EMMAACHILE:

In Lokoja, we lost a 2 hectare rice field in the late 90s to quela birds without harvesting a single seed.
The key here is to plant at a particular time and the locals know this. They tell you when to plant and target harvest at a time when the birds will not be available but foraging for ants around the river Niger.

I think I have heard something like that too. But really that's not sustainable. I just wanted a more reliable thing. Perhaps I needed to invest more heavily on something that can let me grow all year round and anytime too. This thing must be pursued to a logical conclusion. I wish to be selling my home grown rice across the 36 states of Nigeria.

TangoAlpha:
I made an attempt at Ofada rice farming this year as well. The birds ravaged the farm. I lost, probably more than 90% of the harvest to the birds. They are called Quelea quelea. They are a most destructive species of birds. They should never be underestimated. They are estimated to be about 1.5-2 billion in population globally; and probably 98% of that population is in Africa.

This was partly why I asked you if you have an estimate of the population that came to your farm.

I attempted a number of options.

1) Bird tapes
2) Laser generating torch
3) Drone
4) Chiili-Vinegar solution
4) Avicide from Jubailli
5) Avicide imported from the US
6) Manual scaring

I can give you details of the outcomes of each of these options. But let me fast forward to what I think might deliver better results:

1) Bird netting. This option is very expensive and may not be economically viable if the market value of the rice is low. Ofada is pricier than regular rice; so there is prospect for bird netting to be viable. From my little research however, there are no high yielding Ofada variety yet; so the viability of the netting option might be questioned.Further investigation needed.

2) I am aware (from newspaper reports) that the Nigerian Federal government (and some state governments in the north) assist rice farmers by deploying aerial spraying of rice farms with avicides to combat the Quelea quelea. Millions of the destructive birds are killed this way. This is probably why rice farmers from the northern are able to record better rice harvests. i am not aware of any such initiatives for rice farmers down south. (https://www.pressreader.com/nigeria/the-guardian-nigeria/20170528/282162176175888)

3) The use of juju. Many Ofada rice farmers believe that they can control these birds using juju. I have engaged many of them, directly and indirectly, and they all seem confident of the efficacyof the option. for the record, I do not share their belief. And even if they were to demonstrate that they are right, I still would not adopt this method. But then, I still have to mention it.

4) Drones should work if the number of drones is adequate for the size of the farm.

when you say drones, are the drones continuously flying over the farm? 24/7?

How effective is the use of Avicide?

feran15:


when you say drones, are the drones continuously flying over the farm? 24/7?

To answer your question directly; the drone will not need to be flown 24/7. The birds attack during the day only. So you only fly during the day. Do you fly all through the day? No. But you may need to fly for most of the day.

Let me break this down a bit more.

Quelea quelea attacks are greatest in the early mornings and early evenings. But they generally attack through the day.

When you use a drone, it's motion and noise drives the birds. If the farm is not so big....the drone can travel back and forth in a few seconds and will leave the birds no respite. The theory is that if you frustrate them so much they will take a break for upto 30-45minutes. If the drone activity continues, and the birds upon returning realise that they still don't have the opportunity to feed on your rice, Thier frustration increases. If you sustain this back to back. You are very likely going to make the birds migrate from the area.

There is a potential problem though. Many drones that qualify for this task have limited battery life. Typically battery life's are about 10-30 minutes. So you may need to have a number of spare batteries to be able to fly the drone footage hours.

The other challenge is if the area you need to fly the drone over is too large (my rice was on about 50 acres, and I had only one drone); the birds will feast on the rice before the drone gets to them and they will fly to other parts of the rice farm once the drone gets to them. Before the drone gets to the new spot, the birds would have done more damage...on and on..

So get as many spare batteries as you can. And plan the number of drones to match the size of you farm.

I used the DJI Mavic Pro. Unfortunately, it didn't help much. The size of the farm and the population of the birds overwhelmed it. I reckon that of I had 5-10 of that drone I may not have a list a single grain to the birds.

arvinkz:
How effective is the use of Avicide?

For avicides. I can't say much. The one I bought from the US did not work. I guess it was not meant specifically for quelea quelea. I late found out that many of these products are species specific.

The one I got locally made by Jubailli didn't work. I would not rush to say it didn't work because it wasn't effective. The friend that recommended it cliam that it worked on his own farm. And we applied it at about the same time. It seemed to have worked well in driving the birds from my friend's Ofada rice farm but to didn't even show any sign of working on mine.

The only way I explained this discrepancy to myself was that I started applying this avicide late. The birds were already living on my farm. I had already tried a number of solutions that failed. By the time I got to trying the avicide, the birds had already found endless supply of food. The avicide must have failed as a result. Perhaps if I had applied the chemical before the rice were mature for bird attack, this solution might have had better outcomes.

The avicide or chemical that are deployed for aerial spraying in northern states actually kill the birds. The chemicals would probably be classified differently from the ones I mentioned earlier.

Cheers

The bird problem is not a small one oo.

TangoAlpha:


To answer your question directly; the drone will not need to be flown 24/7. The birds attack during the day only. So you only fly during the day. Do you fly all through the day? No. But you may need to fly for most of the day.

Let me break this down a bit more.

Quelea quelea attacks are greatest in the early mornings and early evenings. But they generally attack through the day.

When you use a drone, it's motion and noise drives the birds. If the farm is not so big....the drone can travel back and forth in a few seconds and will leave the birds no respite. The theory is that if you frustrate them so much they will take a break for upto 30-45minutes. If the drone activity continues, and the birds upon returning realise that they still don't have the opportunity to feed on your rice, Thier frustration increases. If you sustain this back to back. You are very likely going to make the birds migrate from the area.

There is a potential problem though. Many drones that qualify for this task have limited battery life. Typically battery life's are about 10-30 minutes. So you may need to have a number of spare batteries to be able to fly the drone footage hours.

The other challenge is if the area you need to fly the drone over is too large (my rice was on about 50 acres, and I had only one drone); the birds will feast on the rice before the drone gets to them and they will fly to other parts of the rice farm once the drone gets to them. Before the drone gets to the new spot, the birds would have done more damage...on and on..

So get as many spare batteries as you can. And plan the number of drones to match the size of you farm.

I used the DJI Mavic Pro. Unfortunately, it didn't help much. The size of the farm and the population of the birds overwhelmed it. I reckon that of I had 5-10 of that drone I may not have a list a single grain to the birds.

How much is the drone?

Rice farming difficult.,..,,no wonder alot of people are into cassava farming,,,..rice is for those that have alot of money to invest

TangoAlpha:


To answer your question directly; the drone will not need to be flown 24/7. The birds attack during the day only. So you only fly during the day. Do you fly all through the day? No. But you may need to fly for most of the day.

Let me break this down a bit more.

Quelea quelea attacks are greatest in the early mornings and early evenings. But they generally attack through the day.

When you use a drone, it's motion and noise drives the birds. If the farm is not so big....the drone can travel back and forth in a few seconds and will leave the birds no respite. The theory is that if you frustrate them so much they will take a break for upto 30-45minutes. If the drone activity continues, and the birds upon returning realise that they still don't have the opportunity to feed on your rice, Thier frustration increases. If you sustain this back to back. You are very likely going to make the birds migrate from the area.

There is a potential problem though. Many drones that qualify for this task have limited battery life. Typically battery life's are about 10-30 minutes. So you may need to have a number of spare batteries to be able to fly the drone footage hours.

The other challenge is if the area you need to fly the drone over is too large (my rice was on about 50 acres, and I had only one drone); the birds will feast on the rice before the drone gets to them and they will fly to other parts of the rice farm once the drone gets to them. Before the drone gets to the new spot, the birds would have done more damage...on and on..

So get as many spare batteries as you can. And plan the number of drones to match the size of you farm.

I used the DJI Mavic Pro. Unfortunately, it didn't help much. The size of the farm and the population of the birds overwhelmed it. I reckon that of I had 5-10 of that drone I may not have a list a single grain to the birds.

Thanks for sharing. Worth the read. My next field report will certainly be enriched.

TangoAlpha:


To answer your question directly; the drone will not need to be flown 24/7. The birds attack during the day only. So you only fly during the day. Do you fly all through the day? No. But you may need to fly for most of the day.

Let me break this down a bit more.

Quelea quelea attacks are greatest in the early mornings and early evenings. But they generally attack through the day.

When you use a drone, it's motion and noise drives the birds. If the farm is not so big....the drone can travel back and forth in a few seconds and will leave the birds no respite. The theory is that if you frustrate them so much they will take a break for upto 30-45minutes. If the drone activity continues, and the birds upon returning realise that they still don't have the opportunity to feed on your rice, Thier frustration increases. If you sustain this back to back. You are very likely going to make the birds migrate from the area.

There is a potential problem though. Many drones that qualify for this task have limited battery life. Typically battery life's are about 10-30 minutes. So you may need to have a number of spare batteries to be able to fly the drone footage hours.

The other challenge is if the area you need to fly the drone over is too large (my rice was on about 50 acres, and I had only one drone); the birds will feast on the rice before the drone gets to them and they will fly to other parts of the rice farm once the drone gets to them. Before the drone gets to the new spot, the birds would have done more damage...on and on..

So get as many spare batteries as you can. And plan the number of drones to match the size of you farm.

I used the DJI Mavic Pro. Unfortunately, it didn't help much. The size of the farm and the population of the birds overwhelmed it. I reckon that of I had 5-10 of that drone I may not have a list a single grain to the birds.

Thanks for sharing. This is worth reading.

doyinbaby:
Rice farming difficult.,..,,no wonder alot of people are into cassava farming,,,..rice is for those that have alot of money to invest

it's not really about the problems associated with rice farming, but about our perpetual mind sets. *it cant work here*. This ineptitude led Nigerian to export all their jobs and import all manners of poverty. On the financial aspect based on my findings, rice is worth more than cassava from all indications. But of course, you will do the needfuls

saliubello:
it's not really about the problems associated with rice farming, but about our perpetual mind sets. *it cant work here*. This ineptitude led Nigerian to export all their jobs and import all manners of poverty. On the financial aspect based on my findings, rice is worth more than cassava from all indications. But of course, you will do the needfuls

I wish to start a farm but not rice......all these challenges regarding rice farming cannot be combated by small scale farmers...you need expertise and money to combat these problems

Hmm,what a tragic loss.I would suggest you do not expand on rice yet but rather shrink the land size till you have mastered the art of rice farming. Grow other crops you are sure of,while experimenting with rice so as to maintain some degree of financial strength.(Unless of course, you have serious financial muscle)
On the issue of birds,a few scarecrows combined with a wailing siren may work.

Just my 2 kobo.

dragon2:
Hmm,what a tragic loss.I would suggest you do not expand on rice yet but rather shrink the land size till you have mastered the art of rice farming. Grow other crops you are sure of,while experimenting with rice so as to maintain some degree of financial strength.(Unless of course, you have serious financial muscle)
On the issue of birds,a few scarecrows combined with a wailing siren may work.

Just my 2 kobo.

Thanks for the insight. This I guess is the cheapest of the options available in combination with other strategy.

Thanks greatly

TangoAlpha:


To answer your question directly; the drone will not need to be flown 24/7. The birds attack during the day only. So you only fly during the day. Do you fly all through the day? No. But you may need to fly for most of the day.

Let me break this down a bit more.

Quelea quelea attacks are greatest in the early mornings and early evenings. But they generally attack through the day.

When you use a drone, it's motion and noise drives the birds. If the farm is not so big....the drone can travel back and forth in a few seconds and will leave the birds no respite. The theory is that if you frustrate them so much they will take a break for upto 30-45minutes. If the drone activity continues, and the birds upon returning realise that they still don't have the opportunity to feed on your rice, Thier frustration increases. If you sustain this back to back. You are very likely going to make the birds migrate from the area.

There is a potential problem though. Many drones that qualify for this task have limited battery life. Typically battery life's are about 10-30 minutes. So you may need to have a number of spare batteries to be able to fly the drone footage hours.

The other challenge is if the area you need to fly the drone over is too large (my rice was on about 50 acres, and I had only one drone); the birds will feast on the rice before the drone gets to them and they will fly to other parts of the rice farm once the drone gets to them. Before the drone gets to the new spot, the birds would have done more damage...on and on..

So get as many spare batteries as you can. And plan the number of drones to match the size of you farm.

I used the DJI Mavic Pro. Unfortunately, it didn't help much. The size of the farm and the population of the birds overwhelmed it. I reckon that of I had 5-10 of that drone I may not have a list a single grain to the birds.

thank you so much for the detailed explaination

saliubello:
My New strategy for Higher success.

1. 12 acres rice field coming next.
2. Irrigation scheme
3. Mechanised farm

how expensive do you think the irrigation will be?

dragon2:
Hmm,what a tragic loss.I would suggest you do not expand on rice yet but rather shrink the land size till you have mastered the art of rice farming. Grow other crops you are sure of,while experimenting with rice so as to maintain some degree of financial strength.(Unless of course, you have serious financial muscle)
On the issue of birds,a few scarecrows combined with a wailing siren may work.

Just my 2 kobo.

The birds are intelligent and adaptive. The siren will work for a few days. When they notice that it's not harming them, they will start ignoring it.

One way to achieve relative success with the siren is to vary the type and pattern of noise coming from it. And not to make it continuous.

Scarecrows are the easiest for the birds to get used to. The birds are so 21st century.

The inflatable human effigy that you find at children's parties will probably work better than motionless scarecrows. Combining this with irregular high pitch noise can have relative success...provided the population of the birds in your locality is minimal.

saliubello:
Thanks for the insight. This I guess is the cheapest of the options available in combination with other strategy.

Thanks greatly

Maybe you should mention the 'other strategy' you have in mind. I might just just have tried them already.

TangoAlpha:


Maybe you should mention the 'other strategy' you have in mind. I might just just have tried them already.

You already stated the other strategis in your post, "One way to achieve relative success with the siren is to vary the type and pattern of noise coming from it. And not to make it continuous.

Scarecrows are the easiest for the birds to get used to. The birds are so 21st century.

The inflatable human effigy that you find at children's parties will probably work better than motionless scarecrows. Combining this with irregular high pitch noise can have relative success...provided the population of the birds in your locality is minimal."

TangoAlpha:


The birds are intelligent and adaptive. The siren will work for a few days. When they notice that it's not harming them, they will start ignoring it.

One way to achieve relative success with the siren is to vary the type and pattern of noise coming from it. And not to make it continuous.

Scarecrows are the easiest for the birds to get used to. The birds are so 21st century.

The inflatable human effigy that you find at children's parties will probably work better than motionless scarecrows. Combining this with irregular high pitch noise can have relative success...provided the population of the birds in your locality is minimal.

..
I once read somewhere that strips of reflective aluminum foil will scare birds away. Maybe u people shud try it.

FarmTech:

..
I once read somewhere that strips of reflective aluminum foil will scare birds away. Maybe u people shud try it.

are you refering to old cassette tapes?? If it that, it didn't help much. It kept them for only few days. When they understood it's lifeless, they go close to the rice at will but in droves instead. Just my observations.

FarmTech:

..
I once read somewhere that strips of reflective aluminum foil will scare birds away. Maybe u people shud try it.

Thanks for that input.

Yes you are right. They fall under the reflective tapes option for bird control. 'old cassette' tapes also fall under this category.
The principle is simple. When the wind blows, the tapes make crackling sounds that irritate or even scare the birds. Secondly, in bright sunlight, the tapes reflect light into the market eye of the birds. This also deters them.

Even though this bird control option use a two prong approach, it will only work when there is wind and or sunlight. You cannot guarantee that this will happen all day everyday for the one month that your rice become vulnerable to bird attack. Plus, these birds are adaptive, when they notice that the tapes pose no imminent danger, they start ignoring it.

Cheers

These birds are mean oo. Another strategy I once read is high tech. It involves using electronic rays to detect bird approaching the farm. When detected, it triggers rocket-propelled firecracker that will scare off the birds. This one may be unreacheable for most farmers.

TangoAlpha:


The birds are intelligent and adaptive. The siren will work for a few days. When they notice that it's not harming them, they will start ignoring it.


One way to achieve relative success with the siren is to vary the type and pattern of noise coming from it. And not to make it continuous.

Scarecrows are the easiest for the birds to get used to. The birds are so 21st century.

The inflatable human effigy that you find at children's parties will probably work better than motionless scarecrows. Combining this with irregular high pitch noise can have relative success...provided the population of the birds in your locality is minimal.

The bolded is a fact, I had to pull out of my rice farming project few week into harvest to save myself form hypertension

FarmTech:
These birds are mean oo. Another strategy I once read is high tech. It involves using electronic rays to detect bird approaching the farm. When detected, it triggers rocket-propelled firecracker that will scare off the birds. This one may be unreacheable for most farmers.

I think this is what I need. The mechanism of operation is quite adequate to serve it's intended purpose. On the flip side, will this be able to serve a large field? If yes, how large can the field be??

Anyone with links to procure this can reach me on any of 08050323434, 08028873809, 08099066646 or saliubello2003@yahoo.com so we can liase how I can get this.

saliubello:
I think this is what I need. The mechanism of operation is quite adequate to serve it's intended purpose. On the flip side, will this be able to serve a large field? If yes, how large can the field be??

Anyone with links to procure this can reach me on any of 08050323434, 08028873809, 08099066646 or saliubello2003@yahoo.com so we can liase how I can get this.

I do not have an idea of what this might cost, but I can guess that it won't be cheap; as FarmTech already hinted. I do think that it would be quite effective. The suddenness of the explosive noise from firecrackers will always startle the birds. They are not likely to adapt to it easily.

The electronic detection will be rated by range in terms of distance of reach. That should answer your question of size of farm it can cover. You will determine the number you need based on the rated range versus size of farm and the number of boundaries your farm has. If the detector revolves while scanning then the area protected will be measured using the radius/diameter of reach. If it's a stationary detector, then expect to have it on all four (if four) boundaries of your farm. Another advantage of this system is that it does not rely heavily on continued human inputs. I imagine that it would be supported by solar power.


A less techy version is to deploy firecrackers manually and without an electronic detector. So human labor will manually trigger the fire crackers on sighting the birds. This might make the cost less prohibitive, but will its determined on the commitment of the workforce.

Cheers

obiageIi:

The bolded is a fact, I had to pull out of my rice farming project few week into harvest to save myself form hypertension

Well that is the sad reality. Many of us found out the hard way.

TangoAlpha:


I do not have an idea of what this might cost, but I can guess that it won't be cheap; as FarmTech already hinted. I do think that it would be quite effective. The suddenness of the explosive noise from firecrackers will always startle the birds. They are not likely to adapt to it easily.

The electronic detection will be rated by range in terms of distance of reach. That should answer your question of size of farm it can cover. You will determine the number you need based on the rated range versus size of farm and the number of boundaries your farm has. If the detector revolves while scanning then the area protected will be measured using the radius/diameter of reach. If it's a stationary detector, then expect to have it on all four (if four) boundaries of your farm. Another advantage of this system is that it does not rely heavily on continued human inputs. I imagine that it would be supported by solar power.


A less techy version is to deploy firecrackers manually and without an electronic detector. So human labor will manually trigger the fire crackers on sighting the birds. This might make the cost less prohibitive, but will its determined on the commitment of the workforce.

Cheers

Reducing the human interface as much as possible to me is a wise decision. However expensive this might be, I will give it a try God willing.

I was reviewing these conversations with my people today, then one said, to make this a success any tech product bought for bird chasing will have to be secured by a paid guard on the field, else the challenge of being stolen from the field.

I will definitely give this a shot

saliubello:
Reducing the human interface as much as possible to me is a wise decision. However expensive this might be, I will give it a try God willing.

I was reviewing these conversations with my people today, then one said, to make this a success any tech product bought for bird chasing will have to be secured by a paid guard on the field, else the challenge of being stolen from the field.

I will definitely give this a shot

I personally also favor minimizing human inputs as much as is practicable. I merely put the manual option out there so that potential farmers who find the fully automated option financially out of reach can still adapt it to suit their pockets.

I wish you great success with your next attempt.

Cheers

I salute your doggedness, dear. I too will share my experience of sesame seed, groundnut, zobo, etc when i'm a bit free insha Allah
meanwhile it was today that i finished processin d sesame i got from my farm

doyinbaby:
I wish to start a farm but not rice......all these challenges regarding rice farming cannot be combated by small scale farmers...you need expertise and money to combat these problems

you can always start small...d expertise can't be gotten from reading posts or mere wishes, you jus need to get up and do something, something worth d stress...half a plot of land, then you expand jejely
and i need not mention it that d highest risk brings d highest gain, not necessarily profit

maisauki:
I salute your doggedness, dear. I too will share my experience of sesame seed, groundnut, zobo, etc when i'm a bit free insha Allah
meanwhile it was today that i finished processin d sesame i got from my farm

I can't wait to read about it. Some of these experiences from other areas will definitely inspire "some youths" out there to try out something "new".