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Cross post from Rural life - what do you use to keep (Original Post) hedgehog May 2014 OP
Netting. Buy it at any farm supply or plant nursery. sinkingfeeling May 2014 #1
I am not sure if this is a real cure libodem May 2014 #2
Nuttin. Erich Bloodaxe BSN May 2014 #3
I read that you can use tulle TuxedoKat May 2014 #4
I tried netting on the garden one year and that was the last time I shraby Jul 2014 #5
I think I read somewhere TuxedoKat Aug 2014 #6

libodem

(19,288 posts)
2. I am not sure if this is a real cure
Mon May 19, 2014, 11:23 AM
May 2014

But 'my friend', and I paint rocks for fun. She saw a pintrest picture where the gardener painted rocks that looked like strawberries and set them out under the plants, before the berries arrive. The plot thickness....apparently the birds become frustrated after trying to peck the rocks and leave the real berries alone.


Other than the decoy berries I suggest netting of some kind. Oh and chicken wire fences.

Erich Bloodaxe BSN

(14,733 posts)
3. Nuttin.
Mon May 19, 2014, 12:25 PM
May 2014

I seem to have far more problems with slugs in my strawberries than birds. But since I only use them to make jam, I just cut out the munched on parts, although I still end up losing something like 1/3 to 1/4 of the harvest to the #$%%^& slugs. And the birds don't seem to bother the raspberries at all.

If it's chickens, and you're letting them range free, then I'd go with the other poster who suggested you fence in the berries.

TuxedoKat

(3,821 posts)
4. I read that you can use tulle
Tue May 20, 2014, 06:49 PM
May 2014

that you buy at a fabric store. It's cheap and safer for birds which may get caught in the netting and die.

shraby

(21,946 posts)
5. I tried netting on the garden one year and that was the last time I
Wed Jul 30, 2014, 09:56 PM
Jul 2014

ever used it. It even came of early. I had a bird get badly tangled in it, had to cut it loose. The I put the damm net in the trash. I felt terrible!

TuxedoKat

(3,821 posts)
6. I think I read somewhere
Sat Aug 2, 2014, 05:57 PM
Aug 2014

that tulle is safer -- the mesh is so small that a bird wouldn't get caught in it. I would feel terrible if a bird was harmed too. I didn't have any tulle so I just draped a long white scarf over some berries while they were ripening but the birds still got to the berries. Next year I will try tulle though.

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