Controling English Sparrows

I've never had a problem with English Sparrows in over
30 year at this place but the last few years they showed up???
I know they spread disease to livestock and I raise
ducks, chickens and geese.
I use to leave food setting outside for my fowl but even
after I stopped doing that the Sparrows found the tiniest openings
and got into my birds coop. So after plugging every hole they still
hang out around my place looking for any possible morsel that
might get dumped out.
They poo all over everything, their constant chirping is annoying
and I would really like to get rid of them.
Are there any decoys that scare sparrows like crows or owls
and what else could I do to get rid of them?
Any tips appreciated!

Hi Rose, I also have a problem with sparrows eating the food/grain put out for my chickens and guineas. Every year the population of sparrows increases. The only thing that helps is to just put out enough grain at a time that the chickens and guineas will eat it all. I try to be near by while they eat (usually checking for eggs, refilling the water bowls, cleaning out the sleeping area of the coop) so my presence discourages the sparrows from sneaking in to steal food. This is a hassle sometimes when the weather is bad, though. I sure hope somebody else gives you a good/useful answer to your question.
I

You can get sparrow traps. They nest in our Purple Martin houses. They're awful and persistent.
Then, there's the pellet gun.

Yep, they nest in our purple martin house too. Unfortunately, I haven't got the best aim and might hit a chicken instead of the sparrow if I tried to shoot them. The sparrow trap is an idea I'll look into. Thanks!

Get a high powered scope on your pellet gun!
Check out the website below. There's a lot of information about house sparrows.

http://www.sialis.org/hosp.htm

Wow! I didn't realize how much of a problem sparrows are. I will be taking steps to keep them from nesting around my yard. Thank you for the web site.

These misguided attitudes are precisely why our native British sparrow is endangered! Please leave them alone!

Pajonica, the English Sparrows are far from endangered in the United States.

I'm going to get a sparrow trap.
Thanks all for the advise and links.

So the attitude is I don't like it so I'll kill it!

Sparrows are an invasive pest bird over here, to the point that groups like the North American Bluebird Society (who presumably love birds in general) advocate humanely dispatching them http://www.nabluebirdsociety.org/sparrowcontrol.htm So it's not about if you don't like it kill it, it's because of the impact that it has on other native birds, etc that it needs to be controlled (and unfortunately controlling by relocating the birds doesn't really fix anything, it just moves the problem) In other areas of the world I'm sure it's a perfectly lovely bird, but over here it's a real problem.

pajonica, did you read the information on the above websites??
I wish we could send them all to your country! :)

The best way to control house sparrows is don't put out feed for them. these birds will eat anything. I trap house sparrows to help protect my bluebirds and tree swallows. its not easy getting rid of a male house sparrow. you have to know how to move in on him. the female is easy to get but she is useless anyway. the male is the one you have to get.

I the UK the house sparrow has been in decline for the last 25 years, we have them in Japan. I'm told they are in decline here too. Sorry to hear they are such a problem in the US.

house sparrows might be on decline in some countries but their decline is hardly putting a dent in their population. house sparrows can have 3 nest per season. average nest is 5 babies. in the US we have seen some decline but not enough to harm them. it was a big mistake to bring them here from England. the only good thing I can say about them is they are a nice song bird to listen to.

Sound pretty?? OMGosh! Their constant squeaking drives us crazy. The house wren's constant yaking is a pain also.
"you have to move in on him" could you explain that? We trapped one male house sparrow, but there's always one to take his place. We have used the van ert trap. You are right the male is the one you have to get.

in order to move in on a house sparrow you cant let him see you. if he see you putting a trap in the box hes going to be hard to get. i get them all with the same trap you use but it can take some time. I wait to he goes away for a few minutes. I sneak out to put the trap in the box. go in the house and wait to I see the flag go up. sometimes I have to wait till dark to put in the trap. in the mourning when I get up hes in the box.

Well, maybe that's why we're not catching that little stinker! He's watching us! I read that you should not look them in the eye. So, they don't stay in the nests at night??

If you see a male house sparrow sitting on top of a birdhouse he is calling in the female to help him build a nest. A lot of people take out the nest and throw it on the ground. he turns around and builds a new nest. if you keep cleaning out his nest. he is going to get very aggressive and take and destroy other nest in the area. its very important to get him as soon as possible. if you let him build a nest the female will take over and the same male will go out and destroy some other bird nest to call in another female to build her nest. if he see you going around his box he is going to be very spooky of you. you can still get him but it will take more time. all males can be caught and destroyed if you are patient. one way to get him really mad is stick some nesting material out the bird hole. put up another nest box with trap in it close to the one he wants. you have 2 boxes now for him to play with. A house sparrow wont let another bird nest next to him. he will take over all boxes. The best time to trap one is early morning or late afternoon. if you cant get him before dark put in the trap at dark with some nesting material sticking out the hole put in the trap and cover it with more nesting material. coming morning. if you see the red tot on the trap. cover the box with a clear plastic heavy trash can bag. rap the bag around the house so he cant get out when you open the box to let him fly in the bag. make sure you have the male. corner him in the plastic bag.squeeze him to death. if you have the female kill her too. the male will come back and call here but shes dead anyway. he will keep calling to another female comes in. you have to get that male. over one nesting season if you can kill one male you have destroyed about 15 baby sparrows two males 30 babies. that's why its very important to destroy all male house sparrows.

Thanks for the very good information. We are going to try this. Our male house sparrow has been sharing the purple martin houses all summer. We have tried and tried to get rid of him. We trapped one, but another showed up.

I vision your martin house has 10 or more holes in the house. A house sparrow wont live with other birds. do you still have martins in those other holes. if you cant get rid of this sparrow try to shoot him. if that don't work take it down altogether. I wont let any sparrow live in my boxes. what I don't like about those martin homes you cant put a trap in those commercial homes. you have to build one yourself to get a trap to fit in them. martin homes have 2 inch holes. you can have starlings too. when you have those birds they destroy everything. try putting up a new box with a trap next to the house hes using now. he might get tempted to go in that box and see whats going on. if he has a female with him now this will make him more protective. get rid of that nest and make him aggressive. plug up those martin holes and make him use the new box with the trap in it. I know you can get rid of him. these birds are too aggressive to turn down a box. you have to out smart him. you have an old sparrow here. he can be caught and destroyed. like I said before I get rid of all of them. go to this site. you will find some bird experts that know how to deal with any bird problem.

http://bluebirdnutcafe.yuku.com/

It is very bad karma to "squeeze him to death" ! We don't own these birds - they are not ours to destroy because it suits our convenience. Changing the environment to discourage them, reducing the food that is attracting them if possible, and learning to live with parts of nature that do not profit us - these are reasonable steps to take. But wholesale killing because they do not fit our view of what is "desirable" - not good, people. What goes around comes around.

Oh dear! I'm sorry our native sparrows are proving such a pest over the pond. Still, you gave us grey squirrels, Colorado beetles, and American gooseberry mildew; so the traffic is not one way. ( Written with tongue firmly in cheek.)

house sparrows destroy all birds that compete with them for nest boxes. no other bird is more destructive than a male house sparrow. bluebirds, tree swallows don't kill for a nest box. a male sparrow will kill for no reason . watch the male sparrow when he feeds at your bird feeder. no other birds will get near him. it was a big mistake bringing them to the united states. they almost wiped out our bluebird population. if it wasn't for birders like me and other people that's trying to bring back our bluebirds your house sparrows would've taken over other bird populations too. our tree swallows would be in trouble too along with other birds that like to nest. house sparrows kill robins too. I had one last year take out a robin nest. the sparrow killed all the babies and destroyed the nest. guess what I got that sparrow. only good thing I can say about a house sparrow is they make good hawk bait.

:)!! :)!!! :)!!!

GOT HIM!!! Jubilation! This male sparrow finally gave up temporarily on the purple martin nests and went to the empty bluebird house where the bb had raised two clutches. Now, they're no where in sight. I had run out of meal worms and poof they're gone.
The male sparrow chirped loudly for two days and bingo, a female. They started building a nest immediately. The second day of nest building we put the trap out at night, like Ray suggested. Between 7 and 8, we caught him.
That's the good news--.
Here's the bad news:
Then by 3 pm, we had another male sparrow take over the nest. :( My husband re-set the trap. I wished he had waited until night to re-set the trap. I hope we will be able to get this one.

don't worry that sparrow will be back if he wants the box. it sounds to me you have a house sparrow problem in your area. I suggest you get a ground trap and go to work on the new sparrow population. if you have a feeding station this would be a good area to put in the trap. you will clean out the new house sparrows and females that hatched new babies this spring. they will be very easy to get. the males wont go near the ground trap now. I done this two years ago with my ground trap. I cleaned out about 150 baby house sparrows that summer. today my work has paid off for me. keep cleaning out the males now. get the babies too. it will make life easier for you and your birds in the future.

Ray, could you please direct me to a source for a ground feeding trap??

I use this one.

http://www.sparrowtraps.net/

if you want to learn how to use it go right here.

http://bluebirdnutcafe.yuku.com/

the ladies have a discussion on it right now.

Thanks, I'll check this out.

I must say they are persistent or can get in incredibly small holes!
I have an old rickety shed that I put some of my ducks in (and where we feed them at night) that we've reinforced to cover any holes and they're still getting in!
I bonked 3 with a shovel the other day in the shed.
I'm ordering the sparrow trap today.
Won't be able to report back because I'm not renewing my DG subscription.
Thanks mucho for all the links and advise!
Happy Summer 2010!

This message was edited Jun 30, 2010 1:45 PM

Cottagerose: I hate to hear you are leaving us. Take care of all your fowl and flowers!

Update: Got TWO more. A male and a female. Now, we actually have peac and quiet out there. We can watch the purple martins without worrying about the pesky house sparrows. Hopefully, this will be the end of this story!
Thanks Ray for you advice. The big tip was to put the trap up at night after they had gone to roost.

Wow! You are pretty good at that, birder17. I have a bunch more if you need to stay in practice LOL!

NOOOOO thankyou!! It has taken us all spring and summer to catch that first sparrow. When he finally gave up the purple marten house and moved to the empty bluebird house, we were able to put the Van Ert trap inside. Then, when Ray told us to do it at night, that was the clincher. Good Ridince and I sure hope we don't see anymore.