bird poo on the washing

20 years ago

I think I've told you all I live in Dicky Beach - on the Sunshine Coast that I recently moved a huge amount of wood into my garden as borders, features and pot plant stands.

Since moving the wood into the backyard the lizard and birdlife has increased ten fold - the lizars feel safe because they have lots of new places to hide and the predatory birds now think our place is safe to hunt. And with eating comes the byproduct - birdpoo - usually on our washing - but so what. With such wonderful birds making our yard their macdonalds, doing an extra load of washing is a pleasure. We've always had infrequent visits from a lot of birds but nothing like we do now. There's a family of three kookaburras and two magpies started to nest nearby. Both lots of birds get one or two of their young to help with raising subsequent broods - at the moment there's a pair of kookaburras with one of last years young and the magpies are a first nest pair.

The kookaburras love chasing the skinks and large grasshoppers (more like locusts) that we get in the garden and the magpies help themselves to all of the grasshoppers the kookas don't eat.

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click on the photos to make them larger

here's a link to australian bird songs so you can hear what these birds have to say

let me know what you think of a little bit of australian garden wildlife.

cheers

tony

Here is a link that might be useful: aussie birdsongs

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Comments (12)

User
20 years ago
Yes its Great to have the birds in your Garden, we have lots here also. Its good to know that you have lots of lizards also and a dog you are lucky as my Rhodesian Ridgebacks would never leave the blue tounges alone when I lived in Melb, and here it was only after my last RR passed away that the bearded dragons came back..As I type this the butcher birds are outside the window whistling away such a beautiful sound..Good link that too.. I heard some type of bell bird yesterday it was so different, good luck with the washing my clothes line is under cover....
Cheers...MM
User
20 years ago
It is a nuisanceTony, but as you say, it's worth it. Mind you, when the neighbours behind us had blackberries for a while it was a different story. Stains like anything! Boy, did I curse the birds then. LOL. :]
Cheers,
Dee.
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I'm a newbie of only a few years but that first year I was REALLY book-smart, LOL! I captured any little chick that had a fleck of poo on its butt and gently washed it off as you did. There was one chick in particular that had the problem and I kept washing. He was one of my roos. I hovered and fretted. Whether it was the poopy butt or my nursing, I think it damaged the feather follicles back there and he never had the nice big rooster feathers on his backside. I do know that chicks can die from being pasty but I think I jumped the gun on all that and didn't use my common sense. Last year I was less worried and this year my chicks came in while I was on an emergency trip to Alaska (son in car accident, fine now). My DH has/had no idea what to do except feed and water them and for once, I had no losses, even in the shipment. These are the best looking chicks I've had so far. I ordered them from Ideal, BTW. I feed chick starter and lots of fresh water as you do. I have 40 chicks that all survived without me nursing them to pieces. They say that once a bird looks sick, it is REALLY sick so I wouldn't want to warn you off of tending to a baby that was pasted over. I just think I over-did the whole thing and didn't let a bit of nature do its own thing. Lori
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Thank you all who have responded to my plea for help here. ___________________________ ----------------------] ] ----------------------] ___________________________ The center area of this rectangle is where the 1-2 year old horse manure/wood chips was spread an inch or so thing then tilled in. Only in this area did my garlic plants do poorly and/or die. The rest of it got manure from a different place. The other source if from a trainer that uses straw pellets as bedding and has a special tool to only pick up the biscuits. I put that stuff down at the same rate. the outside areas a perfect. The ground is a silty light soil, no I didn't do a soil test as I hardly ever do since I plant cover crops to add the N I need. There was something in that stuff that had a very adverse effect on the plants...maybe a certain broadleaf herbicide (curtail) was used on whatever he was feeding, maybe it's the wood chips that changed the soil ph so drastically ??? I might not ever know unless I spend some money to test that soil. From what I've read about horse manure, it has approx 3 lbs N per ton and some of that is lost in transport and whenever it is left out uncovered. So I'm not concerned at all about using that. Kimmsr, you and I have gone round and round about this for a couple years now.. I always appreciate your point of view. I believe I will take Alphonse's advice and obtain a couple loads of said hen droppings and sit on it for a few more months until I plant the next round of peas/vetch/clover this September and let it over winter in the ground. Should be just wonderful be next October '10.
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I think the writer is full of that poop herself. She is perpetuating a common myth without getting out there and gaining her own personal observations from doing her own research. I have been using horse manure for years without the problems that is claimed in the article, I could post many, many pictures of excellent produce from my garden and my worm population has been excellent up until the last drought this past summer which took it's toll on them. However, they are bouncing back now. This following statement is crap too: "Another common problem with horse manure use is that, over time, crops often start showing signs of stunting or slowed growth. Soil tests can explain why. Adding horse manure to garden soil over many years can result in the buildup of toxic levels of magnesium. Because horses have an incomplete digestion system, sometimes large nutrient residues end up in the soil. Non-water-soluble residues such as minerals can be especially troublesome, in part because symptoms of nutrient excess can mimic symptoms of nutrient deficiency. " I just got the results back from two soil tests by a reputable lab and posted the results in another thread on here for all to see. One of them shows the magnesium level as just a bit low and the other one shows it to be medium. Many who have seen some of the many pictures that I have posted would probably agree that I do not have any problems with stunted plants or produce. She probably got her paycheck for the week so all is well, but she should be regarded as a fiction writer. If she is supposed to have credentials as some sort of an expert or knowledgable person, they would be suspect to me. That is my personal opinions, experiences and observations. Bill P.
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Kiwi_oz
20 years ago
Glad I only have sparrows and small birds.
Heather
sunshine_nelly
20 years ago
Hello Paradisi

Nice to have flying visitors isn't it? The birds around here invite themselves into my kitchen ( to eat the cat food). Problem is if they can't find the way out again and fly around pooing on every surface and banging into the windows. Have had to evict quite a few manually.

Last night a possum came in to eat the cat food and decided to stay..........on top of my glass fronted bookcase, still there this morning and am not game to move it along. Will probobly have a poo problem there too.

By the way Paradisi 2 of the pups you gave me are doing very well. Thank you
rosesforme
20 years ago
Hi paradisi

When we moved here there were a lot of trees.These were old huge gums that were not healthy so they had to go.
Meanwhile our neighbour had a tree where the birds used to sit and poop all over the washing.
At least 5-6 items would have to be washed again.
So when we arranged to remove the trees we asked the neighbour if we could remove the tree on his side of the boundary.He was very pleased and now we have no pooping on the washing!
However now that the garden has been restored we have had a new influx of birds,butterflies bees etc.
Its wonderful..I think its because the garden has become healthy again.
cheers
Michelle
goldhills
20 years ago
As you say, probably worth the extra load of washing.

You could try putting a pole, with a branch across the top as a perch, on the other side of the yard and a bit higher than the washing line for the birds to sit on and survey their kingdom. It may keep the washing clean.

The logs look good. What did you use for edging before you put down the logs?
paradisi
Original Author
20 years ago
Hi goldhills - thanks - - I cheated - I used zero to kill what was growing there and just laid the logs straight on the earth ( I know - white ants) we have an active enough ecosystem now going in our yard with the skinks, geckos, legless lizards, various ravenous ants and the latest - an antechinus I'm hoping that they will do what comes naturally and keep any white ants at bay. I lifted a couple of logs in different parts of the garden and no sign yet - when they arrive you should be able to see the wood pile burning from your back yard LOL
User
20 years ago
Paradisi,

I read GH's message as 'what did you use as the garden edge before you got the logs', not as 'what did you put under them'. Which is is GH?

Dee.
paradisi
Original Author
20 years ago
sorry GH (and thanks deejaus) the edging was just spade work and weeding around the grass area - the rest was just one growing area covered in mulch

I got creative with the logs and separated a few smaller beds which makes weeding easier (someone told me last year that cosmos tends to get a bit weedy - your were spot on)

I've put log borders around a cumquat seedling and I swear it's grown six inches since I put the logs in - ditto with my mangosteen/loquat/lychee seedling - I won;t know what that one is until it fruits.
goldhills
20 years ago
Thanks Dee, that's what I meant.

I thinks logs or some sort of edging, seem to finish off a garden bed nicely. We are slowly edging our beds but as they are so long we are having trouble finding enough logs. I don't want to buy timber as we want a more natural look.

As for the plants growing faster, I think the logs help stop water and mulch running off. No doubt you will get termites though. If I see any around I chuck the logs into the chook pen and let the chooks have a feed then get rid of the logs. They are all part of the natural process and as long as they're not near your house and you keep your eyes open you shouldn't have a problem
paradisi
Original Author
20 years ago
goldhills - get in touch with one of the local tree loppers - they usually have to pay tip fees or unload it on a mates property - so you might be saving them money if you offer to take the logs
trancegemini_wa
20 years ago
nice pics paradisi, and isnt it nice when the wildlife gives your garden the big thumbs up? the birds here perch on everything and leave the tell tale bird poo behind, lol. but thankfully they dont perch on the clothesline much but I have one of those parallines which attaches to the side of the house so it's tucked away a bit. maybe that could be your next project making a nice perching stand out of some of your logs to draw them away from the washing?

TG

bird poo on the washing

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