birds on deck, and squirrel

Hello,

Anyone have ideas on how to keep birds off a deck? I had the deck recently stained and repaired and almost every day there are 2-3 bird poop on the t op railings. Mourning doves seem to be the worst about doing this... And the other day, I noticed one of the top top posts was gnawed a bit. Which the squirrel has done in the past. Anyone else have these problems, and wh at do you do? I wash off the bird poop since that can't be good for the wo od, and is unsightly.

Reply to
Gus Overton
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Pussy!

No birds, no sqirrels... guaranteed!

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No moles, no voles, not even a mouse:
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No more birds in my barn pooping on my tractor:
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Reply to
Brooklyn1

Yep, the birds, especially the doves, love my railings. In my case, they are sitting on rather narrow pool fencing, they like to face inward, and the poop misses anything I care about.

In the winter I usually see large "dove meetings" in the early AM as the sun comes up and I really enjoy them.

I agree with Brooklyn, cats would work.

In your case, something obstructing the railing or a slightly higher piece of rail beyond the existing railing might work. Don't know if you can do that attractively.

Reply to
Dan Espen

Try birdlime. While the purpose is to trap birds, a dead trapped bird might discourage others from landing. The stickiness should also discourage squirrels.

Since birdlime is illegal in some jurisdictions, birds might be discouraged by hanging unwanted compact discs and DVD discs on kite twine. Just drill a small hole -- about the diameter of a pencil lead

-- very near the edge and hang with about a foot of twine. These will need to be moved about once a month so that birds do not become accustomed to the flashing sunlight. I use this method to keep birds away from my fruit trees and grape vines. For squirrels, I use a cage trap baited with peanut butter, chopped pecans, and raisins.

Reply to
David E. Ross

Scary owl ; rubber snake ; ... move them around regularly .. < ? >

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Good Luck ; John T.

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Reply to
hubops

monofilament line about one inch above the rail.

songbird

Reply to
songbird

Don't waste your money... those are very nice looking/decorative decoys but they won't fool any bird... I have several owl decoys on my vegetable garden fence, even a couple with solar powered glowing eyes, they do nothing other than to pretty up the place. I have several whirl-a-gigs too, and other fluttering/shiny thingies. None of those inanimate objects fool living critters. The only things I know deters birds is netting and pussy, and pussy works 100% of the time, netting works 50% of the time if you're lucky. Feral cats are the best hunting machines, hunting is in their DNA... a gnat can't land on my deck lest it's a goner... feral cats swat flies out of boredom.

Reply to
Brooklyn1

Now, that sounds like it would work.

The bird lime? Too cruel for me.

Reply to
Dan Espen

Birds aren't nearly so stupid as you... do your really think birds that can build intricate nests from itty bitty bits and collect bits of fine fluff to line them won't notice the monofiliment, they'll probably snip off bits with their beaks to use as thread for sewing their nests... ain't you ever seen an oriole's digs?

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Too bad those disgusting freaks in Baltimore can't be made to do something half as constructive... I'd definitely put those ruinous lazy useless bastards to work on a chain gang... no work/no eats... Yeah, I'd hand them food stamps, they can use them to wipe their filthy no account butts. None of those young ho's need food stamps, wanna eat, git on a military chow line... learn them the same way moma oriole learns her young'uns... WORK for it!

Reply to
Brooklyn1

Brooklyn, you shouldn't be worrying about stupid. You're just plain nasty.

I would take over stupid over nasty any day.

The purpose of the mono-filament would be to get in the way of the perfect perch that a railing provides. The birds can't perch on it or the railing.

You really are a disgusting piece of crap.

Reply to
Dan Espen

I was being somewhat facetious when I mention bird lime. It is generally illegal.

Reply to
David E. Ross

Hope so.

Never heard of it before, so there is that.

Reply to
Dan Espen

Dan Espen wrote: ...

i dunno how well it would work, but it was an idea. probably would need to be replaced once in a while, but still cheaper than other options. another thing to do could be to put dowels out from the railing to give them a perch where they could poop into the grass away from the deck. more work and expense than fishing line but at least then you can still see them.

we have a few species that try to perch above my patio door, which i discourage by pounding on the wall to startle them away. sometimes they try to build a nest up there too. i have chunks of wood to put up there when that happens and they go away. dunno why the builder didn't fill in that space to begin with. a flat sill like that is just asking for bird nesting.

i don't want to discourage the birds completely as some of them come around and check the eves for hornets/ wasps or spiders and they are fun to watch as they perch on the roof and look around.

songbird

Reply to
songbird

A plain piece of monofiliment is not birdlime.

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Reply to
Brooklyn1

Bird poop won't harm a wood deck, and easily washes away, rain/hose... unsightly, don't look.

Reply to
Brooklyn1

I personally think that part of the beauty of having a deck or a balcony is the birds that come and perch there. As many have said, simply hose it down from time to time

'Classic Ironworks | Design and Build'

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Reply to
Angela Dean

I enjoy birds on my deck, they are gorgeous... I never even think negatively about critters pooping, it's all free fertilizer. I think those who complain about critters pooping would be much happier spending their life in a concrete prison cell, hoping they don't need to wait long to die.

Reply to
Brooklyn1

I used plain old string similarly tied tightly just above the top rail of my black / boysenberry framing to stop birds perching there and it worked a charm. Mind you that is thin timber - maybe with railings the birds might still have room to perch to one side of the line?

Reply to
~misfit~

A wire or nylon fishing line running along and above the railing will probably keep them from perching there - string it about 2" above. I have also seen grids of about 4-6" squares made from nylon fishing line to keep birds out. A flower box might be a good alternative; I have seen doves nesting in flower boxes (and on the light outside my front door :o) ).

Reply to
Norminn

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