For the Birds

[Ed Aumiller]

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Sorry, had to do it...

[Andy Pedler]

Look up a product called Hotfoot...perhaps at www dot hotfoot dot com.

Comes in caulking tubes and you just lay down a bead where you don't want the birds to nest. If the area is under the eaves of your house and out of the weather the stuff lasts for years. On the roof it goes a few years before you need to re-apply.

From what I can tell it doesn't do harm to the birds. It's just uncomfortable for them to get it on them and they'll eventually find somewhere else to live.

I don't want to get preachy, but don't get a cat to solve a bird problem. Feral cats are a scourge on our native migratory bird populations. The ecological harm done by irresponsible cat owners is enormous, tragic, and completely avoidable.

[Peter Kelly]

I don't want to get preachy, but don't get a cat to solve a bird problem. Feral cats are a scourge on our native migratory bird populations. The ecological harm done by irresponsible cat owners is enormous, tragic, and completely avoidable.

Both feral and domesticated free-roaming cats kill thousands of songbirds every year in the US. Like any pet, cats absolutely should not be allowed outside unattended.

[John Terefenko]

I thought they were gone but yesterday they were back at it. I will keep knocking this nest apart. They can buil;d all the nests they want in the bushes right in front of the house but not behind my shutters. Just put those up last year.

[Doug Dawson]

Both feral and domesticated free-roaming cats kill thousands of songbirds every year in the US. Like any pet, cats absolutely should not be allowed outside unattended.

Thousands? That’s just in your immediate area. Nationally? Millions upon millions.

[Rich Lester]

Try taking the shutter off and applying a 'bead' of window and door expanding foam about an inch or two in from the edge of the shutter. after it expands and cures reattach the shutter to the wall. This type of foam will compress easily and conform the the stone face. I have used this method several times with shutters on stone walls to keep wasps and hornets from building nests behind the shutter.

[Myk Rian]

How far away from the brick are the shutters?

[Alan Gage]

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Sorry, had to do it...

That's not helpful since the original poster lives in North America and I believe those are all European species (though a couple have migrated to this side of the pond).

If it was me I'd just let them be. I'm currently in a race to get as much of my siding done before the barn swallows make their nests. Unfortunately they just showed up this morning so it looks like the front of the house, where they usually make their nests, will have to wait until late summer to be re-sided.

Alan

[Doug Dawson]

That's not helpful since the original poster lives in North America and I believe those are all European species (though a couple have migrated to this side of the pond).

If it was me I'd just let them be. I'm currently in a race to get as much of my siding done before the barn swallows make their nests. Unfortunately they just showed up this morning so it looks like the front of the house, where they usually make their nests, will have to wait until late summer to be re-sided.

Alan

If you’re using curtains they have much less reason to be in there.