Pigs protect fruit from birds

Protecting fruit from birds is difficult. I have tried the usual deterrents but have turned to rodents recently with great success. 

In my orchard I have a variety of fruit trees, all of which the birds enjoy eating the fruit when they can. I run my chook's under the fruit trees which helps with bugs, grubs and fertilising, however my latest experiment of running my guinea pigs under the trees too has worked a treat.

The guinea pigs attract the birds of prey, which then deter the fruit eating smaller birds. We have Wedge-tail Eagles, Nangkeen Kestrels, Black-shouldered Kites and Kookaburra’s near our house and garden regularly. The larger birds circle or hover over head and the parrots and smaller birds stay away.

The guinea pigs have plenty of nooks and crannies to hide in, and houses and tunnels throughout the garden for their safety. After the guinea pigs started to chew the trees themselves, I made small-gauge wire guards at the base of the trees for protection.

The guinea pigs and chooks get on fine together and my “sacrificial” pigs are safe. The circle of wire on the left of the photo is where I put treats for the guinea pigs so the chooks cant eat the food and the pigs are safe from the birds.



From an earlier post it shows our block as an empty paddock. We also have planted a large garden of shrubs and trees for birds and every year more come. My current list of birds I've seen, in the order that they have arrived are:
galahs, yellow and black tail cockatoos, magpies, murray magpies, wedgetail eagles, spur-wing plovers, European goldfinch, nangkeen kestrel, redbreasted robin, scarlet robin, black faced cuckoo shrike, a pair of kookaburra's, blue wrens, honey eaters, thrush, water rail, grey shrike thrush (nested under the verandah), crows, crimson rosella's, heron.