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Starling eradication from dairy barns / farms

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jdanvers

jdanvers

Member
Jul 7, 2019
925
319
South Central Upstate NY, United States
Those of you who pest on farm property / specifically *in* barns using a really tuned down, low power rifle to less than 10 ft/lbs - I'm running 8 ft/lbs right now and even that is a little "hot". Pigeons - they're dumber than bricks and easy pickins and big enough so easy to hit. I've taken out a LOT of them recently at a property that has a "bird issue". This farmer has an equally big, if not bigger starling issue. As the numbers of pigeons do seem to be coming down I decided to 'recon' the one barn where the starlings are prevalent. These are going to be far more challenging to wack as they are uber twitchy compared to the pigeons or, simply put, way smarter. I simply walked in and they just started bolting. For real - I don't think I could get within 40 yards of them - they're just way to twitchy. I guess I've gotten spoiled picking off all of the dumb low hanging fruit . . . the pigeons. ( lol )

As the gun is tuned down so low - .177 m-rod @8 ft/lbs shooting 10.3's - I don't like / trust its accuracy or hitting power much beyond 40 yards. I know for a fact that it's good out to 30 - 35 yards as I've knocked down a bunch of the aforementioned dumb pigeons but the starlings - aiy. As mentioned - they won't allow me to even get 'close' to them at all.

I do have night vision capability - I had a rat problem in my own barn a few years ago. I googled a little bit on nocturnal habits of starlings - they do (apparently) roost / "sleep" in the evenings. I'm wondering if I might have some success taking them out via this route? ( go to the property after dark )

Have any of you eradicated a number of starlings from inside of barns? If so - how? Did you have power concerns - ie; not punching holes through tin roofs? I'm in Upstate NY and the weather is - well - not conducive to sitting still in one place outside of the barn and trying to pick them off. Inside the barn - it ain't so bad - sheltered from the wind and it's even a ~little~ warmer - not much - but a little.

Curious - thanks folks . . . 

-=- jd -=-


 
 @jdanvers, at one dairy I was killing at least 100 starlings per night. I was using a red light on my Compatto and they were easy pickings. Even with the transfer port on its lowest setting. My setup was too hot, eventually got a pp700sa which I used as a mini carbine. It's been an excellent ratter but also too much for shooting up into the rafters. Today I took out four starlings from the rafters with my Crosman 1701p mini carbine all at sub twenty yards. Misses don't even dent the roof. Starlings didn't know what hit them. 
 
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If you really want to help the farmer out look up Agrilaser on the net. Study this a bit and you can do the same thing with a laser that won't cost you more than $30...not the $600 plus units they sell. I have cleared out two barns with no returning Starlings. Figure out the laser by doing some studying. Even with the llights on I drove the starlings out the end of the barn at night and they haven't come back. Lasers are as dangerous as a rifle. Permanet blindness if you are using anything more powerful than a lecture type pointer laser and get it in the eye. ANYTHING that can reflect light, stainless steel milk tank, a window, a puddle of water, can get that laser reflecting and hitting where you wouldn't expect it, like in your eye. Cows in the barn can also be blinded by the laser. I spent $50 on laser safety glasses to protect myself. You have to get glasses that match the nano meter of the color laser you are using. Green is the most visible and the birds see that moving towards them and they fly away. I have hearded my neighbors free ranging chickens away from my property. They were so afraid they started to fly to get away from the laser. Problem is I screwed up two permissions with nothing more to shoot at. But the farrmer didn't lose and calfs this year from the poop left by the Starlings. That's more help than blasting a few starlings with a PCP. but not nearly as much fun.
 
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Turning down / off the lights . . genius!! I'll have to talk with my farmer and see if I can do / test this. This guy is shooting a little lighter ammo than me - 8g's vs my 10.3's . . . perhaps a little faster / flatter trajectory. Good stuff - thanks for the find.
Click to expand...

As others have said getting the farmer to turn off all the lights will help in two ways. First if using night vision you will get a better and clearer image when shooting. Next will no lights for the starlings to navigate and fly away they will tend to stay in place and inside the building. So not only is it important to turn off all lights inside the building but also those of nearby buildings to prevent any light allowing them to see and leave the building. I am using different airguns in .22 cal. and try to keep the power from 12 to 14 fpe. The larger head diameter of the 22 cal. will do less damage to tin roofs compared to the .177 cal. with the same fpe because of the larger head diameter. However the .177 cal should be fine as long as you are not shooting at a ninety degree angle to the tin. Another tip is if you can find an accurate pellet in a wadcutter or hollow point style head they will penetrate less than a dome head pellet. Of course the best situation to avoid tin damage is to shoot the starling while sitting on a wide support beam of have a rafter in the background while shooting at an angle. Bill

PS the other thing is to have as many pre-loaded magazines that you can afford because reloading them in the dark is hard and slows down the action. I will also take a small pen light with a colored lens to give me just enough light to reload magazines when needed.
 
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