How to keep birds away?
We love them for their beauty and for their song, but birds can also be a nuisance. If you grow fruits and vegetables in your garden, you probably need to research ways to keep birds away from your crops. Or maybe you have a problem with pigeons invading your roof or balcony and littering everything in their path?
If birds are causing you problems with your crops or the cleanliness of your environment, know that there are ways to keep them away without harming them. So here is a list of tips and tricks to keep birds away.
1. How do I keep birds away from the roof?
You may be wondering how to scare away birds on a balcony or on your house roof?
So to prevent birds such as pigeons from landing on the balcony or the roof of your house, install anti-bird spikes.
Available in plastic and metal, these long spike strips can be installed on the edge of a roof, cornice, railings and windows. Birds will not want to land there for fear of injuring themselves.
Bird spikes are often the most effective solution to keep birds away from the house.
2. How to keep birds away from the vegetable patch?
There are different ways to keep birds away from the garden. Most of the solutions can be achieved with a few items that you may already have at home:
Aluminum plates: if your vegetable garden is fenced, hang metal plates with strings on the fence or on stakes. The reflections as well as the noise made by the plates flapping in the wind will keep the birds away from the vegetable garden. Remember to place them close to each other so that they make as much noise as possible. The same trick can be done with cans.
Nets: from the start of the season, cover your plantations with fine mesh netting. Install these nets before the flowers and / or fruits and vegetables appear, otherwise the birds will be tempted to take their chances anyway. Be careful, some birds and small mammals sometimes get stuck there!
A motion detector: you will find motion detectors on the market that trigger a jet of water when an animal or a bird passes by. However, they are often ineffective with small birds.
A scarecrow: here is a nice craft to do with the children! Use old clothes, and fill them with straw. Don’t forget to draw eyes and a mouth on her face and put a hat on her!
False Owls: Available at most garden centers and hardware stores, these false owls can keep birds at bay. But birds aren’t crazy and don’t get fooled for long, especially when they realize the owl never moves!
3. How to keep birds away from fruit trees?
Several species of birds are attracted to the small fruits that certain trees bear: crabapples, Saskatoon berries, raspberries, etc.
If you grow cherry trees, you certainly have problems with birds. Of course, you could put a net on your cherry and fruit trees to keep birds away, but if they are very tall it can be rather difficult.
Your only option in this case would be to install one or more types of scarers:
- aluminum plates
- tin cans
- old CDs
- aluminum foil strips.
You can also purchase an effective repellant strip against pigeons and other unwanted birds.
You could also opt for scent scarers, such as rags soaked in predator urine, etc. It works really great to scare birds away from fruit trees.
Another simple trick to keep birds away from fruit trees is to put mothballs in plastic bottles that you hang from branches. To do this:
- Cut plastic bottles in half.
- Insert a few balls of mothballs into it.
- Hang the bottles from the branches using string or wire.
This mothballs tip is effective against birds that eat cherries from cherry trees.
4. How to protect seedlings from birds?
Grain-eating birds love to gorge on the seeds we plant in the vegetable garden. So how do you protect your seedlings from birds effectively?
To protect your seedlings from birds, plant a small stake in the ground at each end of a row. Then, tie a cotton or wool string to it so that it ends up directly above your seed row, just a few inches high.
It’s a quick and easy trick to put in place to protect your seedlings and vegetable garden from birds.
5. Sound scares to keep birds away
Another good way to keep birds away is to install a sound bird scarier. This can simply be a radio placed under a tree or near the vegetable garden or even light plastic bags stapled to wooden stakes.
You can also get sound scares commonly known as sound bombs. These emit the noises of explosion or rifle fire, very effective against birds. However, if you have neighbors, they might not like this tactic too much!
6. Cat heads to keep birds away
No, these are not real cat faces…. Of course not! But rather, visual scares that can be obtained in specialized stores and online.
These are metal cat heads, whose eyes are sparkling balls. You can hang these cat heads to keep birds away from the vegetable patch and your fruit trees.
7. Keep birds away with ultrasound
You will find in garden centers and some hardware stores ultrasonic repellents to repel birds.
These devices emit ultrasound that birds find unbearable. Depending on the size of your vegetable garden or orchard, you will need from one to several devices for this to be effective.
In addition, these devices will scare away any small mammal that might be tempted to come and feed in your vegetable garden or steal your fruit. Most models run on batteries, which should be remembered to change regularly. Otherwise, opt for the more expensive models that connect to the electricity in your home.