Wednesday, September 8, 2010

A Warning to All Apple-Eating Birds

With our short growing season, we have trouble getting the apples on our fruit trees to ripen. But this year with the hot summer we've had, we have had renewed hopes of getting a decent harvest.

The apples have been sizing up nicely and turning a rosy, red color.

Hubby walked among the trees this morning to check out the apples' progress.

This is what he brought in for me to see. About one-quarter of the apples look like the two above. I kind of felt like crying. Instead I've declared death and destruction to be visited upon any apple-eating birds I see in the orchard. Either that or we're gonna have to put up a whole heckuva lot of netting.

8 comments:

Jennifer Jo said...

Oh, that is SO depressing. Blasted birds.

Erin said...

oh NO! I was thinking you'd have a banner harvest too with the nice summer. Darn birds, I say pay a couple of teenagers to sit an afternoon in your orchard and target practice, heck I bed they'd do it for free! What kind of birds are giving you problems?

The Apple Pie Gal said...

I didn't know chickens could climb trees! ;)

That is what the deer do to us too!

Tagret practice anyone??

Mama Pea said...

JJ - Double dang blasted birds!

Erin - We think the culprits are grackles and blue jays. We've stopped putting out bird seed in the feeders because they've been thick around them and we think the feeders might be attracting them.

Apple Pie Gal - Chickens? Very funny! Wish it were chickens as we could contain those and keep 'em away. Deer are why we have a 7' high fence around our garden and orchard. Otherwise, we would have NO chance of growing anything up here.

So far hubby is using a pellet rifle to "scare" the birds . . . but we may have to get more serious.

Susan said...

BAD birds! Sometimes it feels like we're foiled at every turn! Can you hang those scary things in the trees? Or shiny objects, like aluminium pans?

KM said...

What about the old plastic owl trick? Wouldn't that work?... city girl here asking.

Jenyfer Matthews said...

How about some tin cans in the tree that would rattle when the wind blows?? Apples are more important that sleep anyway, right?

Mama Pea said...

Hey Y'all - Don't know if it's a coincidence or what, but since we took the seed out of the bird feeders, the grackles and jays have been absent. Could it be that easy??!!