Birds causing problems

[bevann]

We have a MAJOR bird problem here on the farm.Nasty nests everywhere in the barn, messy bird poop on everything,have had lice on horses from birds, pigeons flying around and nesting(knocked down a nest today and smashed 2 eggs in it)bird nests under the hoods of every truck, van and tractor on the property and today was the Ultimate.Karl was using the IH cub tractor in his garden and it caught on fire from a bird nest that he missed when cleaning out way in the back of the tractor.He was in the middle of the field so had to throw dirt on fire to keep tractor from full flames and major explosion.Thankfully he wasn't hurt, but tractor can't be used.Hoses&center console are melted&not sure yet what other damage was done by fire.Of course, it's not insured and the 1 tractor that has a bucket and the 1 most used on the farm.If I could kill every bird on the farm with some kind of poison without hurting the other animals right now I would do it.This is the second fire we have had in a vehicle.I have a nest of birds in my big dually truck.They are in the liner of the hood-you can hear them chirp when you raise the hood.That truck also has a nest up in a wheel well cover and the only way to remove that is to take part of the truck apart.My dogs get covered in bird poop when they are out in the yard to play.My car looks like it has been used for target practice.We don't have really pretty birds, just really nasty ones.I really hate birds.I wish they would find someplace else to live.They make a lot of extra work for me and are costing me money which right now is in short supply.Any suggestions for getting rid of birds would be greatly appreciated.Invested in 1 of those electronic things to scare birds-lots of money didn't scare birds away-only made horses nervous and jumpy.

 

[Marty]

I don't know Bevann but I feel your pain. I finally got rid of them in my barn. They had been building nests in my light fixtures of all things. They have now started making a hole up under the facial board of our roof! They are building nests in there. I noticed it this weekend because they woke me up doing it and they are literally tearing off the wood of my house! At the same time, I have a couple of wood peckers too. Its not like there is a lack of forests around here. I can't imagine why they are nesting in such crazy places! I have to wonder if its because I am down to one cat and she is pretty old and not on the job at all anymore. Maybe we need kitties?

 

[Sonya]

I like birds but you are right they can do tons of damage and are so dirty. We had a problem with them on our back porch. We tried the fake owl (they sat on him and pooped all over him)...now we use my husbands turkey decoys...we hang them from the ceiling of our covered porch and they stay away...of course it looks stupid, but no birds.

 

[Riverrose28]

What we did won't keep them all away but does work for some of the little ones. We took some insulator poles that we bought at Tractor supply, they are less then $1. apiece and stick in the ground, we then cut a hole in a tin pie pan, put some bailing twine in and tied to the top of the pie pan and attached to the pole. The wind causes them to clang and bang and scare some of the birds away. I had them make a nest behind my electric fence box and diconnect the wire. They also like to nest in the roll out, glide out on my horse trailer, they have just about ruined that and it now needs to be replaced. Good Luck!

 

[LAminiatures]

I feel your pain. They do cause damage and filth. I got tired of it and contacted a barn/feral cat rescue. Now I have a barn cat that is very serious about his job. I have not had birds in the barn since. Good luck!

 

[Raine Ranch Minis]

We had a stray cat come up a few years ago she has since taken care of Most of the barn birds and mice!!! Yet she has the best pearsonality! GO KITTIES!!!!

 

[JaniceZ]

Removing the birds that are in your barn at the moment wont help. Other birds will just move in. Also, lots of birds are protected by law, even the 'ugly' ones.

Funny that the birds would stick around even when your dogs are outside....The birds near my house are deathly afraid of my cat, even though he is hugely uncoordinated and has no chance of catching a bird

.

A quick google found this article:

http://pubs.cas.psu.edu/freepubs/pdfs/uh126.pdf

 

[weebiscuit]

We have a MAJOR bird problem here on the farm.Nasty nests everywhere in the barn, messy bird poop on everything,have had lice on horses from birds, pigeons flying around and nesting(knocked down a nest today and smashed 2 eggs in it)bird nests under the hoods of every truck, van and tractor on the property and today was the Ultimate

I can't imagine having such a mess! I'd go crazy! We have songbirds in the back yard. We have a pond and waterfall they bathe and drink in, plus I have so many feeders up that I think I spend more on bird food than on food for my husband and me! We just love them, but don't have anything nasty in the barn. I wonder if it's because we have a pole barn, and there aren't really a lot of places birds can get into it? Our barn is also quite a distance from our house, but the neighbor's old wooden barn is close to our barn, and he has pidgeons in his all the time! And yes, they make a terrible mess! Why can't the dumb birds go out and nest in trees like birds are supposed to do? What the heck did they do before there were people around, who built barns and sheds for them to mess up?

I don't know if this will work for birds, but I had a terrible raccoon problem at the house. Every night they'd eat all the bird food, and about once a week they'd break and feeder. I was just enraged, and you can only keep shooting raccoons for so long, until you get fed up with the never-ending supply of them coming out of the woods! So, what we did was buy a cheap radio and put it on the back deck every night. It absolutely worked and we've never had a single raccoon wreck the feeders or eat the bird seed since then.

I don't know if leaving a radio on where you keep your machinery would be practical for you, as I don't know the logistics of your set up, but if you can just get rid of the birds you have now, maybe a radio would discourage new ones from coming in.

Do you leave your equipment outside? Would some kind of netting thrown over it when not in use help? (I know... it could be expensive). But, they have that netting people use to cover fruit trees and plants. Maybe that would work?

 

[bevann]

so far we have tried plastic owls(they sat right next to it)aluminum streamers at the entrance to the barn(they flew right through them)rubber snakes hanging down the grill of vehicles(talk about being a Red Neck) Nothing seems to work.The birds fly up under the wheel wells in everything.some vehicles are out in the open some are in sheds.I going to try aluminum pie plates hanging on things-maybe that will help.

 

[LAZY J MINIS]

WE HAD A PROBLEM FOR A WHILE UNTIL I GOT MY GUINEAS. THEY CHASE ANY THING THAT DOESN'T BELONG HERE INSIDE AND OUT. THE CROWS EVEN GIVE WAY. MINE ARE BOTH BOYS, BEST BUDS,FRIENDS AND WATCH EACH OTHERS BACKS. THEY RANGE ALL OVER THE PLACE KILLING SPIDERS,BUGS,MICE AND SNAKES. LOVE THEM BOYS.

 

[Katiean]

I will rent you my cats. They are hard pressed to find anything to hunt around here. Infact they have cleared the neighbors of mice. They sit out where I feed the chickens so the birds won't come up and eat the chicken food. Before we got these cats we had tons of mice and birds. My cats even clean out the nests. They love to play with the baby birds. Even after they are dead.