Keep Birds Away with These 7 Tips

(guest post by Raymond Web)

Not all the birds are delightful in your garden. Some pesky birds can pick on your trees and eat your fruits and vegetables. Do you have such uninvited visitors to your home and garden, leaving behind their droppings and making a mess? It can be annoying, and some of your family members can be allergic to birds and their droppings.

But how to keep birds out of the garden? This post will share seven tips on protecting your garden from birds. All these bird-control solutions are humane and effective.

1. Rely on Predatory Animals

Another effective way to keep birds away is by using predators to scare them away. Hawks, owls, and other birds of prey can be used to scare birds away from your home and garden. You can also use domesticated predatory animals such as cats or dogs.

One alternative is to place replicas of the birds’ natural predators, such cats and owls, in areas where birds are causing a nuisance. These objects should be made of a material which can withstand the outdoors, such as plastic, stone or aluminum.

2. Hang Garden Balls

Finally, one unique and natural garden bird repellent is a round garden ball. These are specially designed balls you can hang from trees, fences, or other structures in your yard. The balls have a reflective surface that can scare birds.

Photo © De-Bird

These spherical orbs can make incredible decorations for your yard or garden. And birds may think they are eyes and try to avoid them.

3. Apply Garden Netting

Garden netting is an excellent way of protecting plants from birds. Simply cover your garden in bird netting - this immediately prohibits them from entering the area. It’s a great solution if you have trees and shrubs that birds like to hang out in.

Photo © Bird-X

Always use durable bird netting for the house or garden, made from a strong material that won’t easily tear apart. And it’s also crucial that the net is pulled tightly, as loose netting is useless.

Along with this, deter insects by growing certain plants that keep insects away such as lavender, lemongrass, basil, etc.

4. Sensory Deterrents - Use Sights, Sounds, and Smells to Repel Birds

One of the best ways to scare birds away from home and the garden is to use sound deterrents. This method often utilizes loud noise-making devices or even playing recordings of predators like hawks and owls that birds naturally fear.

Photo © Bird-B-Gone

Apart from scaring birds with artificial sound, you can also use other scare devices such as strobe lights, holographic strips, and aromatic bird-repellents which contain a 20-percent concentration of Methyl Anthranilate, a food-grade ingredient proven to repel birds. All of these can help keep birds away from your home and garden.

5. Use Physical Barriers

Physical barriers work best for repelling birds from your garden and home. This could include installing window screens or covering vents. You can also post up bird spikes or create a fence or wall around your garden. All of these solutions help keep birds from entering your home and garden.

Photo © Bird-B-Gone

Bird spikes are like barbed wire for birds, preventing them from perching on nearby sills, roof peaks, or ledges. By making it difficult for birds to roost on your property, you can deter them from gathering there.

6. Use Scarecrows to Scaring Birds Away

It may sound old fashioned, but scarecrows, when used correctly, can be an effective way to keep birds away from your garden and home. Scarecrows come in all shapes and sizes. You can buy one from the market or make a DIY model.

They can help discourage and scare birds from the garden when placed strategically. Just make sure you move the scarecrow around occasionally and switch up its appearance to keep birds from getting used to it.

7. Seek the Help of Pest Prevention Services

You may want to consider getting help from professional pest control company that offers bird-deterrent services. Trained service providers can provide you with a variety of solutions. Customized services like netting, bird spikes, and other bird-exclusion and removal treatments can help you get the desired results. Combining solutions may be the best approach to deter birds from your property, and the pest-control specialist will help you determine a customized a plan.