Blackbirds/Grackles

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mariane said:
For your reading pleasure:

opening and bird poop

I am hoping for people's opinions re: opening with bird problems. Here is our situation and question: We wait till June to take off the pool cover and open because we have birds that clean their nest and drop baby bird poop all over the top rails and into the water. If the cover is on they drop...
www.troublefreepool.com www.troublefreepool.com
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Wow. No words.
 
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mariane said:
Yup. Every Spring. Hoping since this year was less of a mess, I might remember how to fight next year.
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I've been watching my pool like a hawk since your response and about six times I saw the same bird drop the sacks out of it's mouth. Twice in the pool and a few times on the pool deck.
 
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mrcoolbluepool said:
How the heck do you stop these birds from dropping there hatchlings feces in your pool.
For those who don't know, they make sacks of there young ones Crud and drop them in water to protect the smell from would be predators. I bought scare ballons and they laughed at them!! I tried owl decoys yea right!! I tried mylar streamers. Now I am on a mission anyone know what works? I feel like Bill Murray in the movie Caddyshack. Oh and my daughters want me to play nice :lol:
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Last year we started using an ultrasonic sound device and at the same time harassed them with BB gun. It seemed that they left shortly after this started but not sure why or was it just time to move on. This year we have been harassing them for the last 4 weeks. We have evergreen trees running along the back of the yard where are in ground pool is. Anytime we see them in the trees we shoot up into the trees repeatedly to prevent them from nesting. We are not killing or injuring them, just consistent harassment with low power BB. We will see if this works.
 
I found this forum when googling for this problem but specifically because our bird bath is getting filled with these gross fecal sacs. The bird bath is like 8 feet from our inground pool. A few dropped in our pool but a much much more in the bird bath. After reading this thread I'm wondering if the bird bath is more attractive to them and I should be thankful. For now it's a bird toilet. So maybe put out a bird bath or maybe even a bucket of water?
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mrcoolbluepool said:
How the heck do you stop these birds from dropping there hatchlings feces in your pool.
For those who don't know, they make sacks of there young ones Crud and drop them in water to protect the smell from would be predators. I bought scare ballons and they laughed at them!! I tried owl decoys yea right!! I tried mylar streamers. Now I am on a mission anyone know what works? I feel like Bill Murray in the movie Caddyshack. Oh and my daughters want me to play nice :lol:
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BB gun works the best. Need practice but I'm ahead 9 to 0 vs the birds! They know not to come around anymore. Been 2 years now, no mess.
 
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Just about every webpage I've seen about getting rid of grackles mentions how they're protected under the Federal Migratory Bird Treaty Act. Seems unnecessary for these birds, but it is what it is. I have no idea how it's enforced, but in my suburban world shooting birds in my yard would definitely bring a lot of attention.
 
bgiord90 said:
I have no idea how it's enforced, but in my suburban world shooting birds in my yard would definitely bring a lot of attention.
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GrackleHunter said:
. . . . . . . Anytime we see them in the trees we shoot up into the trees repeatedly to prevent them from nesting. We are not killing or injuring them, just consistent harassment with low power BB. We will see if this works.
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Shooting into the trees, not trying to hit one :salut:
 
We have had this problem for years. I have tried nearly everything with no luck. It's exasperating as the pool and deck are a complete mess. This year I put on a solar cover and it helps keep allot of the mess out of the pool. How I'm going to get the cover off to hose it off without everything dropping back into the pool will be another matter. I have a few ideas so I will see what works best. Unfortunately, the only thing to do I have learned is wait it out. It usually lasts a few weeks in the spring and then it stops.
 
Glad to see I’m not alone in the Grackle battle. I did take out the nests while they were building for a couple years, but with the trees getting larger and the Grackles getting more numerous, it becomes an impossible task. So we deal with it and keep the hose and vacuum handy.
Question for those dealing with it. Has it had a significant impact on keeping your FC up? Just switched to a SWG this year and my FC is constantly depleted. Making quite an investment in liquid chlorine.
 
Yah, we have had the FC problem too. We waited it out a bit this year (till last week of May) and they were pretty much done with the babies and nest clean-outs at that point. :puker:

Funny story: Several years ago we could not pass the OCLT for several days and couldn't figure out why. :scratch: No dead algae clumps. I went out early one morning to check for OCLT. There they were, momma and pappa duck swimming in our pool! (no little ducklings though.) I got out the water hose and sprayed them with a direct hit. Loud squawking and then they took off. Their wing span looked like it could have been 6-7 ft. They never came back.
We passed the OCLT the next day. :party:
 
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