Won't Someone Rid Me of these Meddlesome Birds?

November 24, 2008 9:35 AM

Please give me tips and tricks for scaring away or chasing away wild turkeys. This is in Southern Ontario (Cambridge).

My mom works at a palliative cancer hospice. It is a lovely place, with bird feeders set up outside each hospice room, so the residents can watch the birds and squirrells and other wildlife as they move around and eat. Each room also has large sliding doors (with screens), leading to a patio, that open so in the warm months the residents can get wheeled out in their beds and be outside for a bit.
Recently a family of four wild turkeys has moved in. They are amusing the residents (except one, who thought they were vultures), but they're scaring away the other (less intrusive) birds and, more importantly, fouling up the patios and walkways, and scratching up the cars of visitors, employees, visiting doctors, volunteers etc. as they apparantly like to roost on the cars. They are also pecking at the sliding doors. At the moment, the doors are closed because its cold, but there is a worry that with warmer weather, if they're still around, they'll peck right through the screens, or if the resident is wheeled outside, that they'll wander in. These turkeys are definately not afraid of people.
My mom called the animal welfare people, and they told her she could "chase them with a broom but not hit them" and employ noisemakers to scare them. She's tried both, and they've come back.


I need as many ideas for getting rid of/permanently scaring/dealing with these turkeys as possible. They are a protected species, so shooting them is out. But any other ideas? Animal welfare has not been terribly helpful.

posted by sandraregina to pets & animals (13 comments total)

Can you hire someone to trap them and then take them far away?
posted by Alison at 9:42 AM on November 24, 2008

Oddly, this was recently covered. The most effective method seems to be tethering a loud dog, though you'd have to make sure it scared them enough to not get within snapping distance. Squirting them with a hose sounds pretty effective too.
posted by zoomorphic at 9:44 AM on November 24, 2008

You could give a call to this place. They won't be free, but it's worth a phone call.
posted by Alison at 9:44 AM on November 24, 2008

With chickens their main weakness is that they are lethargic most of the night, so you can just show up in the dark and move them or whatever. I haven't raised turkeys specifically, but this is the direction I'd be leaning in. Keep an eye on them at dusk and figure out where they go, and if you can snatch them in the dark it will be a simple matter to rehome them. The only problem is they might end up 20 or 30 ft up in a tree, but half the work of catching them is done when they're still. I would be careful of course as a turkey can put up a fight.
posted by crapmatic at 9:49 AM on November 24, 2008

Oh -- and your other option is to net them and carry them off.
posted by crapmatic at 9:50 AM on November 24, 2008

The Massachusetts state government indicates that spraying water may be effective. How about rigging up a rotary sprinkler (with optional remote control)? Just turn on the water whenever the turkeys show up. Over time, they'll learn to stay away.

Other solutions, such as nets and electronic bird repellers, may not be suitable for your situation because they would deter all birds rather than just the turkeys. The repellers would probably bother the residents, too.

A predator kite might work, but you'd need a lot of airspace and appropriate wind conditions. They're also kind of expensive.
posted by jedicus at 9:50 AM on November 24, 2008

Open cans of cranberry sauce?

String a line from tee to tree about two or three feet above the ground in the perimeter of the area. Attach strips of shiny mylar, wind chimes, etc. Better still would be some motion activated noise makers.
posted by Gungho at 9:53 AM on November 24, 2008

predator kite won't work unless the birds are flying in on a daily basis.
posted by Gungho at 9:54 AM on November 24, 2008

Hmm....I've always been delighted when turkeys showed up at my feeder, because they're hilarious to watch. However, we have a nearby garden which is fenced in with fine plastic netting to keep deer out, and the turkeys are always getting confused and scared by the mesh.

I think if you were to fence in the bird feeding area with 6-8 ft high netting, you could keep the turkeys out. I would recommend something like this product from Agway (unfortunately I'm not sure exactly what product we used, but it was similar to this). It isn't too much of an eyesore either; since it is quite fine netting it's hard to see at a distance. Other birds seem to have no problem getting in and out of the mesh - we always have goldfinches inside the netted-in garden eating seeds from our sunflowers.

Good luck!
posted by Salvor Hardin at 10:07 AM on November 24, 2008

Whoops - you probably don't want that netting I linked to there - it's specifically designed to keep out birds. You want some netting that has at 2"x2" holes or larger so the songbirds can fit through.
posted by Salvor Hardin at 10:09 AM on November 24, 2008

Try borrowing an active herding-type dog like is used on some golf courses to get rid of geese. Very entertaining to watch.
posted by mightshould at 10:37 AM on November 24, 2008

If you haven't already, remove all the food until you get this figured out. If they have no reason to stay, it will be easier to get them out and to greener pastures.

I like the dog idea, so long as the dog won't bite the patients, but maybe just letting him wizz around the area will make them nervous enough to leave.

Mothballs make most animals want to leave, although they also make me want to leave.
posted by wrnealis at 10:41 AM on November 24, 2008

Follow up information - the water was shut off and the hoses put away a few weeks ago when the snow first came. So that solution will have to wait.
Dogs have been borrowed; they worked for a short time, but the turkeys just flew up into the trees and waited until the dogs left, and then they came back. They are very pushy, these turkeys.
Noisemakers and mothballs are being employed. We shall see how that works.
posted by sandraregina at 7:45 AM on December 2, 2008