No more grackles

[My wife's pool boy]

Put out the reinforcement last night.
You should have heard the commotion in the trees early this morning.
Minimal poop on the rails.
So far so good.

Oh wow, that's awesome!!! Fingers crossed it continues to improve!!!

 

[mariane]

Working good.
No poop on the dead bird side. The wooden decoy duck - not much of a deterrent but definitely much less mess.
The dismembered one goes out tonight.

 

[My wife's pool boy]

Working good.
No poop on the dead bird side. The wooden decoy duck - not much of a deterrent but definitely much less mess.
The dismembered one goes out tonight.

Woo-hoo - that's awesome! I like how you're escalating things... when those grackles see the dismembered one, they should really flip out!
It'll be your neighbors you'll have to start worrying about next! "No really, these aren't actually dead birds!"

 

[W.J.Christy]

Interesting first morning results for me. I put the crow out last night and went out this morning. It was eerily quiet. Birds are usually on the power lines, my fence, and or hopping around the yard. Not this morning, they where everywhere else anywhere else but around my yard and it was quiet.

 

[mariane]

This is the best grackle war news to hear.
And in your case, not to "hear" anything.
Mine's working too.
Thanks @My wife's pool boy

 

[W.J.Christy]

@My wife's pool boy thank you!

 

[kimkats]

This is nice to read but kind of eerie as well! Who knew birds would react that strongly to see one of their kind "dead"??

 

[TKpoolOH]

I ordered my dead crow “grackle deterrent and it arrives tomorrow. Amazing how quick they’ve flocked to a new pool. Funny thing is at our previous house and pool, I don’t recall a single grackle and any bird droppings on the pool deck. It is a catch 22 though because my wife thinks the grackles are pretty, which I agree, but no bird is pretty enough to make a mess!

 

[W.J.Christy]

I ordered my dead crow “grackle deterrent and it arrives tomorrow. Amazing how quick they’ve flocked to a new pool. Funny thing is at our previous house and pool, I don’t recall a single grackle and any bird droppings on the pool deck. It is a catch 22 though because my wife thinks the grackles are pretty, which I agree, but no bird is pretty enough to make a mess!

It wont get rid of them completely. They will still be around. Just at a further distance.

I need to move mine tonight. Keep em guessing.

 

[TKpoolOH]

I got one!!!! Dead crow that is. There were 6 grackles checking it out this morning and flew away. The finches don’t seem bothered by it. We will see how it does!

 

[Oreodane]

Thanks so much and glad to hear it's still working.
I've put in my order on Amazon. Thanks for wishing us luck.
View attachment 489203

That looks familiar. We retired to Florida 3 years ago from Marquette. We also had a grackle war. I don't have any success strategy to add. We have a lanai in Florida that keeps grackles away (yes, we have them here, too).

 

[Buggsw]

I'm ordering a fake dead crow, for sure. Several times in the past 2 or 3 months I've found a dead bird in my pool. I'm thinking they are the "grackles" people are talking about here. It's been so weird to find so many I was beginning to wonder if someone wasn't poisoning birds or something like the avian flu was causing them to drop dead right into my pool. Well, today I went to check the skimmer basket, took the lid off and 3 of them flew out of the skimmer and another one was dead. Scared the heck out of me. And boy were they upset. Not sure how they are getting in like that. So strange.

 

[TKpoolOH]

I've never heard of birds going into the skimmer. Talk about One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest!

 

[mariane]

What I have recently discovered/experienced: something is knocking the dead birds off the rail either during the night or early in the morning. I've been finding them on the ground. Is it the ducks or the grackles dive bombing them?
So, I hooked the feet in the rail where the edges overlap. Now they stand up vs. lay down.



So far still better than before.
We also have ducks that frequent the pool every morning. They ignore the neighbor's dog and our garden hose.

I'm ordering a fake dead crow, for sure. Several times in the past 2 or 3 months I've found a dead bird in my pool. I'm thinking they are the "grackles" people are talking about here. It's been so weird to find so many I was beginning to wonder if someone wasn't poisoning birds or something like the avian flu was causing them to drop dead right into my pool. Well, today I went to check the skimmer basket, took the lid off and 3 of them flew out of the skimmer and another one was dead. Scared the heck out of me. And boy were they upset. Not sure how they are getting in like that. So strange.

Grackles will drop their dead baby birds in the water.

I'm ordering a fake dead crow, for sure.

Also, once you get them remember to move them daily.
I'm beginning to think the fake crow is a deterrent, not necessarily that it looks dead.

 

[TKpoolOH]

I'm beginning to think the fake crow is a deterrent, not necessarily that it looks dead.

Was thinking along the same lines because they definitely are curious about it.

 

[Buggsw]

What I have recently discovered/experienced: something is knocking the dead birds off the rail either during the night or early in the morning. I've been finding them on the ground. Is it the ducks or the grackles dive bombing them?
So, I hooked the feet in the rail where the edges overlap. Now they stand up vs. lay down.

View attachment 493381

So far still better than before.
We also have ducks that frequent the pool every morning. They ignore the neighbor's dog and our garden hose.

Grackles will drop their dead baby birds in the water.

Also, once you get them remember to move them daily.
I'm beginning to think the fake crow is a deterrent, not necessarily that it looks dead.

None of the birds I've found were babies. They looked full grown to me. I will move the dead crow regularly. What is interesting now that I think about it, I'm seeing a lot fewer pigeons lately. I wonder if the grackles are a deterrent to pigeons.

 

[revitup]

Would this work for other pool pests? Wonder if I can get a dead raccoon?

 

[mariane]

Would this work for other pool pests? Wonder if I can get a dead raccoon?

Oh no!
Be aware. Raccoon poop is toxic due to a nasty parasite. If it gets in the pool, you have a big job cleaning it.
We have raccoons too.
Maybe a fake hawk might work.
We also have real hawks, turkey vultures, rats, mice, possum, grackles, squirrel, rabbits, deer, coyote, pigeons, groundhogs, but no snakes.
We live in the city just north of Detroit.
Who knew . . . .

 

[mariane]

None of the birds I've found were babies. They looked full grown to me. I will move the dead crow regularly. What is interesting now that I think about it, I'm seeing a lot fewer pigeons lately. I wonder if the grackles are a deterrent to pigeons.

Maybe. We have less pigeons this year too.

 

[JR1980]

It’s only been a day of putting out my decoy dead crow, my floating alligator, and my reflection tape, but what a difference. Went from a constant attack to 3 scattered hits. Last night I upped the count and put out crow number 2. We’ll see what today brings. I don’t want to jinx it but if this works this thread will have been the reason. So thank you to all of you for your advice.

This is my first full summer with a pool (finished install last year in July), so I had no ideas what a grackle was until they ruined the past month for us). Hopefully they’ve moved on for the year with some help from our crows and next year I’ll be ready!