New to forum with major sparrow issues.

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kmonke721
Posts: 5
Joined: Fri Apr 15, 2011 2:21 pm
Location: Litichfield Illinois

Hi,

It is nice to meet all of you. :grin: I will take a picture of my site and put it up here tonight. I started last year. I got one SY pair and two visitors. This year I have 3 ASY pair. It is so exciting. I am from Litchfield IL.

Anyway....I really liked all birds until now. I really hate sparrows. They are relentless and never give up!! I bought a little bb gun...but I can't shoot a thing. So, I bought the Blaine's trap...I set it up last night. I put it on the ground between my 2 gourd racks under my bed and breakfast. Is this ok?? I cleaned one of the nests out of the sparrows compartment and put it in the trap. I added water and bread....what is the best feed?? What else should I do? I just wish I could shoot them...not sure if I will have the guts to kill them once I trap them. I will have to try and talk my husband into doing it :lol:

Thanks for any help you give me!! Nice to meet all of you.

This has become my obsession. I think my husband thinks I am crazy :lol:

Kim
Gobbler T
Posts: 1518
Joined: Tue Mar 31, 2009 8:13 am
Location: Mississippi / Columbus

I think my husband thinks I am crazy
Kim,
It will only get worse! :lol: Welcome to the forum.
Tony


2007 --- 0 2011---0 2015---4
2008 --- 0 2012---0 16-19—0
2009 --- 0 2013---1 2020—?
2010 --- 0 2014---3
Sandy - NC
Posts: 617
Joined: Tue Nov 11, 2003 6:40 pm
Location: Rocky Mount, NC

First thing you need to do is ditch the BB gun. BB guns are not accurate because BBs are not perfectly round, nor is the barrel rifled. Get yourself a good quality air rifle. Practice with it and try different pellets so you can find the one the air rifle wants to be fed. With the right practice, and the right pellet, you can be deadly. Keep the trap working as well. Try placing some nesting material in the trap.
Don't ever, ever give up. It will happen.

[email protected]
KathyF
Posts: 3522
Joined: Thu May 24, 2007 1:57 pm
Location: Missouri/Licking
Martin Colony History: Colony started - 2007 with one pair
As of 2018 - 84 cavities offered, max # of pairs hosted - 82.

Welcome to the forum - this is my standard advice to someone that already has a sparrow problem:

Here are some immediate things to do:

First - stop pulling the nests...let them build and become committed by laying their first egg. By then, you'll have this trap in hand ( http://purplemartin.org/shop/product_in ... d91ba95706

Then, you'll tear out the nest, but keep the nest bowl with the eggs into this trap and you'll catch the male or female right away.

Seriously, this works everytime for me.

When I first started trying to trap sparrows, I always panicked and didn't think deviously enough or like a 'hunter'. Now I have learned to have more patience and the end result is much better!

Here are some more steps to capturing sparrows:

1. Put out a repeating trap and put the feathers, or some of the old materials from the last nest tear outs in the bait tray of your trap. Sparrows LOVE feathers, white bread, popcorn & cracked corn (like the kind for chickens). Put some of all this inside the holding pen as well. Put the trap just below your martin house - off to the side 4-6 ft., up on a small platform that's about 1-2 ft. high. Put a couple of feathers just outside the trap so the sparrow can 'win' by grabbing a couple and he'll get cocky / comfortable around the trap.

2. Next - some work to camouflage your nestbox trap (linked above). Spray paint 2 pieces of cardboard with flat black paint. I cut these out to be the same size as the inside walls & back of my trap. That way, the sparrow can't see the wire sides or the depth of the cage..he'll think, 'man, it's really dark in here!'.

3. After the sparrows lay their first one or two eggs, carefully pull out the nest and find the nest cup holding the eggs. Gently tear the nest cup out (if you break the eggs - game over), keeping as little of the cup as possible, but enough to hold the eggs , and put that into your nestbox trap, on top of the trip lever. Put your nestbox trap back into the house in the same cavity and using some of the old nest material, camouflage the front of the trap when you close the nest cavity door.

4. It may take up to 30 minutes for either the male or female to re-enter the cavity...but they will....be patient!! After you catch the male or female that went in, if they didn't break all the eggs, reset the trap and wait for the other. *IF* you catch the female first, put her in the repeating trap in the holding pen. She's *bait* for future sparrows, so give her food & water & keep her alive. If you catch the male first, put him in the trap too,....maybe he'll attract the little woman to him.

5. I have had to resort to sticky traps with this same process, just putting the eggs on the trap, with lots of nest material around the edges. But let's not go there yet.....

Remember, when setting traps: sparrows "hop" around, they don't walk! AND sparrows are smart - never underestimate them...be smarter AND devious!
"Sometimes", said Pooh, "the smallest things take up the most room in your heart."
2023 - 82 pair
2022 - 80 pair
2021 - 75 pair
2020 - 78 pair
2019 - 80 pair
http://kathyfreeze.blogspot.com
flyin-lowe
Posts: 3789
Joined: Wed Mar 29, 2006 8:49 am
Location: Indiana/Henry Co.

The repeating trap is a good trap but it can be very hit and miss (not the traps fault). When I got mine I went about 3 weeks with nothing and then came home one day and there was 5 sparrows in it. I had almost given up. Then I might go a week or so with nothing and then get some more. So don't get discouraged.
2026 HOSP 27
2025 62 pair HOSP 20
2024 60 pair, HOSP 44
2023 60+ pair, HOSP 8
2022 60 nests with 262 eggs, HOSP 14
2021 62 pair, HOSP 9
2020 42 nest, HOSP 8
2019- 31 pair
2018- 15 pair 49 fledged
2017 3 SY pair, 12 eggs , fledged 10. 4 additional lone SY's
2016 1 pair fledged 4
2015 Visitors
2014 Visitors
2013 Moved 6 miles, 1 pair fledged 2.
2012 30 pair fledged 100.
2011 12 pair 43 fledged.
2010 5 pair 14 fledged.
Taxlave
Posts: 35
Joined: Wed Feb 18, 2004 2:38 pm
Location: Texas/Buchanan Dam

I've had really exceptional luck this year by using the sparrows captured with the Spar-O-Door and then putting them in my Blaine's repeating trap. Once you have a bird in the trap, it seems easy to catch more. I've actually had better results with males in the trap than females (maybe I just have ugly females-lol). I even caught one adult starling! I've been trying to keep at least two alive in the trap as bait and so far, that seems to work. I use recycled bird seed from my cockatiel along with some of his yellow feathers in the bait tray. I've caught ~20 sparrows this year :)

Good luck and welcome to the forum!
Chriscreole
Posts: 781
Joined: Tue Aug 17, 2010 9:31 am
Location: Texas, Hutto

Gobbler T wrote:
I think my husband thinks I am crazy
Kim,
It will only get worse! :lol: Welcome to the forum.
Wait till the counting starts......


I have a bad HOSP & Starling problem where I'm at. My neighbor feeds the heck out of them. You can see a Blains Repeating trap that I have. I catch an average of 15 M/F HOSP each week. click on the link to our Meet Up Groups web site under my signature logo.
Image
PMCA Member since 2010
Super System 24, All Troyer W/Conley 2 entrances.
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