Cockatoos are eating my new decking!

[Halcyon]

Those bastards! Anyone have any ideas on how to stop Cockatoos eating my brand new merbau deck, that doesn't involve a projectile?

Is there something I can spray that they absolutely hate? It seems they don't appreciate the taste of the stain/lacquer but it takes them a few bites to realise it. These birds are absolutely huge! As big as cats, I'll snap a photo if I can catch them next time.

[MK14]

Build (repurpose) THIS electronics project, to solve the problem.

[Halcyon]

  "Ranga piss bucket"

I just lost it after that. Literally laughed out loud throughout! Thanks for posting. 

[RobertoLG]

[Halcyon]

Alright, I just had to post this, in response to MK14's post...
I cannot stop smiling! You have made my day sir!

[Muttley Snickers]

Head down to Bunnings and pick up two of their fake plastic hawk/ eagle looking things and whilst there grab two sample pots of paint, one black and one white, and a red marker for the eyes.

Make a couple of beaks out of cardboard and stick them on the birds, paint them in magpie colours then plonk one either end of the decking up on the hand rails, all parrots are shit scared of magpies but they soon learn to ingore those plastic hawk/ eagle/ owl dummy thingo's.

Guaranteed or your money back.*
*(dependent upon the paint job, and the beaks, read the invisible ink for full terms and conditions)

[peter.mitchell]

I came across those videos a year or two back, they're excellently hilarious.

But yes, plastic snakes and fake magpies are 10/10 solution.

[GK]

Just sprinkle a few kg of almonds around the deck. They'll eat those instead.
 

[MrSlack]

Then they'll tell all their mates: "hey skwarky, I know this dude who puts nuts out for us". Next thing you know you're going to be knee deep in bird crap.

[Brumby]

Then they'll tell all their mates: "hey skwarky, I know this dude who puts nuts out for us". Next thing you know you're going to be knee deep in bird crap.

Yeah - After the almonds, they'll have eaten his deck and he'll just be standing on the ground where their droppings have accumulated.

[AlxDroidDev]

Just a fun fact: cockatoos in Brazil are considered an exotic species and some [rich] people have them as pet birds. Their prices can reach up to US$ 25,000 per bird. All birds have to be from authorized sources.

My suggestion to get rid of them is to spray pepper (diluted witgh water) on the wood. Most birds (most animals, actually) usually hate the taste of pepper. Try different peppers (the hotter the better) and different concentrations.

[hayatepilot]

My suggestion to get rid of them is to spray pepper (diluted witgh water) on the wood. Most birds (most animals, actually) usually hate the taste of pepper. Try different peppers (the hotter the better) and different concentrations.

That won't work! Birds are actually immune to capsaicin (the chemical that makes chilis hot). To birds spray pepper isn't hot. This is advantageous for the chili plant as their seeds pass through birds unharmed in contrary to mamals.
Humans are the only mamals crazy enough to eat chilis. 
More on wiki: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capsaicin#Natural_function

And you couldn't walk on the deck with bare feet as it would irritate any bare skin. This feels like a sunburn. 

[MrSlack]

Yep definitely immune. The buggers ate the three chilli's I grew a couple of years back.

Apparently piperine does nothing as well.

[SeanB]

Richards cockatoo loves chillies, eating them green or red, even like the devil chillies. What does work is unfortunately not something you will like either, but a nice coat with creosote or Jeyes fluid does keep them away.

If you want to stop them sitting on the rails simply put a thin layer of vaseline on the wood, the slippery feeling keeps them away. Works for the flying rats as well, stopped them entirely from roosting on the piping I put this on. Next time I will be painting window ledges, after somebody does a thorough cleaning, probably using a high pressure cleaner from above to remove the inches of poop.

[Zero999]

Head down to Bunnings and pick up two of their fake plastic hawk/ eagle looking things and whilst there grab two sample pots of paint, one black and one white, and a red marker for the eyes.

Make a couple of beaks out of cardboard and stick them on the birds, paint them in magpie colours then plonk one either end of the decking up on the hand rails, all parrots are shit scared of magpies but they soon learn to ingore those plastic hawk/ eagle/ owl dummy thingo's.

Guaranteed or your money back.*
*(dependent upon the paint job, and the beaks, read the invisible ink for full terms and conditions)

That might work for a short length of time, until they realise it's not real and ignore it.

[XOIIO]

Talk about a unique problem, Have any pictures of the damage? I'm curious what they can actually do lol.

[Brumby]

Talk about a unique problem, Have any pictures of the damage? I'm curious what they can actually do lol.

There have been in the news before.  They can be incredibly destructive.  I can recall someone losing some timber siding off their home a few years back.  Looked like half a dozen people went crazy slashing the side of the house with chainsaws.

[jh15]

Put the fake magpies on a moving device, servo, turntable, clockwork timed or whatever. Maybe balanced carefully on a bile for wind to move them.

[Stonent]

We have a device at work that plays random carnivorous bird sounds throughout the day.  The loudspeakers are mounted in places where birds tend to roost.  That means fewer birds dropping bombs on products waiting to be picked up for customer delivery.

[GK]

The suggestions above are pretty stupid. All you have to do is mail order one of these.

http://scareguns.com.au/shop/


I honestly don't know what the problem is. You could even roll your own automated firing timer and post it here as an electronics project.

[Muttley Snickers]

I can vouch for the scareguns, we have one up at the farm and so do all of the neighbouring properties, some days it's like the middle of a battlefield particularly this time of year when the cockatoos, corellas and galahs are all out on a search and destroy mission, certainly not suitable for a residential area unless you enjoy the SOG/ TOG knocking in your door.

[GK]

And you wouldn't even need to buy the gas bottle. Just get a $5 T-piece and plumb the scaregun to your barbecues bottle.

[Moshly]

I have heard that cockatoos are a major problem with antenna installations, apparently they destroy the coax / feed lines. The fix was to add grit / sand into the outer jacket plastic. So maybe you need to render the deck  otherwise, maybe try this NZ product ->

 

[Mechanical Menace]

How about a cat? My garden is pleasantly quiet at dawn due to my furry feline fiend

[Halcyon]

How about a cat?

NO!