Blasting Barn Birds?

***SODA ALERT***
As a hog trapper you fight corn eating coons all the time. We even soak corn in diesel to keep them off the hog bait (it only works SOMETIMES) and sooner or later the coons gotta be dealt with. I was using a Hav-A-Hart aka Got-A-Target and would dispatch the coon with a 20ga and drop in ye' ol' gator pond... One night junior went with me (he usually was there) and he asked if he could shoot the coon. This is with a PG equipped shotgun. SURE I say... Handed it off to him... He fired and the coon survived... racked a shell fired and coon still survived... Round 3 and STILL the coon survived... all this from a distance under 50 feet. I wasn't sure if I would pee my pants or not but I stepped in on behalf of Mr.Bandit and told Jr.... "Buddy, it ain't fair to cause the poor ol' coon to die of a heart attack." I put a round out of the barrel and BANG FLOP DRT...
Brent
 
wpcexpert said:
You can't say stuff like that...I just blew chew spit all over my computer at work.
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BooHoo! I work in a government office and can't even access this site. It's blocked because it's "guns."




damn liberals...
 
What would MacGyver do?

Don't tase me bro! Personally I would make up some copper perches for them and wire them up to a 240 line, then have a blast flipping the switch and watching them go poof while laughing maniacally. With that kind of current flowing through them they won't be letting go until you turn it off. When was the last time your dog had a warm meal?
 
Please let us know how it works out.

Copper perches?Millions of birds set on High voltage lines every day.They have to touch something grounded.Even a electric fence charger spark can burn down a barn.The dust in a barn can be as explosive as a flour mill,paper mill,resin plant or sugar refinery.Sealed explosion proof motors and electrical components are sold for many farm applications because of this.I had just as soon smoke or have a spark in a barn as a gasoline tank farm,paper mill,resin plant or chemical plants and I have worked in all.

Yep Guns are a tool and should be used when they are the proper tool.They may or may not be the proper tool for this.It is up to the owner.
 
Rimfire Birdshot

When I was 10 my dad moved us to a four acre ranch. The place needed a lot of work. Wild vegetation had taken over a good portion of the property. My dad wanted to plant fruit trees, have a large garden, even have a farm animals. One problem was birds. They would eat and destroy anything that was planted or fed to the chickens. My dad came up with a solution.

He purchased a 22 caliber Benjamin pump air rifle. He then put me in charge of varmint eradication. He showed me how to operate and aim the gun. He then told me which creatures were on the hit list and which ones were to be left alone. I became quite proficient with that rifle.

Pa also kept a "real" .22 rifle around for serious varmint control. Since we were in a semi-urban area, that gun was for emergencies only and only to be used by him. One day I discovered birdshot at a sporting goods store. I talked my dad into buying a box and letting me try them. I reasoned that the shot would have a limited range and thus not endanger any of our neighbors.

The next day he gave me a few birdshot rounds so I could try them. I saw a starling in one of the trees. I snuck under it and to careful aim. I was giddy with excitement in anticipation of pulverizing that fowl vermin. I squeezed the trigger and "bang", the bird flew off with nary a feather ruffled. I was shocked. How could my miniature shotgun miss this bird? Maybe I flinched, maybe I hit a branch, maybe the round was defective. Several more attempts had the same results. Not only did this ammo not endanger any of our neighbors, it didn't endanger any varmints either.

When birds were not around, I would shoot my pellet gun at tin cans. At reasonable ranges, those 22 caliber pellets would zip through both sides of the can. I decided to test the birdshot rounds on a can. The pellets didn't move the can nor penetrate even one side of it. When I got the muzzle at inches away form the can, the can was slightly affected. I figured if I could stalk within a few inches of a bird, the .22 birdshot would drop one. My pellet gun was far superior.

Maybe I was up against super tough birds that had feathers that were impervious to those pellets. Maybe rimfire birdshot rounds have been improved to the point were they can actually kill something beyond point blank range. Maybe it is something else, if you know what I mean.
 
C'mon alfred, some of us know how electricity works. I hope you're not suggesting that birds are immune to high voltage. I'm talking a short perch comprised of two copper bars set close together so the bird has to get a leg on each one thus closing the circut. Each half of the perch is a seperate pole. The switch isn't even required, just there to make you feel like your pulling the trigger. And if the guy can shoot a gun in there I think a little spark, of which there would be none in this case since there is no metal on metal to arc, would be fine. Better yet, string them up a bare copper perch wire along a length of metal guttering for a drinking trough. Zap 'em beak to feet. That should do it. :eek:
 
ok, just read the OP's first post then had to give my answer.

I used an old daisy red rider BB gun in my younger years to cull many a pigeon invasion in the barns and the cats always took care of the one that would get away. Later in life I moved to 22lr birdshot in an old stevens bolt action single shot rifle. The winchester 22lr birdshot is wayyyy cheaper than CCI and seems to work better for longer barreled pistols and rifles. Nowdays, I go back to the old daisy red rider and on those pesky ones, I use an old H&R 9 shot loaded with either the CCI or winchester .22lr birdshot. The old low power bb guns and birdshot are not strong enough to bust through the tin sheet metal , just be careful around the windows if they are glass (i prefer plexi glass for the livestock buildings).

Also as mentioned previously a strong contingent of cats is very helpful to control the vermin and flying vermin population. Just be careful to control your cat population or it can turn into a problem.

JOE
 
Just my way of doing and why.

I have done many things that I would not do again.Burning down the Barn will relocate the Birds.

I used electric fences for years.They killed Squirrels and birds that grounded on the metal post.I grounded all of my post by wire to work great in dry conditions.I also alternated ground wires with hot wires to deter small creatures.It has also dried out the carcase to where they caught fire.They will also set the grass on fire.

Raw wiring has been judged the cause for burning up much livestock,farm equipment and buildings in my lifetime.This is why they enclose it today.I took agriculture for two years in high school from 1959-61.We were taught of this danger even back then.Even insulated wiring was not safe as rats and even stock gnawed it.This is what I was getting at.The animal has to ground to kill it.This ground can dry enough at some point to still conduct while part of it can burn.They did on my electric fence.They are even outlawed it at times and places for this reason.Some folks do and get by.Others do and burn.

My parents lived at the corner of 4 th.& Pine in Guyton Georgia for many years.A smoking and even burning Squirrel falling from the wires at the corner light pole was a fairly common sight.They even set the grass on fire a few times over the years.

These are the reasons for my comments on electricity.It was not intelligence or expertise in the electrical Field.It was what has happened around me,what I was taught and why.

I had two uncles work for many years and retired from the sugar refinery that just blew up in Savannah Georgia.One of these son had just left the plant after working long hours in where it blew as had his father and uncle many times for many years before.This proved that you can do something thousands of times and get away with it.Dust in a barn can and has flashed.I use the same precautions in a barn that I do when using solvents,pouring gas,reloading with powder exposed or when having to make emergency repairs to or stopping a liquid or vapor gas leak with the gas or solvent still leaking.This was common in my job.I lived with such in dust and vapor on my job.The folks at the Sugar Refinery did as I do/did and got by for years.No one will ever really know what happened.You just have to think and be as careful as you can.

Shooting a firearm in a dusty situation created by flying birds can cause a explosion if the dust/air ratio is right.Manure can spontaneously ignite plus the possible health problems.A mole hill can often be made into a mountain in a second.I just want to see his Pigeons gone and the man happy as he wished.It is all his.alfred
 
OK then, I guess he could keep the switch in one hand and a fire extinguisher in the other if he's one to prepare for the unlikely. Might be easier to air out the barn first and keep the area under the "death perch" clear of hay.

No need to touch a "ground" with 240. It has 3 poles, 2 hot and 1 neutral. Putting a load (or varmit) between the two hot poles gives it 240 volts, a load between any hot and the neutral gives it 120 volts. If you've ever wired an ac condensor, stove or dryer there are red, black (both hot) and white (neutral) wires.

Run the black and red up to a perch and keep them seperate from each other but wrap them around a plastic rod in a way that makes it very likely that the bird will get a leg on each wire when it lands. Leave the switch on and it will keep killing birds every time one lands on it. Then for alfreds peace of mind you can mount a boot on the end of a stick (a boxing glove will also work well) that is activated by the current when it flows through the bird and rotates down to kick the pest off the perch and into a neat little pile where an extinguisher connected to a solenoid valve will give a puff to put out any smoldering feathers. ;)
 
It's not as exotic as some of the ideas mentioned but a 20-25# bag of bird seed is well less than $10 at W-M. Figure out your comfortable place to sit/hide/ambush site outside of the barn but close in a grass-less area within shotgun range but not too close or too far. You don't want a too tight pattern or one with holes in it either.

Pattern a load of #4 shot into that area and then start feeding the barn ducks in that location but shrink you seed spead to fit well inside the target zone. Give'em a week of unmolested free meals, once per day on you schedule then, hammer time. Believe me it works. If you have shelled corn or sweet feed it may would just as well.

For no more birds than you have don't be surprised if you kill every one with one shot. I bet you'll end up with most of that bird seed left over.

Best

S-
 
Keep the lead and bb's out of the hay loft.

get a few barn cats and give them a way to reach the roosts. no more pidgeons.

rice and water works very very well.

so does rocksalt and sand. mix it up, they eat for grit and its too salty.

bird seed and decon (warfarin) works too. but only if you do not have cats that will grab the dying birds, cuz the cats will eat the poison

bird seed and a small dish of anti freeze will kill them too.

pellet guns only if you are sure the misses are going to stay out of the hay. a tarp hung over the hay keeps the bird **** off the hay.

I ended taking 150 plus pidgeons out of my father in laws barn a year ago. now with cats having a few 2x4's to reach the roosts on the pidgeons have moved on.



if you shoot them outside, do not pick up the dead and wounded, but just sit and wait, they act like decoys when the flight returns
 
Two easy ways to control pigeons is with poison and traps.

Poison is often not legal in town so one should check at their local co-op for further info.

Traps are surprisingly easy. When I was a kid I caught birds using a ten thousand year old style trap. First dig a gently sloping ramp into the ground. Make it about eight inches wide, 2 feet long and starting from ground level to about 3 inches below ground level at the other end. Then make another slope about a foot long from the deep end to the surface. So the side view of the ramp is that it looks like a lopsided vee going into and out of the ground. (Sides don't have to be vertical, in fact it does better with sloping sides.)

Take sticks or 1x2 furring strip lumber and start stacking a pyramid about 2 or 3 feet wide at the bottom and coming to a few inches wide on top. (Top can be open as long as its smaller than a pigeon's wing.) The pyramid goes on the short end of the vee so the deepest place on the ramp passes under the first stick laid across it.

Then take bird feed or seed or cracked corn or whatever and put it into the ramp and up into the trap. The pigeons walk into the trap while eating the corn but once they finish eating they put their heads up and can't see how to get down the ramp.

Then all that is needed is a fish landing net to hold over the trap when ready to open the top. I suppose that ancient hunters must have just reached in and grabbed the birds, killing them by hand. But we're more civilized now. A lot of folks would give them to an animal rescue organization to rehabilitate and reeducate into being vegetarians. :)
 
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Unfortunately, the best option doesn't involve guns (I can't believe I'm saying that!) Buy a dozen rat traps and set them in the loft. Smear some peanut butter on the trigger and coat it with bird seed, then scatter seed around it. Not as fun as shooting them, but it will get the job done.

You might try some of the .22 shotshells at night. They'll only be good to 15 feet or so, but if they are roosting in there you might try it. I've never shot them, just a suggestion.
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Perfect answer....BUT IT CAN INVOLVE GUNS! We would trap pigeons and set em free....to shoot em and let the duck dog practice on em :P
Also, the .22 rimfire shotshells are great...woldnt even break a clay at 10 yards....wont hurt your precious tin, just back up and blast away. P.S. Get in there and block off the entrance so its a massacre :P
 
I had to drag this thread from the depths for an update.

On a trip to Wally-World for cheap .45ACP, I snagged a cheap pump-r-up pellet gun for the price of 100 rounds of 45 FMJs (~30 bucks). Got 1000 pellets for three bucks, and got to work. That plastic Crossman (with a plastic 5-pellet "clip") is accurate (enough) to easily drop the pigeons from ~40 feet--or the longest distance in the hayloft. The floppers got a follow-up head-shot.

I got 2, the wife got 6, and I think that's the brood. Which is good because we need the loft for, well, hay storage.
 
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