I have a pond in my yard that had about 50 koi fish in it ranging from 1 inch to 10 inches. I live in Georgia and a Blue Herring keeps coming to my yard and eating the fish out of the pond. I am down to about 6 -10 fish left and I just went out and the pond is iced over. The herring is standing in the middle pecking a hole in the ice to eat the remaining fish. I have two boys who marvel at the Herring when it comes. They are 4 and 5 yrs old. My question is would it be wrong to get a BB gun to scare it away so it doesn't come back?? Also the shots would be from about 75 - 100 feet away so i don't want to kill the thing. These fish have mated over about 8 years and were probably worth about $5000.00. Now there are a handful left. Netting the pond doesn't work the Herring just moves the net and eats till its delight. Please help
You can get a motion detector set up to a sprinkler. Bird flies down, sets of sprinkler, bird flies off without getting hurt.
I thought about that but its 25 degrees right know and the pond has iced over so water wouldn't work....too cold
My folks had the same problem with a pond filled with koi in our backyard. Unfortunately nothing worked to get rid of it. Theyre attracted to water, so you are stuck with it. We went as far as to try and cover the pond with a net, thinking that would deter it, however after landing, and staring at the net, and pecking at it, eventually it figured out to just stand on top of it, and its would just sink the net into the pond and it was feeding time all over again. I don't even think shooting it with a BB gun would work. Wouldnt be the most humane thing to do, however whats going to happen is its going to keep coming back. My guess is because the waters are so cold in your area (if the pond is freezing) the fish in most lakes and streams arent there. Theyve gone deeper, or left all together. So, your friend is still looking for a meal. Now for you, it appears youre in Atlanta, but up here in Canada, our pond would freeze right up. As long as the pond didnt completely ice over, the koi would live. so what they would do in the winter is leave the waterfall running, so it never froze completely, and then the fish, "burry" themselves deep in the deep end of the pond. However, I'm guessing for you that wont help, since I would guess your pond won't completely freeze up. I know we ended up getting rid of it through an unfortunate set of circumstances. That combined with the fact that the pond was too much work for my folks to take care of so we got rid of it... But I dont think there are very many solutions. I feel your pain though, those fish are quite costly, and theyre really awesome to look at and have in the pond. The best thing you can do really is just keep an eye out for it, and scare it away. You can try the net, but like i said, it didn't help us much. Also, we were told to buy an owl. A fake one. Display it near the pond. The reasoning behind this was someone (i think at the place we got the fish), said that putting another predator type bird in the area, would keep it away. The other thing they suggested, was another herring/crane whatever you want to call it. Im sure you can find a decorative one at your local garden center or whatever. Just stick it around the edge of the pond and it should help. Like I said though, eventually if its hungry enough, it'll get brave and come back despite your best efforts. For us, it was hard there was really no water around us other than the pond You might be lucky enough to have another food source nearby that you may end up scaring it to. Sorry for the long, rambling response! Good Luck!
Paintball Gun And if you don't get a moderately-powered gun, freeze the paintballs a little so they'll make it the distance. As long as you don't have a real high-powered gun, you'll hit the bird with enough authoritay to send him packing for awhile, but without putting a hole in him like you would with a BB gun. I had a pond for awhile and the various ways that koi fish die are quite annoying.
I know they make small electrical fences to go around ponds. It won't hurt the bird just scare it really. Or you could try a fish cage although I guess that would not work so well for koi. Search around about electrical fences but that's about all I know.
Well since I live in the subtropics hadn't thought of that. Try getting some models of eagles/falcons etc and have them placed on branches etc. near your house. You'll have to change them every few days or so as they'll stop working if the real bird works out they're dummies. Rubber snakes near the pond also work.
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RxBa5bQfTGc"]YouTube- Auto Targeting Turret Sentry (video 8 of 15)[/ame]
that paint ball sentry gun is awesome. how about putting some chicken wire over the pond instead of a screen?
Did anyone else think this read. "Help with a repeat offender?" Def not what I thought I'd be getting into when I opened this lol
I am in South Carolina and have faced similar problems, and the best solution I have found so far (without killing the bird or snake....here it's mainly snakes) is to buy some plecos (algae eaters) for the pond. They are not agressive fish, grow up to about 10' long, and spend the entire day eating algae off the sides of your pond. When attacked though, the have an armor like skin with hundreds of spikes on it and they will thrash wildly...whatever bites them is getting cut in their mouth and around their face by razors. A pleco would probably kill the bird while trying to escape, or at least slice him up pretty good. If your bird came across a pleco even once, he would not be back.
I had a 55 gallon fishtank and in the past have given several plecos to pond owners as they grow really rapidly and outgrow fish tanks easily. I've had them get nearly a foot long and they are a wicked fish to try to catch. That's great advice I know I always had to wear a glove to get one out of the tank.
Easy, let Heron eat Koi. The Great Blue is a treat. Koi are a disease, eat like hell, and are tempremental. - Trust me, enjoy the Great Blue, he is doing you a favor
Koi are prized fish worth up to $2000 each, depending on size. I have had these fish for over 10 years. The largest I had was about 8-10 inches. Thing is I had over 50. They kept having babies each year and I had perfected there eco system with almost no upkeep from me. It is amazing all the crap people use to keep there ponds clean, etc. I never have put chemicals in my pond and I very rarely feed the fish. The pond is self sufficient. The Koi are vegetarians living off the roots of flooting plants I put in each spring. Being conservative at $100 each the heron got about $5000 worth of fish if I was to sell them which was my ultimate goal. It really is a disappointment. I did install chicken wire over the pond. A solution given on this board and I am happy to report despite trying to pull the netting off the Heron was unsuccessful and has not been back for 4 days. I think I may have defeated it. Of course the shot over the bow with my BB rifle made him fly away pretty quickly. I did take a 150 -- 200 yard shot at him seconds after he first flew away, which I couldn't tell if I hit him. The shot seemed good as I zeroed in my scope. He flew away seconds after the shot and hasn't been back......yee haw!!!!!!
