Rooks, Maize, Cost

pj1

Well-Known Member
Hi all. this may be a how long is a piece of string answer, but i've been asked to look at a job where crows and rooks are raiding a maize silage clamp then roosting around the farm owners house.
Does anyone know how much a rook / crow will consume in a day. i'm not after how much to price the job at i just want to be able to put a cost on how much the birds are eating to highlight the damage the birds are doing.
I get the distinct feeling the the owner doesn't want to spend anything which is fine but would be nice to have some sort of an idea how much the birds are costing him.
Cheers Pete
 
Hi all. this may be a how long is a piece of string answer, but i've been asked to look at a job where crows and rooks are raiding a maize silage clamp then roosting around the farm owners house.
Does anyone know how much a rook / crow will consume in a day. i'm not after how much to price the job at i just want to be able to put a cost on how much the birds are eating to highlight the damage the birds are doing.
I get the distinct feeling the the owner doesn't want to spend anything which is fine but would be nice to have some sort of an idea how much the birds are costing him.
Cheers Pete

What you will get out of is knowledge of how to decoy crows as every situation is different,
Good hide, bit of choke and sit still....

Tim.243
 
Yes a great learning opportunity. I've been wanting to shoot this farm for years. I was asked / approached on a professional pest control basis through my company which is why I would like to be able to give a cost of what damage the birds are doing. For instance a farm where we shot 2000 rats in a year potentially saved six tonne of chicken feed
 
Yes a great learning opportunity. I've been wanting to shoot this farm for years. I was asked / approached on a professional pest control basis through my company which is why I would like to be able to give a cost of what damage the birds are doing. For instance a farm where we shot 2000 rats in a year potentially saved six tonne of chicken feed


Then whack a few with an air rifle and open them up....
Or put a container out with a known weight of food and a trail cam....

Simple solution or give the chance to pick up a bit more shooting and go with post 4# :old:

Tim.243
 
It's not just the total volume that they consume that's significant. By picking the most nutritious parts out of a livestock ration, the birds are reducing the feed value of what's left, which results in reduced productivity from the animals that are fed on it (eg, dairy cow milk yields will drop, beef cattle growth rates will slow down, etc).
 
I have shot a lot of magpies and some crows off silage clamps. In these cases you need to be very careful where the lead bullet/pellet/shot is going. With a sub 12 ftlb air rifle the pellet does not normally exit but a .22 lr sub will and obviously shot gun pellets will go into the clamp. I tend only to shoot the quarry which is perching on the clamp guard rails so no issue, shooting from the adjacent hay barn and the backstop is the field behind. You will need to run the potential issue past your farmer. If you wish to make serious in roads then a multicatch trap(s) is required. Also serious control of the roosting birds will be effective. I don't doubt that the crows/rooks will spoil as much as they eat and if the clamp is not securely fenced off then badgers if present will be eating a lot more.

Hard frosty weather also makes maize clamps a magnet for all wildlife but if you have a concentrated dawn/dusk approach for a few daays it will drastically reduce the problem.

D
 
Thank you all for your advice. I have suggested ladder traps as well so we will see what come of it.
 
Shoot a few and hang them up around the silage clamp, that should keep them away. No need to kill hundreds to be seen to be effective
 
Corvids aref ar from daft.!!!!!! any attempt to trap them whilst there is an unprotected ad lib food source nearby will be an unproductive onein my experience
 
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