Have you tried an Owl decoy with a bobble head? You can probably get them at home and garden stores.
Place a plastic toy snake near the nest. Also try putting attachable odor killers in various places. I cannot think of what they are called!!! Hope this helps.
We had birds trying to nest on the ledge right above our door. My husband bought some kind of caulk at the hardware store, knocked the nest down (They were still in the building process, so there were no eggs) and put the caulk along the edge. We haven't had a single problem since then!
Aside from the mess, you have to be careful about where you let birds nest because they can be so protective after the eggs hatch. Then you can get dive-bombed whenever you try to go in or out of your own door!! That's a little frightening! :)
My parents used those silver helium balloons. They tacked them up where the birds were building their nests. It seemed to keep the birds at bay.
Too funny! We have had the exact same problem. As funny as it may sound my husband put one of my flip flops above the door where they were nesting. It looked stupid but it worked, and they havent been back. Good luck!
We have this problem too. We just go out every day during the spring when they start building and knock down whatever they've built. They don't usually get too much built in one day and after a while, they get tired of having to start over every day and find another place. It is a pain though. My dh didn't want anything hanging around our front door like owls, snakes, etc. (the birds try to build their nest right over our front door!), so this is what we've had to do. I hadn't heard of the blue paint though, so maybe we'll try that next year. We've already run our birds off this season, lol.
Regarding the blue paint. It may work in some cases. However, our front door is blue and we had a nest in our wreath right on the blue door last year. No wreath this year and no nest. The color probably depends upon the type of bird.
I haven't seen any swallows around here, but I have a dove that builds in my palm tree every year. Doves will go back to the same tree every year. Not a big problem except palm fronds are rather flat and the nest blows out.
The friends I have who have problems with the birds building on their patios have put up ceiling fans out there and keep them running on low all spring. This will discourage birds, wasps and mosquitos from that area.
I knocked the nest down everytime it was built. Also, I would go out early evening and "catch" them in the act. So I would wave my arms and make alot of noise. I had to do that 4-5 nights before they stopped. I haven't seen them since. Hope that helps, good luck.
It's an old wives tale but it works...paint your porch ceiling blue. Birds don't build nest in the sky.
They also come back year after year to the same nest...so take care of it now before the babies arrive!!
Good luck!
Donna
PP has it right. Paint the ceiling blue - a pale sky or "tiffany" blue works great. It doesn't have to be dark at all. It will work, I swear!
Try hanging a foil pie pan next to the area or a tack strip to the ledge where they build their nest. You may also try getting a fake owl at Home Depot and perch it in an area close to the site.???
Kaye,
I had to smile when I read your dilemma. I had this same problem when I moved into my house 8 years ago and I thought I was the only person who had to deal with this. But from the number of responses you've received this is obviously a prevalent problem. Anyway, I would just watch for them and scare them away, especially at night. There was a whole family of them and they were determined, but not as determined as I was. They slacked off for a while but would still return, year after year. I then got a Dachshund who loved barking at them and pestering them, so they left and have not returned to stay. But one tried to come for a visit just a few weeks ago and was greeted by my protective baby. Keep knocking down their nest and scare them away at night when they've come to sleep and they should leave...they don't like having their rest disturbed. : )
Hang up a rubber snake, birds hate it!!!
we hung netting in the corners at an angle. They are barn swallows, unfortunately they have lost their homes with all the farms being torn down. They come back to where they were born. So this year we had a big crowd coming back. last year it was built while we were out of town. It was neat watching the babies grow up, and my daughter loved checking on them everyday. But the bird mess everywhere was not to be desired.
Too funny reading all these responses. I have a nest in my porch area too and I think they are cool to watch. I guess I'm the only one! We enjoy seeing the birds on the roof and watching us go about day to day business. They keep a lot of the bugs at bay so I just let them be :) I have never seen one fly in and out while we are around the door area.
Kaye,
We had this issue eight or so years ago. We didn't want the birds nesting or dive-boming our kids every time they went out to play. We put large, wadded up balls of aluminum foil in the nest or ledge that they were trying to build. They may try to knock it out, but be persistent. It does work!
You want to be sure and do this before they lay eggs. I like birds, I just don't want them on my front porch, keeping us from enjoying our swing!
HTH,
Kim
our pest control guy said to place 'foil' covered med sized rocks on ledges and to cover the porch light lid also, well, the porch light tip worked...but the 'foil' covered rocks...not so well...those pesky birds keep 'picking' at the foil 'til 'mission' is accomplished...lol...
Thanks to everyone who took the time to respond. I, too, thought that I was the only one with this bird problem! I bought 2 toy snakes at Dollar Tree and am on my way to find the ‘ugly’ owl as suggested. I am going to try hanging the snakes and the owl at the same time since my dh says it is too hot to paint right now. If the snakes and owl don’t work or if we get a little tired of seeing them, we will paint the porch ceiling blue. Again, thanks for everyone’s help; I am overwhelmed at all the responses I received. And I thought I might not get a single one.