That is the question Alexandra Landcare Research scientist Dr Grant Norbury will test in a $1 million study over the next two years.
Dr Norbury said yesterday he planned to run trials at Lincoln from early next month, and then field trials in the Mackenzie Basin from early next year.
His plan is to spray the smell of chickens, quail and other birds on the ground in various places and then study the behaviour of predators.
What he hopes to see is the predators becoming ''bored'' when they track bird scents and find no reward, and then turn their attention back to other food sources, such as rabbits and each other.
''After several weeks, predators will lose interest in investigating the odour and we will have deceived them into thinking that bird odours are no longer a profitable cue for food,'' Dr Norbury said.
Native species were mostly secondary prey, which made it easier to deflect predator attention away for short periods during mating or nesting, Dr Norbury said.
When tried in Australia, the smell approach, known as ''chemical camouflage'' had increased nest survival by 60% over a short period.
Rats lost interest in bird scent in three days, although their interest returned, he said.
''Naturally, once birds arrive to breed, predators will re-learn that bird odour can sometimes result in a reward,'' Dr Norbury said.
''The idea is to give birds a window of opportunity to breed successfully before re-learning begins.''
The study would begin at Lincoln, using ferrets and hedgehogs in an enclosure to see how long it takes them to ''get bored'' with bird odour ''and just not bother'', he said.
The field trial on braided rivers in the Mackenzie Basin would follow.
Dr Norbury said native birds such as black-fronted terns bred in clusters, and by using the odour for a few weeks before they bred, it was hoped predators would be ''deceived into thinking that bird odour isn't worth pursuing''.
''We want to start off with a winner.''
Dr Norbury estimated 25 million native birds were killed in New Zealand by introduced predators every year.
While they had evolved the means to protect themselves against other native birds that hunted by sight, they had little protection from predators that hunted by smell.
The study is one of 48 studies granted $96.8million by the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment.
Fowl theory
A ''key issue'' to be determined in the bird smell trials will be whether predators notice a difference between chickens and native birds.
Head of the study Dr Grant Norbury, of Landcare Research, Alexandra, said he wanted to know how predators hunted by smell.
''Do they just generalise across bird odours, period?''
So if they get sick of chicken odour, because it's not giving them a reward, are they going to be turned off kiwi odour?
''It's a key question that we've got to test.''
Dr Norbury said he would gather chicken smells by putting cloths under nests on chicken farms.
If the trial worked then, ultimately, smells would be synthesised.
