Styrene parts

[Geoff Pender]

I made a kit for a friend, and he said that the styrene ramps have started to crack. I installed it in the spring, so I'm a little confused how it could have degraded so fast. Is there a more UV stable material that I could use to replace the styrene?

[Geoff Pender]

Also, he says that the grackles harass the crows and scare them off.

[Josh Klein]

I haven't seen the styrene crack, but I suppose it's possible. The main consideration is the flex required for the piece to fit in place, followed by being waterproof. I don't know of anything else that can be similarly cut and placed; does anyone else have any ideas?

As for grackles scaring off the crows... that's a new one on me!! Is there a location that's less popular with grackles he can put it in?

- J

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[Geoff Pender]

The only thing I can think of is that he has had the feeder in the phase 1 mode for some time. Could extended exposure make it crack maybe? I'm surprised about this too. I'll just have some new ones cut. As far as the grackles go, he would only be able to move it 20 feet or so. 

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[Josh Klein]

Reg. grackles, would shifting to a heavier / less accessible food dissuade them? For example, shelled peanuts may be too difficult for grackles to crack, but still be appealing to crows. Does anyone else have any experience with this?

- J

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[michele...@gmail.com]

Why would you want to dissuade the grackles?  The point is to get a bird (sure a crow is ideal) trained using the machine… so what if a grackle (or Jay) is the first to succeed??

Grackles can crack shelled peanuts and they are a way healthier choice than Cheetos. Especially during fledgling season where nutrition matters.  Too many crows have poor feather condition (not enough calcium or biotin) from crap diets.  In my opinion, we should seek to do no harm as we experiment.

Another observation: if your feeder is in a crow territory they will come.  They are notoriously neophobic (that’s smart and probably while they live so long) and I have seen them watch other animals (squirrels, Jays) and use their observations of those animals to determine if something is safe.  If it is, they will move those animals off.  Trying to scare off or dissuade the unwanted species may very well be shooting yourself in the foot.  Crows chase off hawks!

My 2 cents.

Michele

Ps photo of my resident family a couple weeks ago in the air over my house driving off a hawk.  

Sent from my iPhone

On Jun 25, 2021, at 2:41 AM, 'Josh Klein' via Crow Box Kit <CrowB...@googlegroups.com> wrote:



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[Josh Klein]

Great points across the board, Michele!

- J

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