I was just thinking the same thing. lol

Sorry about that. There was some delay in the loading process, and I suppose it went awry. The post was actually titled SLUGGO and crows. To rewrite: Like many of us, I have been using Sluggo successfully for years. I recently bought a new bottle and used some of it to protect some basil seedlings I put out as well as in my flower garden. I noticed that the color of the Sluggo was a little different and the pellets seemed slightly smaller, but thought nothing of it, at first. Then I became aware that the Sluggo was not protecting my plants as well as it had in the past. But the real damage came a few days later when the crows discovered it scattered through the garden. They love the stuff, and quickly decided my garden was their own private feeding tray. A two pound crow can make short work of a row of marigolds simply by stomping them to death. And 5 crows in a 9X9 garden is 5 too many. Then I discovered that the mourning doves and towhees also love it. If I spread it around in the morning, it is gone by nightfall. If I put it out in the evening, they eat it the next day. Basically, Sluggo has suddenly become more of a liability than an asset to my garden, due to the damage caused by stomping and scratching birds.

I don't know if they changed the formula or if this is something that has been going on and I just never noticed it before. I wrote to the Canadian office to see if they can give me any ideas. I'll post any response I get.

So my traps (boards and overturned pots) are still getting their share of slugs every morning when I go empty them. I have stopped putting out the Sluggo. The crows are still checking to see if there is any, but leave when they find I have stopped feeding them. I suppose (hope) they will quit coming around in a few days of finding nothing to eat.

Has anyone else noticed this phenomenon, or is it just me?

Jerry

Weird. Maybe they have an iron deficiency. Heh heh. Mighty expensive bird food.
I have heard that chickens think Sluggo is delicious. Mine don't seem to be tempted by it, and I have not had the wild bird problem with it. I'll be interested to see what others have to say.
Renee

I was pleased to get an extremely prompt reply (on Sunday!)from the North American rep for the manufacturer. He assures me that there has been no change in the formula, but that the pellet size was reduced for commercial size packages (25 and 50 lb) but not for the smaller packages. As for the birds, he could not offer much help other than to suggest spreading it in the evening to give the slugs at least one night to find it.

As I write I see a crow out there stomping around my flowers. It will find nothing since they cleaned it all out day before yesterday. I suppose in a few days they will give it up and look elsewhere, then maybe I can give the slugs another chance at it.

As for the chickens, I am sure they do like it, since the crows do. My plants are too small to allow a chicken in the garden obviously, since they are even bigger than the crows. I wonder if the towhees and doves eat any slugs they run across?

I don't think so. I know they don't eat earwigs or pillbugs. Both taste terrible. Slugs aren't so bad- if you can get past the texture. The cells in the slug continue to fire off little electrical impulses after the slug has been chewed, which is very unpleasant.

If you are wondering, yes, I had to know.

Renee

I've seen stupid ground squirrels eating Sluggo.

Renee, in the search for knowledge many sacrifices have been made, but I think yours ranks near the very top of the list. Thanks for letting us know, but don't you think birds have a different idea of what tastes good? The crows, I know from experience, love tomato horn worms.

If you did, don't tell me. Please.

And ground squirrels too! I wonder if there isn't something that is attractive to snails, that wouldn't be to birds? Or maybe make it into larger chunks so the birds couldn't eat it.

I am going to make some small cages out of hardware cloth that can be set over the Sluggo and see if that works. I will have to put a rock on top to keep the crows from tossing them aside, but it's worth a try. At least I can protect certain select plants that way, if not the whole garden plot.

rene! ICK!
i wonder how many eyes widened like mine did when reading your post, but thank you for doing the taste testing on the crawly and slimey little garden pests. i have often wondered if they would make a good meal for humans.
-sounds like NOT, especially slugs. repeat: ICK! (:
min