Aussie Finch Forum

I live near Parramatta in Sydney and have had a pair of Butcher birds harassing the finches in the aviary. It is covered in standard 1cm mesh and noticed yesterday some sections were significantly expanded (although not broken). Any tips as to get rid of the buggers.?

Cant mention my first suggestion as to getting rid of them Theres the old scare them tactic by hanging owl cutouts or cat cutouts or cds hung on string ...sadly I dont think these things work.
You could catch them somehow and drive for a couple of hours to release them only problem with that is the nearest neighbouring butcher bird will claim the vacant territory so your back to square 1.
A lot of people electrify the aviaries with great success .
Unfortuneatly also the bloody things never forget where theres an aviary and while they might dissapear for a short while when you least expect it they will return.
Good luck with it anyway.

living in the city your best bet is to either trap them and take them for a very long drive before releasing them or to spend the money on making your aviary safer. one way to make the aviary safer would be to put 25mm x 10mm mesh over the existing wire, this mesh has different wire thicknesses available ( 1mm, 2mm and 3mm)

My answer was to have the wire section of the aviary roofs covered in heavy duty plastic.
And spend a lot of time throwing things at them and generally harrassing them.
It did eventually work, but for a while there I was getting ready to lose the plot.
LML

Buy the biggest plastic snake you can find and place it on the roof (not so your birds can see).
Did help my noisy miner problem.Just a suggestion.

if you dont want to cover the aviary completely try placing netting they use on fruit trees 10cm above your cage, that will slow them down...pete or shade cloth that has 50% sun blockage....

It would be very dificult to keep the shot gun in the cupboard.

I would try plastic hawks and snakes.And then nylon netting if they dont work.

one word air rifle much much quieter.....

hey pete thats 2 words

fincher wrote:hey pete thats 2 words

smart bugger isnt ya