You may enjoying seeing a bird fly through your yard or land in a nearby tree. Having bird babies around is a fun experience too – except when their parents have built a nest in your gutters.
Bird nests cause big gutter clogs and can end up in your downspout, causing a blockage that is more difficult and sometimes costly to clear. You know it’s important to keep your gutters clean, but how can you prevent birds from building their nests in this unfortunate spot? Here are eight ways to keep your gutters free of bird nests.
1. Aluminum Gutter Covers
If you’re looking for a permanent solution to your bird issue, call a company like Gutter Helmet and ask for aluminum gutter covers. They will not only keep birds out, but leaves, twigs and other debris too. When it comes to rain gutter guard pros and cons, this is one of the biggest advantages.
2. Decoys
Adding a fright inducer (such as a fake bird of prey) on your roof is one way to prevent smaller birds from using your gutters as a nesting place. The downside is that they’re not very attractive and many homeowners associations don’t allow them.
3. Hardware Cloth
Hardware cloth is also known as steel mesh. Although some people install this relatively inexpensive solution over gutters, thinking that it will be a good way to keep leaves and other debris out, it quickly becomes clear that it isn’t as attractive as quality aluminum gutter covers. However, hardware cloth can keep birds from building nests in a gutter.
4. Bird Repellent
This granule, gel or spray repellent has a scent that birds detect that makes them uncomfortable with the surroundings, encouraging them to go elsewhere for their nest. If the region in which you live has many bird species that equates to a long breeding season, you may have to reapply multiple times.
5. Trap & Relocate
Although you may feel this is very humane, it’s a time-consuming way of trying to keep birds from nesting in your gutter. You must set and bait the trap and check it regularly. Once you have a bird, you need to set it free and hope it doesn’t return to your home. This can be one of the least efficient methods of deterring birds.
6. Rubber Snakes
Dig through your kid’s toy box and find a rubber snake or two. Much like the decoy, the birds will see the snake and interpret that as threat to their unborn chicks and avoid the area. Again, you’ll need several strategically located along the roof-line, and you’ll have to figure out how to attach them so a heavy rain doesn’t cause them to fall into the gutter and clog it.
7. Sound Technology
There are many sound-deterring options to choose from, including high frequency sounds and predator sounds. Although the high frequency sounds can’t be heard by humans, the predator sounds can be and your neighbors may complain. You’ll need speakers strategically placed near your gutters to cover the entire gutter system. This can be one of the more expensive solutions as it requires a fair amount of installation and maintenance.
8. Attack Spider
A humorous solution to a bird problem is this infomercial-type product called Attack Spider. Birds are afraid of spiders because larger spiders prey on small birds and their eggs. The large fake spider is on a 18″ line that detects movement. When the bird sets off the motion detector, the spider drops down the line and frightens it. For this solution, you’ll need to have a flat area above your gutters on which to mount it and you’ll need several around your home.
The best and longest-lasting option to deter nesting birds is aluminum gutter covers. We know that homeowners considering installing them always look for rain gutter guard pros and cons, and this is another check mark for the pro column. If you’d like to learn more about the many benefits of Gutter Helmet for your home, call (800) 824-3772 and we’ll make sure to answer all your questions.
