Rod Out back wrote:
"-db-" wrote in message
...

Does anybody have any remedies for keeping blackbirds off the garden?
They scratch up the mulch, bury the seedlings, pull the seedlings up.
Tried bird net byt they just get underneath. Would love to stand sentry
with a shotgun but I don't think the neighbours would approve nor am I
keen on adding lead to the soil....


There is now steel shot available, if you dont want the lead issue... ;-)

Thanks for that. Magnesium based shot might be good - help boot the
trace element in the soil. Flamability might be an issue

There is also a stuff caled Bird-frite available in 12 gauge, which fires a
flash-bang sort of round to scare them. Not likely to improve neighbour
relations over a standard shotgun round, though...

Might make a change from the sounds of hoons in their commodores...

With your netting, what if you join a layer of it thats laid out on the
ground around the edge of the bed? So your vertical wall of mesh ends up
with a flat section laying along the ground. I use this setup to keep
goannas out of a cage. The dont see they need to go back to the edge of the
netting to dig underneath to get inside. I regularly fidn them out at the
point where the floor mesh meets the wall mesh, and trying like hell to dig
through it.


Thanks

This really only works for individual beds, though. What sort of blackbird?
A crow, or something smaller?

Just the common import garden variety blackbird you find in Victoria.
There are plenty of crows around but they don't make a nuisance of
themselves.

cheers
-db-