How do I scare Rooks away?

[Neil D]

Hi there! Does anyone know of an inexpensive way of scaring away rooks? I have a farm and the rooks in their hundreds gather around the animal paddocks to steal the animal food. They sit on the fences and sh*t all over the rails - what a mess!

I have seen expensive electronic scarers on the internet but I do not want to take the risk and buy one if it is not effective. I am looking for a cheap alternative. Any suggestiona will be very, very gratefully received! Many Thanks, Neil.

[Clanad]

This is a difficult problem, but a neighbor used this product:

http://www.bird-x.com/index.html and had pretty good results.  Be sure to read the accompanying articles.  I'm supposing this or a similar product would be available in the U.K.

Good luck!

[judypark]

This may sound simplistic, but have you tried a scarecrow? It worked for me in a large garden full of veg, I made a femail version, with long flowing blonde wig c/o local charity shop. Also mounted her on a pivot so that she spun in the wind, lots of flappy clothing. Alternatively, you could try displaying a tatty furry thing, ie, old fluffy toy, which to a crow will look like a dead bird, this will be a deterrent, good luck.  Judy

[the-fitchess]

I bought 1000 brown paper bags and go out to the garden every hour of daylight in feb and early march, blow up the bag and bang it - it scares the rooks away and with luck they nest elsewhere. it does work but it is very time consuming. 300 rooks have moved into the wood behind our house and the noise is awful, as is the mess on my washing etc etc