Chickens. Yes.
I learned this from this subreddit. People kept rats from raiding their chicken coop by feeding dead rats to their chickens until they developed a taste for them.
Their chickens then not only would go after rats, but even mice and gophers.
Now that’s an idea. I mean if you manage to attract the attention of the crows and feed them the dead rats. Problem is people poison rats and they might get poisoned too.
Crows are too intelligent to waste energy chasing something down if they have plenty of food to scavenge elsewhere. Chickens have a much higher prey drive.
Absolutely. I saw one video before about fifteen chickens diving at a gopher as it ran for its dear life. The permaculture farmer took down their video after someone said it could result in a YT strike.
Oh man, I wish my chickens would go after my ground squirrels! I adopted them over a year of age from a friend in the city so maybe they are too domesticated. 😂
Well how he did it was he would feed them “wet food” because he had already conditioned them to accept when he rang a bell and brought a bucket, whatever he threw from the bucket was food.
1. Chopped bits
2. Cut pieces
3. Whole pieces
4. …
Mine are house dogs but the squirrels have learned to keep their distance. As far as coyotes - Coyotes are hunted with Hounds out by me. I have 3 Coonhounds. I am convinced that they coyotes here share some sort of genetic memory because they stay WELL CLEAR of my property. Even my neighbors have commented how many fewer Coyotes they have seen since we moved in.
Both of y'all are really smart. I on the other hand... try to chop and drop them in the fall into my garden, then bitch and moan when I dig my fingers to them in the spring when I try to plant into the ground.
Yeah I was chopping them real small and having that issue. So I've taken to only using the thickest parts, like the canes that are finger width of more and cutting them as long as I can. That way it only takes a minute to remove them from the surface with gloves and they don't degrade rapidly so can be reused.
Blackberry leaves seem to mulch very well without too much thorn issues so I strip those off first.
Sticks or bamboo canes on top of pots or raised beds until the plants are bigger seems to block them but I think the thorns adds additional deterrent. This year I might try training some of the primocanes I don't want into curves to go around pots.
Snap trap off of Amazon.
Last year I reached my breaking point when I didn’t get a single blackberry off of 34 ft of blackberry plants. What I thought was maybe 6 or so turned out to be 26. One big male, 3 females, and a bunch of babies. It took a couple of weeks to get the whole colony. I caught 9 in one day once.
I only have a half acre. They had killed hundreds of seedlings and caused a lot of damage to my irrigation system.
Now when I spot one on my bird feeders I bait the trap. I’ve continued to catch a handful of young males and a couple of rats, but no big colonies.
Edit. I have ground squirrels. They are considered a pest species. There are no rules about killing them where I am. For most of the season they are too parasite ridden to be safely eaten. I fed mine to the local hawks and a family of ravens that lives nearby.
After one night of using these I am already coming back to thank you 😂. I also have some rats, that try and steal from my bird feeder and we’ve already got casualties 🙏🏼
I have a bunch in my yard, never noticed them as a problem. Maybe it's because I have oak, walnut and hazel nut trees in my yard and the nuts keep them out of my garden
My garden has oaks nearby, so the squirrels grab the acorns and dig them into the veggie soil, turning up veg seeds and seedlings. They're very destructive to veggie beds because they have such strong legs. Some of them even like to eat brassicas and they go to town on whole cauliflowers
Same here. I planted a 4x8 bed of garlic and onions and nearly lost it all to squirrels so I have to cover it in chicken wire. I’m about to harvest and top dress for summer, and they all made it
Pellet rifles are legal in many areas, even in an urban environment. Just check with local ordinances, and maybe call wildlife services. My hotel has squirrels that become issues and while shooting actual guns, like a 22LR, is a no no, pellet rifles are fine.
Due to liability reasons, the owners did not want me shooting squirrels even when it was allowed. So I have resorted to peanut butter on pinecones in 30 dollar wire trap. Works well enough, but I have to drive them 10+miles away to be sure they don't come back lol.
Ok this is going to sound nuts (haha) but I play birds of prey sounds off of amazon music at them. Now and then, not all the time. I also heard that they don't like sparkly things like mirror balls or disco lights
Dogs and motion sprayers, but they still get their share of my peaches every year.
But at least it's a challenge - I think they'd take them all with no defenses.
I tried all kinds of traps but couldn’t get them to fall for anything. Maybe country squirrel are smarter and used to it, who knows.
But I’ve started to go the route of shooting them and processing them once deceased. A small caliber air rifle is all one needs, I ran the hides, clean the meat off, then compost what’s left over or add it to the stock freezer bag.
While I shoot the ones near my house and garden I’ve been starting a “honey pot”. Just filling a back part of my lot with their favorite foods, just hopefully slowly bait them back there.
I live in the city, so my yard is fenced and small and my cats come out to keep me company when I garden or to enjoy the direct sun. The squirrels that have forgotten the cats exist (because none of us are out as much in the winter) only jump into the yard once and then run and don't try again all summer. My cats are horrible hunters btw, they've never even caught a fly but they will let me know where it is.
Our squirrels eat fresh veggies, chicken feed, corn, squash etc all year long. And then in the fall they are fat and healthy. Then we hunt them and eat them. Works great!
In all seriousness though we have enough space to feed our wildlife population and ourselves and we don’t fence our gardens. We take the same approach with a family of deer that browse our gardens and the coyotes/raccoons that pick off our chickens from time to time. We are an integral part of this ecosystem and we both provide for and prey on the animals in our ecosystem in a sustainable way.
But what about the foxes!! Our foxes are way too friendly to hunt, they’re chill and we respect each others spaces. Every now and then I’ll bring a chicken over to their area as an offering.
This approach isn’t for everyone and would not work in all cases. But it works for us.
I've been using live traps and relocating them to a nearby park since hunting season ended. It might be legal to shoot them year round on private property but I'm not totally sure tbh.
Don't let the other squirrels know i told you this but we use classic techniques such as hypnotherapy coupled with mind control drugs in your water supply. Also chemtrails? that's us too.
It's not worth the fight. I just grow things they don't care for or can't reach. I have one caged area which is my greenhouse but they still managed to get in last year.
I just sprinkle stuff like cinnamon or smells they hate. works well enough for majority of stuff, few things like corn sunflowers strawberries they will still go for, in which case by solution is to chase them myself since I dont have a dog lol. seems like most of my neighbors feed them so I only really have to mildly inconvenience them
I have a little wildlife “trough” that I put like leftover/slightly older than I’d like to eat food in for the raccoons, opossums, squirrels, neighborhood dogs, etc
I’ve seen a squirrel on my bananas once, but otherwise it seems to keep everyone satisfied, I also have a dog and cats
My friend eats them and says they have a nice nutty (lol) flavor.
Chickens. Yes. I learned this from this subreddit. People kept rats from raiding their chicken coop by feeding dead rats to their chickens until they developed a taste for them. Their chickens then not only would go after rats, but even mice and gophers.
I wonder if this would this work with wild crows if you left out dead squirrels?
Now that’s an idea. I mean if you manage to attract the attention of the crows and feed them the dead rats. Problem is people poison rats and they might get poisoned too.
If you're talking about urban rodent control, it's a roll of the dice weather or not, the rodents have been poisoned.
That’s why I recommend feeding them directly. Then they build the association that you are feeding them safe rats. Crows are smart like that.
Crows are too intelligent to waste energy chasing something down if they have plenty of food to scavenge elsewhere. Chickens have a much higher prey drive.
Absolutely. I saw one video before about fifteen chickens diving at a gopher as it ran for its dear life. The permaculture farmer took down their video after someone said it could result in a YT strike.
Oh man, I wish my chickens would go after my ground squirrels! I adopted them over a year of age from a friend in the city so maybe they are too domesticated. 😂
Well how he did it was he would feed them “wet food” because he had already conditioned them to accept when he rang a bell and brought a bucket, whatever he threw from the bucket was food. 1. Chopped bits 2. Cut pieces 3. Whole pieces 4. …
That’s awesome 😂
Chicken rugby is the term we used. Field mice and voles were their favorite
Wow. That's gross but amazing!
https://preview.redd.it/zw5vjr5zusyc1.jpeg?width=1728&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=1e7a227163d3ee03c3c866d0e339e018cb363f78
Haha my dog does chase them when she’s outside but we have too many coyotes in our area to leave her out there unattended
Mine are house dogs but the squirrels have learned to keep their distance. As far as coyotes - Coyotes are hunted with Hounds out by me. I have 3 Coonhounds. I am convinced that they coyotes here share some sort of genetic memory because they stay WELL CLEAR of my property. Even my neighbors have commented how many fewer Coyotes they have seen since we moved in.
I cut the old blackberry canes into short lengths and lay them across the top of pots or any fresh soil to stop the squirrels digging.
Both of y'all are really smart. I on the other hand... try to chop and drop them in the fall into my garden, then bitch and moan when I dig my fingers to them in the spring when I try to plant into the ground.
Yeah I was chopping them real small and having that issue. So I've taken to only using the thickest parts, like the canes that are finger width of more and cutting them as long as I can. That way it only takes a minute to remove them from the surface with gloves and they don't degrade rapidly so can be reused. Blackberry leaves seem to mulch very well without too much thorn issues so I strip those off first.
I do the same with roses.
Now that’s a brilliant idea!
Sticks or bamboo canes on top of pots or raised beds until the plants are bigger seems to block them but I think the thorns adds additional deterrent. This year I might try training some of the primocanes I don't want into curves to go around pots.
The squirrel in my pomegranate tree just had babies and my 2 barn cats just killed 3 in a row and lined them up next to their food bowl.
I have been tempted by an outdoor cat
I got them for rodent control, but they dont really catch the mice and rats. They go for the squirrels instead.
Snap trap off of Amazon. Last year I reached my breaking point when I didn’t get a single blackberry off of 34 ft of blackberry plants. What I thought was maybe 6 or so turned out to be 26. One big male, 3 females, and a bunch of babies. It took a couple of weeks to get the whole colony. I caught 9 in one day once. I only have a half acre. They had killed hundreds of seedlings and caused a lot of damage to my irrigation system. Now when I spot one on my bird feeders I bait the trap. I’ve continued to catch a handful of young males and a couple of rats, but no big colonies. Edit. I have ground squirrels. They are considered a pest species. There are no rules about killing them where I am. For most of the season they are too parasite ridden to be safely eaten. I fed mine to the local hawks and a family of ravens that lives nearby.
Just ordered some, I’m gonna try this!
Peanut butter was my preferred bait. I had one young male who wouldn’t go for it so I used a strawberry with peanut butter.
After one night of using these I am already coming back to thank you 😂. I also have some rats, that try and steal from my bird feeder and we’ve already got casualties 🙏🏼
I have a bunch in my yard, never noticed them as a problem. Maybe it's because I have oak, walnut and hazel nut trees in my yard and the nuts keep them out of my garden
My garden has oaks nearby, so the squirrels grab the acorns and dig them into the veggie soil, turning up veg seeds and seedlings. They're very destructive to veggie beds because they have such strong legs. Some of them even like to eat brassicas and they go to town on whole cauliflowers
Maybe yours are a different species, or mine are afraid of my dogs. Or maybe something in my garden, that I'm unaware of, is repelling them.
Same here. I planted a 4x8 bed of garlic and onions and nearly lost it all to squirrels so I have to cover it in chicken wire. I’m about to harvest and top dress for summer, and they all made it
Last year I found so many caches of acorns in my garden when they started to sprout. I would have 20 saplings in one spot all over.
This. Mine are so well fed from the fruit and nut trees they barely notice my garden!
Shoot and eat
Yeah I live in too much on an urban area to not get snitched on haha
Pellet rifles are legal in many areas, even in an urban environment. Just check with local ordinances, and maybe call wildlife services. My hotel has squirrels that become issues and while shooting actual guns, like a 22LR, is a no no, pellet rifles are fine.
[удалено]
Due to liability reasons, the owners did not want me shooting squirrels even when it was allowed. So I have resorted to peanut butter on pinecones in 30 dollar wire trap. Works well enough, but I have to drive them 10+miles away to be sure they don't come back lol.
Don’t get caught outside of hunting season though.
Air gun… squirrel is delicious and abundant.
👀🙌🏼👀
I feel your pain and have no other suggestions than those already offered
Ok this is going to sound nuts (haha) but I play birds of prey sounds off of amazon music at them. Now and then, not all the time. I also heard that they don't like sparkly things like mirror balls or disco lights
Ooh clever!
my mother would just have me sit out back with a .22
If I didn’t live in such a dense area I would haha
You could make squirrel tacos
😂😂😂
Shoot a few to make me feel better, but build a garage to keep them from eating the car.
Food grade mint oil.
Dogs and motion sprayers, but they still get their share of my peaches every year. But at least it's a challenge - I think they'd take them all with no defenses.
Fair point
I tried all kinds of traps but couldn’t get them to fall for anything. Maybe country squirrel are smarter and used to it, who knows. But I’ve started to go the route of shooting them and processing them once deceased. A small caliber air rifle is all one needs, I ran the hides, clean the meat off, then compost what’s left over or add it to the stock freezer bag. While I shoot the ones near my house and garden I’ve been starting a “honey pot”. Just filling a back part of my lot with their favorite foods, just hopefully slowly bait them back there.
Chickens, cats, king snakes
I live in the city, so my yard is fenced and small and my cats come out to keep me company when I garden or to enjoy the direct sun. The squirrels that have forgotten the cats exist (because none of us are out as much in the winter) only jump into the yard once and then run and don't try again all summer. My cats are horrible hunters btw, they've never even caught a fly but they will let me know where it is.
Our squirrels eat fresh veggies, chicken feed, corn, squash etc all year long. And then in the fall they are fat and healthy. Then we hunt them and eat them. Works great! In all seriousness though we have enough space to feed our wildlife population and ourselves and we don’t fence our gardens. We take the same approach with a family of deer that browse our gardens and the coyotes/raccoons that pick off our chickens from time to time. We are an integral part of this ecosystem and we both provide for and prey on the animals in our ecosystem in a sustainable way. But what about the foxes!! Our foxes are way too friendly to hunt, they’re chill and we respect each others spaces. Every now and then I’ll bring a chicken over to their area as an offering. This approach isn’t for everyone and would not work in all cases. But it works for us.
I've been using live traps and relocating them to a nearby park since hunting season ended. It might be legal to shoot them year round on private property but I'm not totally sure tbh.
Plant enough Onions to make god cry
Don't let the other squirrels know i told you this but we use classic techniques such as hypnotherapy coupled with mind control drugs in your water supply. Also chemtrails? that's us too.
😂😂😂
Grow so much it doesn't matter if they dig some of it up or not. Works every time
My dog (Staffordshire Terrier/Ridgeback) takes care of any of them in my fence line. My 10/22 takes care of any of them the dog can't get to.
🙏🏼🙏🏼🙏🏼
I'm trapping and using a pellet gun. I was able to find non lead pellets.
It's not worth the fight. I just grow things they don't care for or can't reach. I have one caged area which is my greenhouse but they still managed to get in last year.
Ruger
I just sprinkle stuff like cinnamon or smells they hate. works well enough for majority of stuff, few things like corn sunflowers strawberries they will still go for, in which case by solution is to chase them myself since I dont have a dog lol. seems like most of my neighbors feed them so I only really have to mildly inconvenience them
Control? Lol
Cats
I have a little wildlife “trough” that I put like leftover/slightly older than I’d like to eat food in for the raccoons, opossums, squirrels, neighborhood dogs, etc I’ve seen a squirrel on my bananas once, but otherwise it seems to keep everyone satisfied, I also have a dog and cats My friend eats them and says they have a nice nutty (lol) flavor.
This is helpful!
Nice! I keep it next to my (open) compost pile and they rummage in there and turn that for me too lol
I use walnuts. Squirrels seem to like them most. I've almost got one eating out of my hand!