Have you tried bird scare tape? I've used it w/ success around my grapes & @ work we used it around the outdoor lunch area, which is under oak trees full of grackles.

Pinetree has it - in their animal deterrent section - it comes w/ instructions.

& is there a water source nearby? If not, the birds may be pecking your fruit because they're thirsty - or they may be after insects....?

Here is a link that might be useful: Pinetree Garden Seeds

citrus is cheap at the farmer's market. i have a ten year old peach tree i have never had a ripe peach to eat! critters. lime tree. critters...limes are cheap! i grow the stuff for a hobby, fun, great sense of doing....but the critters come first. disapearing fast. three less snakes......100's more cock-a-roaches. just my take....glad you posted, got me thinking again!

Kill one feathered thief and save the snakes and the fruit.

What works for me costs only one pellet from my pellet rifle. I hang the offender by a foot from a tomato cage with some monofiliment fishing line and the rest get a clue pretty fast.

If I didn't do this I would never get to eat any of the tomatoes I grow.

You do realize it is a federal offense to kill the birds.

Starryrider wrote; "You do realize it is a federal offense to kill the birds."
Does that mean I have to let my chickens grow to a ripe old age and only eat the eggs?

Feds be damned... It's fried chicken again today! YUM YUM

Lou

A federal offense to kill grackles? Are you sure about that?

OTOH, it IS against the law in a number of places to discharge a firearm within city limits - not sure what the laws are about pellet guns.....

Personally, I would rather repel than kill. That sounds like a rather gruesome (& unsanitary) remedy = S

& not everyone is a good marksman - or even owns guns.

TITLE 16 > CHAPTER 7 > SUBCHAPTER II > ç 703
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ç 703. Taking, killing, or possessing migratory birds unlawful
How Current is This?
(a) In general
Unless and except as permitted by regulations made as hereinafter provided in this subchapter, it shall be unlawful at any time, by any means or in any manner, to pursue, hunt, take, capture, kill, attempt to take, capture, or kill, possess, offer for sale, sell, offer to barter, barter, offer to purchase, purchase, deliver for shipment, ship, export, import, cause to be shipped, exported, or imported, deliver for transportation, transport or cause to be transported, carry or cause to be carried, or receive for shipment, transportation, carriage, or export, any migratory bird, any part, nest, or eggs of any such bird, or any product, whether or not manufactured, which consists, or is composed in whole or part, of any such bird or any part, nest, or egg thereof, included in the terms of the conventions between the United States and Great Britain for the protection of migratory birds concluded August 16, 1916 (39 Stat. 1702), the United States and the United Mexican States for the protection of migratory birds and game mammals concluded February 7, 1936, the United States and the Government of Japan for the protection of migratory birds and birds in danger of extinction, and their environment concluded March 4, 1972 and the convention between the United States and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics for the conservation of migratory birds and their environments concluded November 19, 1976.
(b) Limitation on application to introduced species
(1) In general
This subchapter applies only to migratory bird species that are native to the United States or its territories.
(2) Native to the United States defined
(A) In general
Subject to subparagraph (B), in this subsection the term âÂÂnative to the United States or its territoriesâ means occurring in the United States or its territories as the result of natural biological or ecological processes.
(B) Treatment of introduced species
For purposes of paragraph (1), a migratory bird species that occurs in the United States or its territories solely as a result of intentional or unintentional human-assisted introduction shall not be considered native to the United States or its territories unless�"
(i) it was native to the United States or its territories and extant in 1918;
(ii) it was extirpated after 1918 throughout its range in the United States and its territories; and
(iii) after such extirpation, it was reintroduced in the United States or its territories as a part of a program carried out by a Federal agency.

I worked at a bird sanctuary for many years. Most people are unaware of the laws but it is illegal to own the feathers of most birds!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Migratory_Bird_Treaty_Act_of_1918

Boy, I'm sure glad it's not against local ordinances to kill nuisance pests like squirrels, just trying to figure out how to do that without breaking said ordinances ;-)

Name omitted so I don't have to plead the fifth....

Doesn't it strike anybody as odd that the judge who just fined and imprisoned a guy for "animal cruelty" for shooting a raccoon or muscovy duck, is now treating her kids to a Happy Meal? I guess slicing throats on an industrial scale isn't cruel because it takes place behind closed doors.

I somehow can't envision crows as a protected species.

Just talked to a friend about this and she had the same problem with the netting...catching snakes. She used screening after that and it worked fine. Beats killing God's creatures unnecessarily. And yes, crows are a protected bird.

doesn't the amount of "road kill" we see daily tell you something. keep on building, keep on killing a helpless critter because he's eating my tomatoe plant that is on my fenced in yard in my gated community. gardeners????? just my take..........:).....:(

Just because people die in large numbers in country A, it does not mean we should be OK with a few kids dying in a neighboring country B.
Same with slaughter houses. Sure, lots of animals are slaughtered every day. While this is done in a quickest way possible, why should the killing of the animal raised for food be an argument in favor of killing wildlife? What is the reasoning behind the "if a farm raised animal can be killed so should be a wild animal". If anything, it should be an argument in favor of leaving wildlife alone...can they at least have a chance at life?

Wallisadi, I all off a sudden like you so much more! I share the same gardening philosophy.

I love crows! They are such intelligent birds! Fascinating creatures.

I understand people are different - we are entitled to our opinions and I sure am entitled to mine. Currently, I have a resident possum making the food rounds - he is a tripod, missing a back leg. Bless his little heart. For the hardships he has endured, he is welcome to my tomatoes (they are dollar a basket at the local fresh market)..and I am happy he came to my yard to live :)

Are grackles considered migratory birds - since they live here year-round....?

Somebody should put that poor Opossum out of his misery. If they take a peck, bite, or nibble out of my tomatoes, I'll send 'em to Glory.

since when do grackles migrate?
Unless you talk about going from one side of my yard to the other....I say get a herd of cats

Somebody should put that poor Opossum out of his misery.

Define misery.

Me thinks, he is doing just fine. I am not about to play gods (thor or spaghetti monster, or your preferred synonym)..if something bigger and faster gets the poor guy, then be it, natural selection at work. Until then, he or she is just fine, thank you very much.

Grackles don't migrate, African Swallows do though ;-) ^^ ^^ ^^ ^^

I have a family of possum in my back yard under the shed.... they come out after I feed the cats and eat the cat-food. when I throw my pail of scraps into the garden for compost, I have to cover the 'dig' with a board and weigh it down with a brick to keep the possums from eating it all.... when the mangoes ripen there are groups of 'coons that appear and take up residence in the trees, between the 'coons and squirrels and possums the mangoes are pretty well devoured before I can get any..... when my huge mulberry tree was loaded this Spring, there were huge flocks of birds swooping in and out eating the berries, someone identified them as Cedar Waxwings.... pretty little things. I always say 'live and let live'.... it's odd that the complaint abt. the Grackles follows the complaint abt. the cat getting the birds at the feeder , apparently the cat was not going after the Grackles or there would have been no complaint, (with the threat of sudden-death) ... first for the cat, and now for the Grackles-birds ..... we all need to 'lighten-up'.....sally

Here is a video of a cat and a crow that a friend of ours sent us a few years ago, this might help some people lighten up a bit on the animals that visit their yards. It's well worth watching.

Lou

Here is a link that might be useful: Cat & Crow

How cool is that? Thanks for the video link.

lou, sometimes you surprise me, sometimes you don't. but that was a cool video. soft spot somewhere for the critters???

Soft spot for critters? oh yeah. I feed a number of feral cats. Kitties are my soft spot. The raccoons built their burrow under my pile of scrap steel (smart little suckers) because they knew I'd never take the time to move it to get to them. My paint ball gun is the worse I'll use on them. Usually I will build some sort of barrier to keep the critters out of my growing areas.

Lou

There was a special on TV abt. the intelligence of Crows, how they can reason, like humans, and use tools... the conclusion was that they have as much intelligence as much higher creatures, Chimpanzees....very interesting documentary.......sally

Ugh! Just found another dead black snake in the net protecting my little mango tree that only has three fruit on it. This net has done a good job of protecting what little mangoes I now have. Maybe I'll get to eat them after all.
So, as soon as I post this, I gotta grab my scissors, set up a lawn chair in the shade, pull the net off the tree, and begin the odious job of removing the dead snake.
Ugh!

Why not do as the GWer suggested and get SCREENING.... sally

brute, hunt down puglover's recent post. She copied an idea from Trini and makes screen bags for the individual fruits. Sounds like a pretty good idea.

I like our black racer snakes. As long as they are around we don't have much trouble with mice. I have one living in my veggie patch. We surprised each other awhile back. About one foot apart we were. Snake gave me what'fors for being in his/her domain.

I don't have any grackles around here. Guess I can thank our resident hawk family.

~dianne

Lou, you crack me up! I had an old neighbor once in the country who shot a red-tailed hawk who came after his chickens. Wildlife had just released them a year earlier in a repopulation project. I told the wildlife guy at the time he was releasing them in the wrong area, that they would all be dead soon. He said that a lot of people would be in jail if they were. Nobody ever went to jail. The hawks caught on and moved elsewhere. I heard they were seen in Aiken, about 30 miles down the road, where they raise horses, not chickens, and love hawks because they eat the barn mice. Birds are smarter than we think they are.

It's sad that we can't protect our crops from migratory marauders, but rich people can breed doves and foxes by the hundreds and shoot them on a yearly basis for "sport".

FWIW, I've done some borderline illegal stuff to protect my garden when I lived in the country, and I purposely put net on my chicken coops to kill the snakes. I like snakes...in their place...but chickens are not as cheap to raise as some people think.

brute: I do not understand your connection between kids eating a Happy Meal and slitting animal's throats.

Normally beef cattle are given a shot with a stun gun and then killed instantaneously. Traumatized meat is not a desired end product.
McDonald's Corporation continues to implement animal welfare programs.
Audits conducted by McDonalds Corporation have motivated the beef industry to improve handling and stunning of cattle.
Your flawed connection between a judge and a criminal is off base.
We can thank Temple Grandin for bringing humane treatment to all livestock.
There is plenty of room for improvement through education and training of handlers and processing plants. It is not a perfect system by any means.
Most Florida Beef ranchers do try to treat their cattle as humanely as possible.
I think most GWs also try to treat both wild and domesticated animals humanely as well.

Gatormomx, no offense, but your defense of the cattle industry is way off base. All livestock is not treated humanely and McDonald's buys from the lowest bidder. They don't go out and inspect the farms where they get their meat. They buy through brokers, who don't go out and inspect the farms. I don't know jack about Florida cattle farmers, but where I come from, Food, Inc. is a reality. It's sad and pathetic how these beautiful animals are treated so that people can have lamb chops and veal steaks. Do you know what a fecal bath is? Look it up, and I'll bet you'll never eat another store-bought factory processed chicken.

Brute, after reading this thread, I agree
"Damned if you do and damned if you don't"

Gardengimp...Here's the picture you're talking about, this is the idea I got from Trini.

As I wrote before, there is room for improvement.
Tremendous room for improvement.
You are correct that horrendous conditions are the norm in many other places.
This is WRONG- period.
We try our best to raise healthy plants and crops in Florida
and we also strive to raise the healthiest and happiest beef cattle in Florida.
We each do the best we can and learn from each other.
That's why this forum is an important source of garden information.
I never knew I could gift wrap my fruit to protect it from critters.
What a fabulous idea!

Food Inc is simply another example of wrapping a small amount of truth around a huge lie so the gullible will gobble it down and repeat the lies to further the film makers agenda. That movie has about as much basis in fact as the Easter bunny.