For every songbird singing in the new day, there are a dozen more gulls stealing food from bins, pigeons fouling everywhere or other birds decimating crops, and much else besides.
Birds who are intent on intruding on your business can sour the professional image you’d like to project through the mess and noise they make, and that’s not to mention the financial cost involved in cleaning up after them.
While you cannot choose which birds decide to call your building home, you can take steps to prevent them from becoming established, by employing smart bird proofing solutions tailored to the type of bird you are dealing with.
Breaking down why birds can be a serious problem for your business
Noise
While the occasional chirp from a solitary bird barely registers, left unmanaged, it can quickly swell into a discordant chorus of screeching.
The larger the group of nesting birds, the more disruption they can cause to your business.
This can be incredibly off-putting when you have customers who need to shop, clients you need to meet or you just want a quiet place to get on with running your business, unimpeded by the noise. Most flocks will quickly grow if left unchecked, leaving you stuck with the problem for some time.
Fouling
Where there are birds, there are droppings. And the more birds that decide to call your business home, the more droppings will inevitably follow.
Aside from the obvious aesthetic problems caused by droppings, they can also post a health risk by potentially contaminating water sources.
Acid erosion from the droppings can also damage vehicles and buildings over time and a poorly timed encounter with a bird doing its business can lead to some potentially embarrassing incidents with clients and customers.
Blocked Gutters
As bird feathers, debris from nests, and droppings build up over time, gutters can become blocked and the damage caused can lead to more pest problems.
The resulting damp on interior walls due to improper drainage, or pooling of water in places it shouldn’t, means the damage is already done and a costly repair bill is in order.
Not to mention the spectre of a dead bird blocking a gutter (not uncommon) which can bring a whole manner of unwanted pests to your business.
Disease
This one warrants its own category and for good reason.
Birds and the droppings they leave behind can carry over 60 diseases from E.coli to Cryptococcosis, and they can also carry up to 50 ectoparasites such as bed bugs and chicken mites. This makes ensuring their safe removal and prevention a top priority, not just for the health of your business, but for your own as well.
Types of Bird proofing:
Deciding on the right type of bird proofing for your business will depend on the type of bird and the problem they are causing.
As birds use different areas on buildings for different purposes (resting, roosting and nesting), the most effective solution is to consult a professional service with experience in bird proofing businesses.
To get you started though, we’ve listed a few of the more common solutions below:
Eliminate food sources:
Like a lot of other pests, birds are mostly looking for three things: a place to eat, sleep and breed.
Denying them easy access to these by locking away food sources can be a big help in the long term by making your business a less attractive place for birds to settle.
Ensuring seeds and scraps of food are thrown away and covered, while maintaining high cleaning standards inside and out, can not only successfully deter birds, but other pests as well.
Plastic predators:
If you’ve ever seen a scarecrow in a field, you’ll know where this suggestion is going.
This cheap and effective solution involves a few life sized plastic statues placed around places birds have been seen to perch. These fake birds of prey will scare off smaller birds and stop them from hanging around.
Be warned though, the effect will eventually wear off as birds become bolder over time and they realise the statues pose no immediate danger. This tip is best used in conjunction with other preventative measure.
Noise deterrents:
This solution scares birds by emitting sounds that are connected to predators or distress calls.
Upon hearing the sound, most birds will either investigate and, unable to find the source, be spooked away, or they will immediately fly to the nearest safe perch which might not be too far from your business.
The audio being broadcast will usually disperse most birds in the area, though in order to be most effective it should be tailored to the species you would like to target specifically.
Netting:
Bird netting is a really effective and versatile solution that, when placed correctly, will prevent birds from landing and establishing a roost on your property.
It is quite an adaptable solution as it can be used to cover most areas where birds like to congregate, like signage, shelters and building facades and it can be taken down if you are dealing with a seasonal bird species.
The gaps between the netting come in several sizes so you can tailor your solution to the type of bird you wish to deter. It is important to note that this is most effective when installed by a professional in order to prevent birds becoming entangled in the net or becoming trapped behind it.
Bird Spikes
Despite the name, bird spikes aren’t sharp or painful to the birds. In fact, bird spikes are considered to be among the most humane and safest solutions when bird proofing your business.
These long thin spikes are made of steel on a plastic base and fixed on surfaces with either screws or glue.
They make the area uncomfortable for birds to stand or land on as they gently tip birds off balance and limit the space they have. As a result, it encourages them to look elsewhere to roost or perch.
Because of their compact size, bird spikes can be installed just about anywhere a bird can attempt to perch or roost, from ledges and window sills to chimneys and gutters. You may have noticed their use on many monuments.
Hawking/Falconry
This ingenious deterrent is an eco-friendly and effective way to deter birds from nesting. It works by using trained birds of prey to deploy across problem sites over multiple visits.
Every animal has a basic instinct to survive, and when faced by an intimidating bird of prey, many pest birds will scatter quickly to avoid attack. Though it won’t eliminate the problem immediately, over the course of multiple visits many pest birds will quickly learn to abandon certain roosts or areas.
This is an ideal solution in those places where there is limited access or fragile roof structures.
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That’s a rundown of some of the most common ways you can bird proof your business.
There are many more methods out there and each infestation poses a unique challenge.
Because of this, the best course of action is always to consult a professional service with extensive experience in this area, to find you a solution that will leave your business successful, and infestation free.
