There was no screen cover on this HUD Wreck I've been working on and I failed to put one on right after getting it. I hear an adult bird in there now. Goes in and out. It's a straight shot up.
Will smoking em with some newspaper and maybe pinecones get em to vacate a bit while I run up and put a cover on ya think? Don't wanna really light a regular fire since it's been hovering around 100 the past 10 days if ya know what I mean.
Please, no cracks about bats in my belfry :-)
Probably, but...
There's a real good chance there's a nest w/ hatchlings which can make a mess if left. If can tell, and there is a nest, I'd try to dislodge it at the same time.
We have barn swallows every year -- the rustle around a little, the little ones cheep for a while and by mid-summer they're gone.
I keep intending to put a cap on and every winter goes by and I don't... :)
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Red Green wrote in news:Xns9ABBD7F725ADCRedGreen@216.168.3.70:
If you throw in burning stuff, it'll kill the babies and they'll be left inside to smell up the place.
Yeah, if you light a regular fire, that means opening the damper and possibly the critters will come in your house.
One winter I had the pilot light go out on my gas furnace. I called the furnace people to light it for me....new homeowner and didn't know what to do. The guy looked inside and found a dead bird. I had him put it in a cardboard box and then i put the box outside to deal with the dead bird later. I went out 20 minutes later and the bird was gone. Seems it was only knocked out and came back to life outside. I got a chimney cover soon after.
.168.3.70:
im put it in a
=BDSeems it was
wait till late summer after all babies are gone........
parents will have likely left to, then install cap.
I had swallows build a nest in the porch rafters over my entryway one year. I thought it would be a good science experience for my little girl. It was. But the birds and 3-4 offspring shit like the dickens all over the welcome mat, for months.
AND THEN, the offspring kept trying to come back, year after year, for like 4-5 years. I had to put screen under the porch rafters to keep them away.
If your birds are swallows, get 'em out now and keep them out.
-Zz
On Thu, 12 Jun 2008 20:13:53 -0500, Red Green wrote Re Bird in Chimney:
That will work, but you are going to need some amount of fire to generate "draw" up the chimney.
If you do the smoke routine, the birds may die from CO poisoning and fall into the chimney. Can't imagine how a bird could be expected to fly out of a chimney. There's not enough space to get wings flapping and create the needed lift. There should be a cleanout at the bottom. Clean out ash and old bones and then go get a cover for the chimney.
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have a chimney guy come, do camera inspection of chimney, which needs done before its ever used.
the camera should scare birds o they leave, then cap can be put on immediately if theres no nest with babies
franz fripplfrappl wrote: ...
Somehow they manage it all the time despite that... :)
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These are probably chimney swifts and are protected by the International Migrating Bird Treaty. FYI You are breaking the law if you remove an active nest, eggs, baby birds, or adult birds.
They will vacate the nest at the end of the summer. You can put a screen up then. Screen should not be "back door screen", but hardware cloth with holes big enough to not plug when flue gasses are expelled.
I am a former Certifed Chimney Sweep
Try loud rock and roll music. Birds are smarter than some humans. Know I'm saying, bro? Got the 411 now?
You don't need a fire -- if you don't thenk they've nested yet, get either your shop vac or a leaf blower (or both), stick it in your fireplace and turn it on. They'll leave in haste and give you enough time to put on a screen. I had something similar, when grackles started a nest inside the long flexible bathroom fan exhaust vent. I just turned on the fan, they scrambled out (and the fan also blew out the beginnings of a nest) and I went outside and put on a screen.
If they've already started a nest, let your conscience, etc. . . .
franz fripplfrappl wrote in news:Let4k.4998$ snipped-for-privacy@nlpi068.nbdc.sbc.com:
It would just fall to the damper from what I can tell.
Apparently the bird dows not know about the aerodynamics of lift. It is too busy flying in and out. Yep, hear the wings flapping.
CDET 14 wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@27g2000hsf.googlegroups.com:
They would be dead birds. So I guess I'm all set.
Does the International Migrating Bird Treaty have a fund where you submit request for monney for the any damage done?
Really? I was gonna use that nice color coordinated charcoal plastic stuff. Peachy!
Hardware cloth? Instead of some hack hardware cloth how about a real cover that also keeps rain out?
Open the damper. Get a cat.
My 7-year old cat, Bob, who hasn't been outside since he was a wee kitten caught a swift.
He howled like the Cat of the Baskervilles until I came to see what all the ruckus was about. There he was, silly grin on his face, one paw holding down a scared itty-bitty bird.
I retrieved the unhurt, but terrified, bird and loosed it out the door. It flew away.
Bob, however, wasn't fit to live with for about a week. He had to tell the other cats about his adventure. Several times. Buttons popped off his shirt, he swelled his chest so much.
"HeyBub" wrote in news:LfidnVwgS58R-cnVnZ2dnUVZ snipped-for-privacy@earthlink.com:
Got two of em'. Keeping fireplace blocked. Lat ting I want is to fetch cats from the damn chimney!
??? Never heard of a cat in a chimney! I guess it could happen...
Bob caught the swift in the kitchen, but (I reckon from the noise) he chased it all over the place first.
With cats, it's not the capture - or even the possible meal - it's the chase! All cats have a chase reflex; if you run into a mountain lion in the park remember this: If you run, you merely die tired - the cat WILL chase you.
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With a mountain lion, you are strange enough that he is not sure whether you are his dinner, or he is your dinner. If you run from him, you have just told him.
"HeyBub" wrote in news:VOadndBbjpND48nVnZ2dnUVZ snipped-for-privacy@earthlink.com:
After having them in the household since my earliest memory, I know a lot about them - more than they think I know and a lot less than I think I know.
It's quite interesting how they are exactly the same whether it's feral, domesticated or a wild big cat yet every one, like people, have individuality and temperment.
I've learned a lot about their extensive complex language of body part movements to communicate with each other and with humans. Complex in that one movement can mean several things depending on their frame of mind. And that movement+frame of mind is further complicated by what other movement(s) accompany it. You start to get into some large factorial"!" possibilities. And yet they each create new movements that they know we will lean to understand - something betweeen their language and ours.
One of the most simple and useful is looking at the animal in the eyes. This is always a challenge! unlesss...accompanied by a slow wince of the eyes then it just means I want to look at you. Works both ways. If you take note you will see they will stay relaxed. They will often wince back. Between each other, you will see the wince with a slow head turn right afterwards. I've seen it personally as well as read about it in a study. Of course I could not attest to it but the study showed this is exactly the same with big cats.
Yep, with big or little cats it's the chase. Once it's started, instinct and genetics take over. The mouse, 3/4 dead and not moving, the cat will paw and bat it till it moves somehow then beat another 1/8th dead.
A simple summary I saw was they stay with us because simply because they like us and we like them. We make life easy for them. Knowing the animal, I think the second part carries more weight. They latch on to and go with the primary human they know as "The Feeder".
Good point.
I just read a story about a senior couple who found a bobcat with a litter of two under the hedge in their (large) backyard.
Each evening the couple sit in their backyard and, from a distance, watch the two cubs growing up. Momma bobcat is well aware of the people but, as long as they keep a respectful distance, doesn't seem to mind too much. That, and the raw chicken the couple leave for the critters.
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