blackbird repellent for corn

The blackbirds seem to be especially persistent this year- pull up the corn seedling, sometimes even before it's out of the ground, and eat the seed. they'll go right down the row and get every last seed. Nothing effective seems to be legal any more. I know my grandfather used Stanley's Crow repellent, I've also hear of Mesurol- no longer registered. How do you all keep the seed in the ground? Any home brews that work? I tried spraying some hot sauce (concentrated pepper juice) on the seed, doesn't seem to help.

They make good pie.
Walt

My Grand-dad used to soak the seed in turpentine.

Half stick of dynamite in a grocery bag of pea gravel. Throw a bunch of corn around, so they congregate. Leave the bodies where they fall.

Hot pepper has no effect on birds, just mammals.

870 Remington.

There was a product released this year in south dakota that you treated the seed corn before you plant it and it gives the sprout a taste the birds don't like. I beleive it is some form of methiocarb or something like that and i think the product name was avetec or something, i bought some but containers out in the shop. Our big problem is the pheasants here, usually its just a few rows on the end but this year they wiped out about 20 acres. My corn salesman tried to tell me to use it but at $400+ a gallan i didnt do it. One gallon will treat 900-1000 lbs of seed, so its not as bad as it sounds. After i had the damage i reseeded the bad spots and treated the seed, and it does work. The neighbor treated all of his corn seed and had no damage and he used a small portable cement mixer to apply the product to the seed, although most seed places will treat it for you if you do your business with them. Next year i will treat all the corn seed because if your the only not doing it they will hit your field the worse. If you don't have a lot of acres maybe you could buy a portion of a neighbors because it only comes in a gallon form. There is also dry form of the product but i have heard it does not treat the seed as well and has had bird damage because of it. thats what i know hope it helps, although the dynamite and gravel thing sounds like fun. Normally i don't mind wildlife but with all the hunters buying up land around me and then their birds cost me an extra $1000 bucks in replant seed and this chemical all bets our off for birds in my fields.

Crow repellants were tar based,germanation was affected though.I have a recipe for black bird pie.