gunDriller
25th July 2015, 12:48 PM
A few years ago when I had 3 chickens, they did a very good job of raking up all the
dry dead grass in my front lawn. Did the whole thing, an area of grass about 40 x 80.
It was covered with balls of dead grass, very easy for me to rake up.
THE QUESTION -
Is it possible to persuade wild birds to scratch (remove dead grass from) a big grassy area ?
It seems like some of them do it naturally -
"there are many different ways birds can gather food.
Scratching: Using one foot or both feet simultaneously to remove or loosen debris from the ground to reveal seeds, bugs or other food. This is a common foraging behavior for many ground-feeding birds, including sparrows, grouse, quail and towhees."
from
http://birding.about.com/od/birdbehavior/fl/Bird-Foraging-Behavior.htm
Here's video of a Towhee. It has a different scratching style than the chickens.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XtLyA7xOZTQ
When the chickens do it, it looks more like people doing some kind of country-western dance.
Anyway I was thinking I would do the experiment. Buy a few pounds of bird seed, like 50 pounds.
When the chickens were scratching, they were very disciplined - focussed on the front yard for like 3 weeks straight.
I don't think wild birds would be like that, but I'm thinking if I spread seed, I will get more birds spending
time there, and while they are there, some of them will scratch.
I have limited control over it, other than to offer them food.
Anyway, do you think wild birds can be persuaded to help with lawn care ?
I think, maybe. If nothing else I'll get a bunch of bird poop on the second lawn that needs the raking.
dry dead grass in my front lawn. Did the whole thing, an area of grass about 40 x 80.
It was covered with balls of dead grass, very easy for me to rake up.
THE QUESTION -
Is it possible to persuade wild birds to scratch (remove dead grass from) a big grassy area ?
It seems like some of them do it naturally -
"there are many different ways birds can gather food.
Scratching: Using one foot or both feet simultaneously to remove or loosen debris from the ground to reveal seeds, bugs or other food. This is a common foraging behavior for many ground-feeding birds, including sparrows, grouse, quail and towhees."
from
http://birding.about.com/od/birdbehavior/fl/Bird-Foraging-Behavior.htm
Here's video of a Towhee. It has a different scratching style than the chickens.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XtLyA7xOZTQ
When the chickens do it, it looks more like people doing some kind of country-western dance.
Anyway I was thinking I would do the experiment. Buy a few pounds of bird seed, like 50 pounds.
When the chickens were scratching, they were very disciplined - focussed on the front yard for like 3 weeks straight.
I don't think wild birds would be like that, but I'm thinking if I spread seed, I will get more birds spending
time there, and while they are there, some of them will scratch.
I have limited control over it, other than to offer them food.
Anyway, do you think wild birds can be persuaded to help with lawn care ?
I think, maybe. If nothing else I'll get a bunch of bird poop on the second lawn that needs the raking.