Poo picking and birds?

[Marnie]

Slightly odd one... my two are back out 24/7 with hay at night and I try to poo pick daily, but at least 5 times a week. Something, and I think it is birds, is picking through the droppings and scattering them over 3 or 4 times the area that they would normally take up. This is making a real mess and making it hard to clear up properly.

Has anyone had similar? I don't think there is anything I can do to stop whatever it is, but any suggestions on the best way to clear up would be appreciated!

 

[Gloi]

It will be birds , they do it a lot.
It will happen more if the horses have been fed grain and there are undigested grains in the droppings.

 

[MotherOfChickens]

Rake/hand rake into a skip. It is birds.

 

[Nasicus]

Yup, I have a certain time-frame I need to poo pick before the birds get to it, they seem to come flocking over about 2-3pm and start picking through the poops looking for seeds, bugs, linseed etc. Use a rake and a skip if you want to get it all up without breaking your back, but agree it's a total P.I.T.A!

 

[Ali27]

Yep, this time of year is very annoying with crows/ pheasants spreading poo?

 

[Marnie]

I'm glad it's not just me! I've never had the problem before and it is very irritating. I wouldn't mind, but the girls only get a handful of hifi and hay so there can't be much to find in their droppings!

 

[Esmae]

The crows turn it over looking for bugs and beetles. Can't be off it.

 

[poiuytrewq]

So annoying isn’t it! OH has hens and I’m actually quite enjoying the bird flu lockdown as they trash it really badly, I have to race them to the stables even or they will scratch the beds all over ?‍

 

[Dave's Mam]

Mother Nature doing her thing. Birdies & beasties break up the poo so it goes into the soil when it rains or gets walked in.

 

[Flowerofthefen]

When I fed linseed I found the birds did this. I'm not feeding it at the moment and they gaunt touched the poo.

 

[sunleychops]

The birds are doing your paddocks a favour and spreading the nutrient value around,

 

[julesjoy]

Mine only get hay and the birds still do it.

 

[Widgeon]

I've found it's much worse when we feed whole oats, i.e. not rolled or bruised etc. We did this for a couple of months once when we had a supply issue and the crows and jackdaws were raking through it so poo picking took (no joke) three times as long. As soon as we went back to rolled oats it settled back down to "normal" levels of bird-related poo chucking! So anything in the horses' diet that might not be being fully digested will make it worse, IME. But they do it all the time.

 

[Marnie]

I agree that it is nature etc, but it is also a bit pain to clear up and is spoiling the ground as however well I rake the droppings up, the ponies won't eat there. It's just odd that I haven't noticed it happening before

 

[ILuvCowparsely]

Slightly odd one... my two are back out 24/7 with hay at night and I try to poo pick daily, but at least 5 times a week. Something, and I think it is birds, is picking through the droppings and scattering them over 3 or 4 times the area that they would normally take up. This is making a real mess and making it hard to clear up properly.

Has anyone had similar? I don't think there is anything I can do to stop whatever it is, but any suggestions on the best way to clear up would be appreciated!

they do it here, usually its poo with grain in as they search for any undigested grain. You could use a childs leaf rake or the rake which comes with some poo buckets.

 

[Surbie]

They don't do it all year ime - once there is more feed available for them elsewhere, they go eat that instead. They don't call this time of year the Hungry Gap for nothing.

 

[AShetlandBitMeOnce]

A poo hoover - expensive but worth it, or one of those rakes that you drag behind a quad or the car?

 

[Leandy]

Nature's harrows! Just leave it if it is too hard to pick up? It will fertilize the field a bit.

 

[Fransurrey]

When I fed linseed I found the birds did this. I'm not feeding it at the moment and they gaunt touched the poo.

I have the same experience. They only do it round here if there is linseed in there.

 

[irishdraft]

I only get this if I feed linseed then they seem to immediately know and spread it x

 

[[153312]]

A poo hoover - expensive but worth it, or one of those rakes that you drag behind a quad or the car?

those disturb the soil and have been shown to increase the risk of grass sickness though (actually anything which disturbs the soil does).

 

[AShetlandBitMeOnce]

those disturb the soil and have been shown to increase the risk of grass sickness though (actually anything which disturbs the soil does).

I didn't know that!! I'll have to have a read into it..

 

[kathantoinette]

Yes it’s a pain! What time of day do you poo pick? I found picking in a morning rather than the evening reduced the problem for me.

 

[windswoo]

We get it for a few weeks and then it stops. We use a shavings fork to pick up the poo and it actually makes it easier to pick and the piles don't seem as big.
I wish they'd do it for longer.

 

[cauda equina]

I think the birds are scrabbling in the droppings more atm as the dung beetles are out - the little bronze/black ones, not the big scaraby jobs

 

[HashRouge]

It's something to do with the time of year I think? I poo pick year round but it is only this time of year that I notice it. I quite like it, I leave some of the spread out piles top fertilise the soil. My field is quite big though, I can see it would be annoying if you had limited space!

 

[ILuvCowparsely]

Slightly odd one... my two are back out 24/7 with hay at night and I try to poo pick daily, but at least 5 times a week. Something, and I think it is birds, is picking through the droppings and scattering them over 3 or 4 times the area that they would normally take up. This is making a real mess and making it hard to clear up properly.

Has anyone had similar? I don't think there is anything I can do to stop whatever it is, but any suggestions on the best way to clear up would be appreciated!

yes here too but bought one of these plastic rakes.