I never got any responses to this and its the sort of thing I'd typically expect to have a bunch of good ideas about, I assume it just got pushed down by a burst of later posts, so here it is again:

Take a look at this gizmo please folks.

I want to get something like this for my chicken enclosure to scare aways the multitude of sparrows that keep stealing food.

I don't want or need it to run all the time though, so I want a way to have it run for say a minute then stop for say ten minutes and cycle over and over, I'd turn the power off completely at night.

I gather that they draw around 2 amps at 120v AC.

This thing popping up periodically for a minute or so will literally scare the crap out of the sparrows.

I've been using kids party helium balloons for a few weeks and they work up to a point but a) the deflate after say four days and b) the sparrows grow accustomed to them particularly in calm weather with zero breeze.

I could also install some optical detection too, use that to signal if a bird flies inside the enclosure and then activate the blower for ten seconds or so.

The enclosure is a large cuboid basically wrapped in chicken wire (and has a coop situated inside) the sparrows have discovered that they can squeeze through the chicken wire holes and can now freely come and go.

 

I expect that the sparrows will become accustomed to this as well.

 

This thing popping up periodically for a minute or so will literally scare the crap out of the sparrows.

... and the chickens?

 

Have you considered something like this?
https://www.amazon.com/BN-LINK-Peri...y9H0RLf1fgnemJo_z7qLjrZQtgAaAmdbEALw_wcB&th=1

 

The timer could be good, BUT the invaders would become used to it. A motion sensor is a good concept except that the small birds would not trigger it because they don't give off enough heat. A photo sensor triggering off of visible light disturbances could be good, I don't think the chickens fly much. OR do they??
One really violent preventer would be a physical barrier that had spinning wires whipping around just a few inches away from the chicken wire. Any bird approaching would risk getting hit by one of the wires. Just replace the fan blades with sections of steel wire, like bale-ty wire. Once it got spinning it would stay spread out,
Keeping the sparrows out is a very good idea, given that some wildlife-carried diseases hav decimated a few chicken farms in the USA.
One other option could be a scond layer of chicken wire positioned to make the openings much smaller.

 

... and the chickens?

Yes, initially. If I go out and wave my arms by their enclosure the chickens come up to the edge expecting a treat but the sparrows fly away and cram through the chicken wire as fast as hell, terrified.

 

Have you considered something like this?
https://www.amazon.com/BN-LINK-Peri...y9H0RLf1fgnemJo_z7qLjrZQtgAaAmdbEALw_wcB&th=1

No, and that looks very good!

 

The timer could be good, BUT the invaders would become used to it. A motion sensor is a good concept except that the small birds would not trigger it because they don't give off enough heat. A photo sensor triggering off of visible light disturbances could be good, I don't think the chickens fly much. OR do they??
One really violent preventer would be a physical barrier that had spinning wires whipping around just a few inches away from the chicken wire. Any bird approaching would risk getting hit by one of the wires. Just replace the fan blades with sections of steel wire, like bale-ty wire. Once it got spinning it would stay spread out,
Keeping the sparrows out is a very good idea, given that some wildlife-carried diseases hav decimated a few chicken farms in the USA.
One other option could be a scond layer of chicken wire positioned to make the openings much smaller.

Yes I also thought of that after I posted. I can easily install some basic optical sensor for birds flying around above the typical height of a chicken. I think that's the way to go and couple it all up to a simple mains relay and were good...

Thanks everybody.

 

You could also attach some netting just inside the chicken wire so the sparrows would get tangled up as they tried to enter.If hey were able to eventually escape, the word might get around and few would try. Oy they might just bite through the netting.