles east ot Tulsa there was a lot of trouble on a farmer's acreage when hundreds of crows began to roost at night in a concentrated area of the farmer's trees.
Farmer tried the usual "scare 'em off" tricks without results.
So when my Uncle, a big bird hunter, heard about this problem, he helped the farmer arrange to place dynamite beneath loads of small rocks, it was called "chat" in those days, and then one night they ignited the dynamite. Killed dang near everyone of those Crows.
Somehow, one of the cooks at the Hotel Tulsa got hold of one of the crows and when my Uncle sat down to dinner next evening, they served him crow.
He said it tasted awful.
I love helping solve these builders' problems, don't you?
William
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And so the phrase "eating crow" was coined?
We have the squirrel problem. They got into one of the city-provided Rubbermaid++ mini-dumpsters, but have for some reason not done the same on the new one. So food remnants go in the new one, construction debris and dirty diapers in the one with a hole. :)
Hate crows. They eat roadkill in our neighborhood. Yech.
*Andrew,You'd rather have the roadkill sit around? Those crows are providing a valuble service.Rich Beckman
*He's worried they're taking food off his plate ;)
*andrew:We must have more and bigger road kill now that I moved because I no longer see crows doing the work. Now I see Turkey Buzzards eating and carrying off the Racoons, Possums, etc. You have to slow down to avoid hitting a Turkey Buzzard at work, they do not scatter like crows, they just walk out of your lane and wait for you to pass. They do keep the road clean. It is better than having the road kill pile up.Frank
*Have the same problem here. We solved it by spraying the bags with a strong smelling cleaner like 409.They only go after what smells good.
*Don't know why I didn't think of this earlier, but have you tried a hot pepper spray? Perhaps some variation on this:Toss some chopped jalapenos--or just the seeds and membranes as that's where the heat is--into a blender w/water. Pour (you may need to strain it) into a spray bottle, and mist the bags w/it. Be sure to wear gloves if you carry the bags out after spraying, and, of course, wash your hands w/soap after cutting up the chiles (if you don't wear gloves during). This also might work w/powdered cayenne in water, but you will probably have to keep shaking the bottle, and it might clog the openings.I'll be curious to learn what works for you.
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Thanks for the suggestions. I think I'll try spraying the bags with a cleaning agent. See if it works for me. I would keep the bags in Rubbermaid trash cans, but we only get the trash picked up once every two weeks. With two kids in diapers, we have a lot of garbage bags for the trash guys. I would probably need at least six cans, don't want to mess with that many. Also cannot burn trash here due to subdivision restrictions.
I heard once that to keep squirrels from eating bird seed you mix in some black pepper. Seems that birds don't have taste buds, so pepper doesn't bother them. I would think Kai's suggestion would not work then. Also think that it would hack off the garbage men to have to handle that stinky mess on the bags.
b G
b I'm not a politician, but I play one on TV
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Most members of the parrot family like hot peppers. The parrot food in the pet stores typically has hot peppers in the mix. I do not know if crows would react to the hot peppers.
Frank
*G Gorden and Frank, I think you are correct. I got side-tracked when squirrels were mentioned. Easy for me to say :)
*I didn't think of this until a few minutes ago: CROWS HATE OWLS! Get a plastic owl and set it on a post next to your garbage. The crows will entertain you dive-bombing the plastic owl, but will probably stay clear of the garbage. Some other birds may also take offense, but none will be harmed.Where to buy a plastic owl? I donno, but try a sporting goods store that caters to hunters.Wisely, Steve
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Steve, you just gave me my Saturday project. I'll try the sporting good stores first, maybe my local Orschlen's might have an owl. Man, I'm getting excited now!
b G
b Drink Beer, Watch Crows Get Pi***d!
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Check this out Joe H.
http://www.theonion.com/onion3620/raccoon_leaders.html
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I'm having trouble finding a fake owl. Do you suppose a farm supply place might have them?
Joe H, could you make your link "hot"?
b G
b Coming Down From My Crow Shi**ing High
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I'm not Joe, but here's his link, hot:
Have you looked in garden/nursery suppliers for your owl, or maybe an arts and crafts store?
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Dude, Forget the fake owls, crows are smarter than Hillary. It maybe a pain but good trash cans are the way to go. You could also move into the country as all the crows moved into the suburbs.
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Gordon, our local Souther States Cooperative carries plastic owls. Farm Bureau Co-op, garden centers, Farm and Fleet, and others in your area may have them.
Let us know how things turn out...
Good luck, Steve
*How about a plastic Hillary? Wouldn't that be scary? I think that the owl, like most critter-chasing products, can probably be found in the catalog called 'Whatever Works' - Around here, mockingbirds chase the crows away, but I'm not sure that having mockingbirds around is necessarily better.Jeff
*What's wrong with mockingbirds?Rich Beckman
*That's what I want to know - they're nuts. But they do chase crows and hawks, gutsy little guys.Jeff
*For a plastic owl, try a marine supply. Westmarine is one.
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a plastic hillary would scare off the trashmen, besides there must be a subdivision restriction on that......eh G?
*Tomorrow is trash day. I still haven't found an owl, so I'm going to try spraying the bags with 409. I put the garbage out at 6:30 when I leave for work, and I think the trashmen come by at 10:30. So there's four hours for the buggers to tear it up. My guess is their smelling the diapers in the bags and trying to get to the baby crap. I do have a lead on an owl at a garden place, just haven't made it there yet. Will get it and see in two weeks when trash is picked up again. Thanks for all the suggestions.b Gb I've always been crazy but it keeps me from going insane.....Waylon Jennings
*buy trashcans you idiot.
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Don't use a plastic owl. We did, and while it scared off the crows, real owls saw it and figured it was a good place to move in. Unfortunately they were spotted owls, the feds came in and declared the place an endangered species habitat and now we can't go into our back yard or garage.
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Just a quick note---Forget about the Owl. I have a very realistic one in my garden and it don't keep nothing out. It sounds good but just don't work. Save your money for bird shot.
Travis
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SAD, SAD, SAD... it is tragic that your crows are compelled to eat garbarge. Any self-respecting crow around here would fly away and away.
You must be dealing with Canadian crows-
give them a small dog to chew on- it is what they want...
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Listen up, asshole. Read my posts above. I don't want to mess with six trash cans. Now get off my case or I'll beat you like a step-headed redchild!
b G
b Now you're messing with a son of a bitch - Nazereth
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GGL:
Since this thread is back from the dead, did the 409 work last week?
Two weeks between trash pick up is a long time. No wonder you would have to have so many trash cans.
Frank
*Yeah !! No kidding.That or buy a better fitting cork for the baby.hehehe
*Problem is if you cork 'em they back up pretty fast since there so small.
*LOLSounds like we just figured out where you got your moniker.You know you can just get another cork for the other end, don't you ?: )
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Frank,
No the 409 didn't work. The little buggers only tore into one trash bag, but my wife had to clean it up. Guess who got bloody hell when he got home from work. I heard from a different board that dried potato flakes can kill birds. I guess they swell up inside them. I think this is a myth like the whole throwing rice at weddings is. I would use birdshot on them, but I think Missouri has a season on crows. I think it ended sometime in spring. Besides, I don't have the patience to wait on them. I'm thinking of some kind of poison bait for them, but I don't want to kill the other birds.
b G
b I think I'll just stay here and drink - Merle Haggard
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So just put the poison in the used diapers. The other birds don't go digging in them as well, do they ?
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Luka, my man, you've got it. Now, what do I use?
b G
b I sang dixie while he died - Dwight Yoakum
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Rat poison. It also now comes in what I call 'mouse candy bars'. Blue waxy looking bars. Break them up into small chunks, and drop a small chunk or two into each diaper. The crows will undoubtedly eat the candy bar first.
You want the chunks to be bite-size for a crow. You don't want them to have any difficulty swallowing the chunks, and you don't want them scattering the chunks all over the place while trying to break off chunks for themselves. This will minimize the chances of any other animals or birds getting the poison.
This is also the reason why the bars are better than the powder. Much more chance of other animals getting poisoned if you use the powder.
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Gordon, those crows aren't really there for the babyshit; they are just killing time , waiting to fly your black soul back to hell. It's really not so bad. I'll show you around...
*Take thy beak from out my heart Take thy form from of my Door Quoth the Raven NevermoreEdgar Alen Poe had a similar problem
*In Cape Breton, people throw a rug over their garbage. Better than killing birds?
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I live in the sticks. I have problems with crows tearing into my garbage bags sitting by the road waiting for the garbage men to pick up. Short of shooting them, what can I do?
b Bald Men Make Better Lovers!
b G