DIY bird control or a professional: where is the line?

What can a property owner reasonably do alone?

Start with what attracts the birds, because no hardware is needed and everything else depends on it. The USDA Wildlife Services guide to bird dispersal says that reducing a site's attractiveness by removing food, water or shelter reduces conflicts and makes other tools work better. Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks gives the practical version for magpies: keep the property free of food waste, pet food, carrion and open garbage. Around a barn, that means cleaning up spilled grain and covering feed.

Beyond that, three jobs are fair game for most people: screening one low opening, netting fruit, and scaring birds off early in a new problem. Each has a right way to do it.

How do you cover a single vent or gap correctly?

Use metal, and look inside first. The Internet Center for Wildlife Damage Management (ICWDM) recommends quarter-inch hardware cloth for screening eaves, vents and other openings, and FWP warns that light plastic netting and window screen will not keep out determined starlings, which can tear them out. FWP's alternative is hardware cloth or metal flashing.

Before fastening anything, confirm the cavity is empty. Listen, watch the opening at dawn and dusk for birds coming and going, and use a flashlight. Two cautions apply to vents in particular. A dryer vent has to keep exhausting freely, so use a cover made for the purpose and keep it clear of lint, and leave any flue or combustion vent to the appliance installer or a chimney professional. Our guide to birds in dryer and bathroom vents goes through it.

Can you net fruit trees and berries yourself?

Yes, and it is what FWP recommends for both starlings and magpies: nylon or plastic netting over the fruit trees, bushes or vegetables being raided. The USDA guide adds a detail that decides whether it works. Watch how the birds are getting at the crop, from the ground up or from the top down, because that determines how the net has to be deployed.

In practice that means netting that reaches the ground or is gathered at the trunk, pulled snug, and checked daily while it is up so that anything tangled is found quickly. Our guide to protecting fruit and berries from birds has the details.

Is it worth trying scare devices first?

Early, and briefly. FWP says scare tactics are generally effective for only a few days before birds realize they are not a threat, and that prompt action, variety and daily persistence are what make them work on woodpeckers. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service says no federal permit is needed simply to harass or scare birds, except eagles and federally listed species. FWP adds that once woodpeckers have eggs or young, scaring the adults off the nest is illegal. Our guide on whether bird scare devices work covers which ones have evidence.

When does bird dropping cleanup stop being a DIY job?

When there is a lot of it, when it is dry and dusty, or when it is in an enclosed space. The CDC says the fungus that causes histoplasmosis lives in the environment, particularly in soil that contains large amounts of bird or bat droppings, and that large amounts of droppings should be cleaned up by professional companies that specialize in hazardous waste removal. NIOSH lists disturbing large accumulations of droppings among the activities that put workers at risk, with examples such as scraping droppings from a bridge or shoveling them from a building.

For workplaces, NIOSH's controls are to control dust, dispose of waste properly, and provide respiratory and eye protection, gloves and disposable protective clothing. Hosing fresh droppings off a porch step is ordinary housekeeping. A loft floor, an attic or the space behind a sign with years of pigeon buildup is not, and dry sweeping it is the wrong method. The CDC also lists people with weakened immune systems among those at higher risk, which is a good reason to hand the job off. If you feel ill after a dusty cleanup, see a clinician and mention the exposure. More is in our guide to bird droppings and health risks, and our bird dropping cleanup service uses wet methods, protective equipment and contained disposal.

Why should work at height be hired out?

Because the fall is a bigger risk than the birds. Most roosting and nesting sites are at the eave line or above it: gable vents, ridge caps, second-story soffits, barn rafters, the parapet over a storefront. The work also needs both hands for cutting mesh and driving fasteners, which is hard to do well from a ladder. The ICWDM's own advice on reaching high nests is to use caution setting and climbing ladders, especially near overhead wires.

A crew brings the right ladder or lift, a second person and fall protection, and has done the same detail many times. If the job needs you above a single story, on a roof, or over a hard surface, that is the point to stop and call.

What if there is already a nest?

Then identification comes before anything else. The Fish and Wildlife Service says that under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act it is illegal to destroy a nest that has eggs or chicks in it, or young birds still dependent on it. It also says an inactive nest, one without eggs or chicks, can be destroyed without a permit as long as the nest is not kept. Nests of bald and golden eagles are protected at all times, occupied or not.

The Service notes that it can be difficult to tell whether birds or eggs are present in a cavity nest, and recommends consulting someone with expertise before removing one. That is exactly the situation in a vent, a soffit or a flicker hole. If in doubt, leave it and ask. Our Montana bird nest removal law guide covers which species are protected.

What are the most common DIY bird control mistakes?

Sealing birds in is the worst one. An opening closed on a Saturday afternoon with adults out feeding and nestlings inside produces dead birds in a wall, odor, insects, and for a protected species a legal problem. The same applies to netting: the USDA guide warns that poorly installed nets can trap birds, leading to dead birds and more damage as they try to escape, and that nets not installed properly can add surfaces for nesting or loafing.

Sticky gels are the second. The ICWDM says polybutene gels can discolor surfaces, run in heat and lose effect in dust, and that small birds may become entrapped even when the gel is applied as labeled. FWP notes some repellents may harm other birds that get the material on their feet and feathers. The third is the gap left open. Screening the obvious vent while the soffit gap two feet away stays open moves the birds two feet. A fourth, common on mud nests, is knocking them down all summer, which is both a legal risk and ineffective.

If your problem falls on the hire-it-out side, our bird mitigation service starts with an assessment of the whole building. The full series is in the Montana Bird Control Guide.

Call HJ Property Care & Tree Service at (406) 215-7319 or request a bird assessment and we will identify the species, the access points, and what will actually stop them.

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