This Forum will close on Wednesday 27 March, 2024. Please refer to the announcement on the Discussions page for further detail.
Vanishing slug pellets.
spoonycornell
Posts: 2
l have a small veg garden with various veg and have the usual problem with slugs and snails, so sprinkle a few slug pellets around, but within an hour every slug pellet has gone, l couldn't work this out at first, so sat nearby in my greenhouse after putting some more pellets down and watched, l was amazed to see 6 or 8 jackdaws landed and were gauging themselves on the slug pellets.
0
Posts
That is most worrying as the slug pellets will not do the birds any good. If you have to use the pellets try hiding them under something so the birds can't get at them. You could try beer traps and encourage the smaller birds into your garden as they will pick off slugs.
If these are Metaldehyde pellets they could kill the birds. You should consider changing to a safer pellet or finding a way to exclude the birds from your veg patch, or possibly fiding a way to scare the birds off. That said Jackdaws are one the smartest birds and will probably work out that scaring devices are harmless. Do you do regular night checks to find and kill slugs? With a small veg plot this may be sufficient to keep them under control.
Very bad for birds and hedgehogs.
I agree - very worrying. The main ingredient of metaldehyde pellets is cereal and yeast which will make it attractive to birds and animals.
The blue colour is supposed to make them unattractive to birds and animals, but jackdaws are well known for being attracted to bright things so .............
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.