Agricultural Bird Control: All Available Solutions Uncovered
Written by Erick Wolf
The age-old perennial battle of bird versus farmer begins every spring. Despite farmers' best efforts in agriculture bird control, countless birds attack their precious crops each year. Sadly, one of the main reasons for crop failure and loss of income is the result of failing farm bird control. Each season, one of the most prominent challenges farmers face is birds stealing food and income, regardless of the crops.
Thankfully, farmers no longer have to be the victim of this never-ending battle with agriculture bird control. Today, bird control for farms comes armed with an arsenal of effective and safe products.
In this article, we’ll take an in-depth look at bird control for farms, including discussing why it’s important and identifying some of the most popular agriculture bird control methods today.
Why Use Bird Control in Agriculture?
Agriculture bird control is crucial to farms worldwide as the industry has been plagued by birds since the beginning of time.
Reduce Risk of Damage
Birds are notorious for damaging countless items around farms. Aside from consuming and damaging precious crops, birds can also be responsible for:
Damaging vines
Reducing seed spread
Damaging farm equipment
Decrease Costs Associated with Damage
In addition to losing money from consuming crops, damages associated with birds can be costly to farmers. Replacing crops, vines, seeds, and equipment continues to plague farmers each spring.
Increase Safety of Farm Products
As a farmer, promoting safety across your crops is crucial. That’s why agriculture bird control is a pivotal element in increasing safety amongst:
Farm products
Plants
Equipment
In addition to protecting crops, the safety of farm products also includes minimizing the spread of diseases. It’s no secret that the fecal matter of birds can spread disease. The last thing a farmer needs is to deal with the spread of disease through their products due to lacking bird control methods.
Most Popular Agricultural Bird Control Methods
As farms are being developed, agriculture bird control methods should immediately be installed and integrated to avoid issues in the future. Various factors determine the best bird control method for farms, including:
Available resources
The size of the crops
Types of birds in the area
Here are the most popular airport bird control methods available today.
Birth Control
Bird birth control is the most humane option when it comes to bird control for farms. Rather than attacking the live population, birth control acts to limit the capability for the flocks to multiply at rapid, uncontrollable rates.
Bird Netting
One of the oldest forms of agriculture, bird control, comes in the form of mesh bird netting, which creates a physical barrier to prevent birds from landing or nesting. Bird netting is often a popular choice amongst farmers as it is effective in keeping birds out while still allowing sun and rain through, necessary for crop growth.
Although bird netting can be generally effective on farms, it is not the ideal solution for larger, more extensive crops.
Bird Hazer
Emitting a light haze and scent irritating to birds, hazers are a more practical option for protecting large open areas of crops. Farmers enjoy more environmentally friendly alternatives, which offer solar-powered generators. Best of all, bird hazers can cover a large area because multiple hazers can be installed in different locations.
While bird hazers work as a better alternative for large-scale agriculture bird control methods, they can be limited during inclement weather conditions.
Visual Bird Deterrents
Visual bird deterrents work to scare birds away. This version of agriculture bird control can be effective, but never without working alongside another solution.
Examples of visual bird deterrents include:
Trained raptors
Propane cannons
Reflected light sources
Effigies
Sonic and ultrasonic emitters
Bird Spikes
To help keep birds away from specific raised crops, bird spikes come in various splay widths, ranging from one to ten inches. Spikes can help prevent perching in specific areas of farms, but birds will undoubtedly find a way to rest in other locations and feed on crops whenever possible.
Bird Deterrent Sound System
Acoustic devices in the form of a bird deterrent sound system use auditory stimuli to scare away birds. Frighten away birds and protect up to 6 acres of land using powerful electronic noise repellers.
Other options include sound systems that emit a pre-recorded distress and predator call. These calls work against 22 species of birds, intimidating them away from precious crops.
Aromatic Bird Repellent
Aromatic bird repellent work to target perching and loafing areas and come in gel or paste form. This form of agriculture bird control is popular among farmers because it is inexpensive.
Unfortunately, bird repellents can kill smaller birds and can be an unrealistic form of bird control for farms with larger crops.
Why Use OvoControl in Agricultural Bird Control?
You’ll often find that it requires the use of multiple options to get the job done when it comes to finding effective agriculture bird control methods. You might have to get creative, especially in larger, more extensive crops. Thankfully, OvoControl is the new solution to bird control for farms.
How OvoControl Works
Thinking it is food, birds consume OvoControl, which is an edible, kibble-type bird birth control. The formula strictly limits the ability of a pigeon’s egg to develop fully as the birds feed on OvoControl.
Discovered as birth control by accident, the active ingredient, nicarbazin has been used in chickens for enteric diseases for over 65 years. Researchers quickly found nicarbazin interfered with the egg’s vitelline layer, the membrane needed in an egg’s development. As a result, OvoControl integrated nicarbazin to serve as a sterilizer for birds.
Final Thoughts
While there are a few different options for agriculture bird control, they often require multiple solutions and can still not be entirely effective at minimizing crop loss. OvoControl remains one of the most humane and practical solutions to bird control for farms today. Its multiple delivery options make it customizable to any bird population size, while its non-toxic active ingredient ensures humane treatment of the birds.
