Foraging badgers are ruining my garden !

[Uncle-C]

The blighters are running amok. They live in sets on the adjoining
railway embankment and sneak into my garden from dusk onwards. I've
grown lots of plants from seed and they have tramped all over them as
well as burrowing close to my dahlias and uprooting the tubers..
Several of them have been ruined. Does anyone have any humane
deterrents to keep them away from my plant beds ?

Thanks
Uncle C

[mogga]

On Mon, 5 Jul 2010 02:22:12 -0700 (PDT), Uncle-C <***@yahoo.co.uk>
wrote:

>The blighters are running amok. They live in sets on the adjoining
>railway embankment and sneak into my garden from dusk onwards. I've
>grown lots of plants from seed and they have tramped all over them as
>well as burrowing close to my dahlias and uprooting the tubers..
>Several of them have been ruined. Does anyone have any humane
>deterrents to keep them away from my plant beds ?
>
>Thanks
>Uncle C

How do they get in?
--
http://www.bra-and-pants.com
http://www.holidayunder100.co.uk

[Uncle-C]

On 5 July, 10:27, mogga <***@NOSPAMPLEASEmogga.com> wrote:

>
> How do they get in?
> --http://www.bra-and-pants.comhttp://www.holidayunder100.co.uk

There are gaps in the wire fencing which they somehow widened so they
can squeeze through and they've also dug underneath the fence. The
problem is getting worse as they have dug through the the fence which
I have with the neighbours and are begining cause havoc in his flower
beds and vegetable patch. We are both going spare each morning when
we inspect the damage from the overnight histrionics.

[Uncle-C]

Forgot to add that someone did mention pouring a long trail of
disinfectant along the line of the fence as the smell puts them off ?
The thing is I don't want to do them any harm as its a parent badger
with several cubs. There are about six of them in total.

[Bill Grey]

"Uncle-C" <***@yahoo.co.uk> wrote in message
news:6481aa40-f87c-4012-88e3-***@b35g2000yqi.googlegroups.com...
> Forgot to add that someone did mention pouring a long trail of
> disinfectant along the line of the fence as the smell puts them off ?
> The thing is I don't want to do them any harm as its a parent badger
> with several cubs. There are about six of them in total.

Indded you need to be carefuull with this sort of method. A neighbour once
poured industial thinners on some waste ground he wanted to clear.
Unfortuneately our cat which had wandered over his "treated patch" was
suckling three kittens at the time. All three kittens died from smoe sort oc
chest (breathing_ problme. Un -beknown to us the cat's fur was soaked in
thinners and the kittens inhaled too much thinner fumes and subsequently
died.

Bill

[mark]

X-No-Archive: yes


"mogga" <***@NOSPAMPLEASEmogga.com> wrote in message
news:***@4ax.com...
> On Mon, 5 Jul 2010 02:22:12 -0700 (PDT), Uncle-C <***@yahoo.co.uk>
> wrote:
>
>>The blighters are running amok. They live in sets on the adjoining
>>railway embankment and sneak into my garden from dusk onwards. I've
>>grown lots of plants from seed and they have tramped all over them as
>>well as burrowing close to my dahlias and uprooting the tubers..
>>Several of them have been ruined. Does anyone have any humane
>>deterrents to keep them away from my plant beds ?
>>
>>Thanks
>>Uncle C
>
> How do they get in?

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

They will pretty much dig under any fence... they will also do that in more
than one spot to enable moving around (depending on size of garden, of
course..) and it's difficult to manage the problem...if you have it.
I am even less fortunate (in some respects, more in others, I guess..) in
that we have a sett in our garden and the badgers have very nearly ruined my
entire lawn by digging deep holes in search of grubs..mainly during the
early spring/late autumn.
There is afair bit of advice out there on the Internet but a lot is, or
appears to be, contradictory.
You have to have the problem to appreciate the damage caused and there are,
of course, the animal rights folk whose ONLY interest is the animals and
nothing else :)
I have been told to leave out food, in one spot in the garden, the furthest
away from where you want to protect.... the problem is that the badgers
become 'expectant' on that and at times such as holidays or the like when no
food is left out will furrow and dig for it...
There are also these ultra sonic devices (some battery, some mains) that
claim to deter all sorts of animals but in spite of being determined to try
them out myself I have yet to do so.
http://izola.co.uk/
http://www.pesthelp.co.uk/weshop/Foxes___Rabbits.asp

and then, unfortunately, this..
http://www.neebg.co.uk/advice.html
which semms to suggest nothing of this nature actually works against
badgers.
For the relatively small amount of money (£25/40) I think it's worth a
try...

Now..if you find anything that deters wild boar, I'd be happy to hear about
it!!
I have a constant stream of them through my garden in France, often ending
up in the pool, which takes days to filter out the dirt they leave...
I sympathise with you..

mark

[Bill Grey]

"Uncle-C" <***@yahoo.co.uk> wrote in message
news:91e134ca-a1f3-4ef4-b70b-***@u7g2000yqm.googlegroups.com...
> The blighters are running amok. They live in sets on the adjoining
> railway embankment and sneak into my garden from dusk onwards. I've
> grown lots of plants from seed and they have tramped all over them as
> well as burrowing close to my dahlias and uprooting the tubers..
> Several of them have been ruined. Does anyone have any humane
> deterrents to keep them away from my plant beds ?
>
> Thanks
> Uncle C

How about putting up some secondary fence within you existing bounday fence
then leaving food of some sort in the no-man's land for them. If they are
satisfied with that they might not trespass further.

Bill

[rbel]

On Mon, 05 Jul 2010 16:48:30 +0200, Bill Grey <***@btinternet.com>
wrote:

>
> "Uncle-C" <***@yahoo.co.uk> wrote in message
> news:91e134ca-a1f3-4ef4-b70b-***@u7g2000yqm.googlegroups.com...
>> The blighters are running amok. They live in sets on the adjoining
>> railway embankment and sneak into my garden from dusk onwards. I've
>> grown lots of plants from seed and they have tramped all over them as
>> well as burrowing close to my dahlias and uprooting the tubers..
>> Several of them have been ruined. Does anyone have any humane
>> deterrents to keep them away from my plant beds ?
>>
>> Thanks
>> Uncle C
>
> How about putting up some secondary fence within you existing bounday
> fence
> then leaving food of some sort in the no-man's land for them. If they
> are
> satisfied with that they might not trespass further.
>

Could be worth trying. I would first secure the existing holes in the
fence, burying concrete building block(s) behind some mesh. This will
discourage most entry attempts. If you have a number of entry points the
simplest method is a low electric fence. Having said this we put feed
(peanuts) in one place in the garden and rarely have any problems with
them digging in the shrub beds or lawns.

--
rbel

[bobharvey]

On 5 July, 10:22, Uncle-C <***@yahoo.co.uk> wrote:
> The blighters are running amok.  They live in sets on the adjoining
> railway embankment and sneak into my garden from dusk onwards.  I've
> grown lots of plants from seed and they have tramped all over them as
> well as burrowing close to my dahlias and uprooting the tubers..
> Several of them have been ruined. Does anyone have any humane
> deterrents to keep them away from my plant beds ?

My old Ma had this trouble. Her solution was to feed them on the
lawn. She put out bacon rind, meat scraps, peanuts, and occasionally
special badger feed. My dad would donate his left over maggots after
going fishing. And water - she was advised againsty milk by the local
badger refuge.

Pretty soon she had 3 or 4 a night visiting, but they kept out of the
soil 'cos supplies were easier. The odd hole in the autumnal lawn,
but I reckon they wer eafter things the squirrels had already burried
there.

She lived there for around a decade, and became 'the badger lady'. At
least twice a year local primary schools would arrange visits to watch
them feeding. They quickly became immured to low level floodlighting
from upstairs.

[Mark]

Uncle-C wrote:

> The blighters are running amok. They live in sets on the adjoining
> railway embankment and sneak into my garden from dusk onwards. I've
> grown lots of plants from seed and they have tramped all over them as
> well as burrowing close to my dahlias and uprooting the tubers..
> Several of them have been ruined. Does anyone have any humane
> deterrents to keep them away from my plant beds ?
>
> Thanks
> Uncle C

I have badgers in my woods adjoining a camp site, so this advice is from
personal experience.
You need to erect 2mm chain-link fencing all around your garden, 30cm at the
bottom needs to be folded outwards buried and securely fixed.
it's near on 20 years since i put this up and despite a few attempts at
digging underneath, they have never gained entry. 

[Uncle-C]

On 5 July, 22:34, Mark <***@127.0.0.1> wrote:

>
> I have badgers in my woods adjoining a camp site, so this advice is from
> personal experience.
> You need to erect 2mm chain-link fencing all around your garden, 30cm at the
> bottom needs to be folded outwards buried and securely fixed.
> it's near on 20 years since i put this up and despite a few attempts at
> digging underneath, they have never gained entry. 

I put up a secondary fence with a layer of corrugated iron in between
but having their usual route blocked hasn't deterred them. They've
got into my neighbour's neighbour's garden, dug through that fence and
into my neighbours garden and then dug between our boundary fencing
into my garden. I could hear them digging about 11pm and chased two of
them away. They must have come back later as this morning I found
dahilia tubers eaten into, lupins and peonies trampled on, spring
bulbs dug up and a whole bed of rudbeckia plants totally trashed -
there must have been 10-15 plants all of which I had grown from seed.
The ironic thing is that my garden borders a vast area of disused land
which houses an old empty bungalow. As the bungalow and land have lay
empty and neglected for approx 14 years and border a railway
embankment, the area has become a haven for wildlife. Badgers, foxes
and muntjack deer amongst others. You can imagine the battles the
locals have fought with developers who want to erect flats and houses
on the land. The council rejected several sets of plans stating that
development would have adverse effects on the biodiversity of the
area . That is gratitude for you !

uncle c

[Christina Websell]

"Uncle-C" <***@yahoo.co.uk> wrote in message
news:91e134ca-a1f3-4ef4-b70b-***@u7g2000yqm.googlegroups.com...
> The blighters are running amok. They live in sets on the adjoining
> railway embankment and sneak into my garden from dusk onwards. I've
> grown lots of plants from seed and they have tramped all over them as
> well as burrowing close to my dahlias and uprooting the tubers..
> Several of them have been ruined. Does anyone have any humane
> deterrents to keep them away from my plant beds ?
>

Electric fence. Mesh type.
From all good farm suppliers.
Tina