Garden Bird Safety Question.....

[Cordaline]

As I'm getting so many birds in my garden & alot of them are feeding on the ground, I wanted to ask a question please:-

Does anyone know if cat repellant powder is harmful to birds or likely to put them off feeding on the ground? There is no mention of it on the packaging!

I get lots of cat mess on the lawn & I wanted to sprinkle the repellant everywhere to try & deter them.

Thought I'd better check first before I go covering the place.
I'd never forgive myself if I inadvertantly poisoned them!

Thanks, Vicki.

[htcdude]

Maybe phone the company and ask them? I guess it depends on each brand and what they put in it.

Nige

[Dogghound]

What ingredients are in the repellent?

[tigertom]

Dont no myself if it will afect the birds but best to check as htc has said, and even then if they say its ok I would be care full with it.
One other problem is it may not work with all cats
MIKE

[Tringa]

I had a look at a few powders on the 'net and while they say child and pet safe when dry, I have not found anything about birds.

If they are safe I'd be more concerned that when it rains the repellent will wash into the soil and become ineffective.

There is an ultrasonic deterrent that seems to have some success -

The RSPB: Advice: RSPB endorses ultrasonic cat deterrent

It is expensive but could be cheaper in the long run.

You mentioned lots of cat mess on the lawn. Cats do not always bury their waste, but if there is lot, is all cat mess? Is your garden being visited by other animals?

Dave

[htcdude]

Originally Posted by Tringa

There is an ultrasonic deterrent that seems to have some success -

The RSPB: Advice: RSPB endorses ultrasonic cat deterrent

It is expensive but could be cheaper in the long run.

I know people who have had these before and to be honest the don't always work, they still get cats and foxes in their garden.

Nige

[Cordaline]

I'll check out the container & look at the ingredients over the weekend and, as suggested, may ring the manufacturer!

I had a fox in the garden yesterday & I saw it poo on the border.
It was much smaller in size & quantity than the cats!
(Haha, sound like Packham!)

Thanks folks.

[AfternoonLemon]

With regards to the birds' safety, the best thing you can do is assess your garden, and restrict hunting positions for the cats. The only way they can catch a healthy bird is if they take it by surprise.

Look at anything you think they might be able to hide in or behind, and make it uncomfortable for them to take up these positions. Thorny clippings, that sort of thing. I also made a small 'fence' out of small branches, around bushes that would provide an ambush point - with gaps just big enough for blackbirds to hop through.

I also opted to replace a lot of the plants around the borders of the garden with thorny/spiky varieties including Pyracantha and Holly. Obviously they will take a few years to reach a decent height and spread, but a worthwhile addition I think.

The other thing about cats is that they tend to take the same path through gardens, possibly due to scents, so if you can identify these paths and disturb them somehow, they are less likely to return as often. I noticed the cats coming through my garden used to sneak round the side of my shed where there is a 1 foot gap between the shed and the fence. Because that side is facing the north I can't plant anything - so I have filled it out with Christmas trees that I acquired on Christmas Eve from B&Q, for 1p a throw

Of course, the crafty gits found one vantage point that I had overlooked - jumping up onto the shed and sneaking to the edge to drop down and attack from there. They'd be incredibly lucky to pull this one off because they'd have to drop down through branches of the tree beside it, but I still plan to put something up there to discourage that too.

Anyway, the bottom line is that you will never stop cats from coming into the garden, but you can tip the odds heavily in the favour of the birds

[~T~]

They certainly are sneaky. I thought I had my garden pretty well cat proofed restricting their ambush areas too. I was quite pleased with my efforts as I had seen them trying to find a good spot and giving up. Just the other week I was admiring a small flock of goldfinches feeding on my neew feeder contraption when my eyes were drawn to 2 small yellowish circles right under it but tucked in behind the clematis. It was the cat that plagued my garden last winter and prompted my cat proofing. Seems it would go in and hide there and wait for the birds to arrive. The finches had no idea it was there waiting I chased it off and had a look in it's hideout and it was all flattened down nicely as the perfect ambush spot It's now stuffed with hawthorn clippings and chopped branches as well as a hogitat I had somewhere else in the garden and now pretty much impossible to use as a hideout. But I'll be watching for it's next trick