Topic: fruit cage....do birds get caught?

[Hector]

we go camping a fair bit. I've always fancied getting a fruit cage but worry birds would get caught in it when we are not there to spot it....am I being daft, or is this a potential problem?

[goodlife]

They do if the netting is loose/baggy so that bird can get tangled on it..also if the covering is not complete enough...they might find they way in but their way out.

[Nora42]

on our allotment we have a couple of fruit cages the net is not exactly taught but I have never see any bird trapped in them.

some one last year had netted their black currant and gooseberry bush by just draping the net over the bush. we had to free a frantic wood pigeon that has netting around it's leg so much so the colour had gone from his foot. we freed him/her and kept him in a box for a while - the pigeon was calm them and as we could see his foot had coloured up a bit we let the pigeon go . he flew away .

so I think as long as the cage is secure then the birds will be okay.
Nora

[pumkinlover]

I've had them trapped before. I make sure the fruit cage over the blueberries has loads of bricks all the way round as the black birds really try to get in it. For the brassicas I only put something over the top not the sides as the pigeons do not go under it the same as black birds will. Hate any birds to get killed.

[winecap]

I removed a dead greenfinch from my neighbours fruit cage netting. It seemed to have been well constructed, but somehow the bird got entangled. Pigeons are often working their way under nets on our site, and the foxes take advantage of them sometimes. Mostly theres not a problem though.

[Hector]

Thanks all, I would hate to harm anything. I'd hoped if I saved for those rigid sided cages it might be ok but realised they have a looser net on top :(

[Melbourne12]

We've had a large (home-made) fruit cage for five or six years.  In all that time no bird has ever been entangled in the netting, and we've never had a bird die in there.  Very occasionally a bird will get in underneath the netting, and then can't get out.  But it's easy enough to let them out, and if we were away they'd survive easily on a diet of our lovely fruit!

[amphibian]

I watched a robin fly up to mine, yesterday, land on the net - squeeze delicately through the net with a little wriggle, pluck a flower bud off my black currants and then exit with the same method - methinks the net is not up to the job.

[artichoke]

I have recently invested in enviromesh/veggiemesh. It is expensive but so fine and smooth nothing can get tangled in it. Floats over the cabbages/bushes.

[Uncle_Filthster]

Hedgehogs can also get really badly tangled up in netting.  There's also a small risk of bats getting caught too, though the netting used is usually bulky enough for them to see or detect it when echolocating.