Getting rid of starlings

We had this with sparrows last year. They built a nest on our wall over the front door and the deposits on the doorstep were fairly gross especially with 2 kids. We knocked the nest over the winter but they are back building it again. Husband wants to knock what's there (reluctantly) but i'm inclined to leave it. We are away for the weekend and they'll have it completely built by the time we get back anyway. We'll just have to use the back door and i'll be washing my stoop every day.
Dr. M - know what you mean about crap weather in Limerick. Try being at home with 2 stir crazy kids. Can you send a prescription for valium??
 
watched life of grime last night - environmental health people from Edinburgh city council were armed with pellet guns "shooting" the eggs of the offending bird - in their case seagulls. it was a necessary evil. They were also required to wear hard hats due to the hazard of bird droppings.
 
watched life of grime last night - environmental health people from Edinburgh city council were armed with pellet guns "shooting" the eggs of the offending bird - in their case seagulls. it was a necessary evil. They were also required to wear hard hats due to the hazard of bird droppings.
 
We have tried continually knocking down the nest as it is built to discourage swallows from staying but if they manage get as far as laying eggs we back off until they have clearly left the nest. Worked at this house first time, took three years to acomplish at previous house.
 
Crea said:
Try being at home with 2 stir crazy kids. Can you send a prescription for valium??
Click to expand...
One word, Mrs Crea... ;)
ritalin1.jpeg
 
Have a look at this and have a heart:

[broken link removed]

and maybe some people might change their minds about birds:); seeing the industry of these little birds to ensure the survival of their species surely must soften the hardest of hearts! While sympathising with those of you plagued with birds nesting, would it not be a very empty world without birdsong and the pleasure they give, especially to children who are less picky than adults.

With the ever increasing encroachment of concrete, I am delighted at the reappearance of Blue Tits, Sparrows, Blackbirds and even a pair of Wood Pidgeons in my garden. The Starlings must have moved to the country!
 
In fairness I love birds. I used to go birdwatching for years and I have had bird feeders in many previous houses. But starlings have fallen into my bad books. First there was one nest. Now there's 4. They don't provide birdsong - rather a sort of 'Pat-Kenny-wrestling-with-Tommy-Tiernan' sort of screech, which I can hear all the time in my kitchen and sitting room. Not to mention the fact I have to wash my car far too often. There are many birds welcome in my garden, but starlings have crossed the line!
 
Where is my nest gone?

All the white is turned to black,
White foam fills our life,
Eggs, lost in this chaos,
Where is my nest gone?
 
hey,i wasnt offended
made me laugh
to think it was a poem.
im trying to encourage birds to build nests in the garden.
my 7 yr old son spent about 3 hours looking at the mooney
goes wild blue tits webcam.its quite a sensation apparently.
all the kids are mad for it.
the thing is we cant choose the ones that
decide to move in.
no starlings or crows need apply.
 
If you want to get birds nesting in the garden, then put up nest boxes. You can get ones the appropriate size for the type of bird you want to attract.
 
I thought it was a poem too and was killed laughing when I discovered it wasn't.

As regards the parrot-balloon - where can you get one. I've had a brilliant idea for my line which is under the flight path of a couple of nest of magpies and pigeons. (Pigeons do nest do they?)
 
I have used tightly wadded chicken wire in additon to the expanding foam as i have the old conrete roof tiles . Chicken wire on its own in the voids should be enough of a deterrent .No pun intended .
Use heavy gloves as your hands will get cut to pieces otherwise .
 
Our next door neighbour having 2 dogs leaves food out in the backgarden near the backdoor as she goes out to work daily. However, the dogfood draws starlings and those birds perch on our wooden fence - making terrible mess on our patio with their droppings. :mad: It had been like that for over a year. After placing nails on the top of the fence and placing string from each nail to the next, we wrapped the Christmas tinsel around the strong along the top of the fence. It worked for some time, but weather had destroyed that deterrent. We would "repair" that, but the dogs jumped at us every time we try out repair work.
Any ideas of 'permanent' deterrents for stopping starlings from perching on the fence?
thanks, allendog :)
 
Birds have as much right to live on this planet as we do. It's a pity that we can't train wild birds to drop where we want them to.

They are used to a free enviorment and not trained to accecpt somebodys little patch of no go area.

There is room for us all and they are actually a beautiful bid if you study tham.
 
We have a of varierty of birds in our garden and have fed them continuously over the past ten years. For the first year we have starlings invading our roof space under the tiles. I like all feathered birds and encourage them all with great results, but the starlings are a curse. There are four families of them and they fight all the time, scare of everything else and drop copious amounts of white poo everywhere. The fighting is viscous and without blaming any of them, in the last two days we have found two dead ones on the ground with their heads removed. This has not been done by cats, and normal birds of prey would remove the remains to feed to their young. Has anybody else heard of this?
 
David Walker said:
We have a of varierty of birds in our garden and have fed them continuously over the past ten years. For the first year we have starlings invading our roof space under the tiles. I like all feathered birds and encourage them all with great results, but the starlings are a curse. There are four families of them and they fight all the time, scare of everything else and drop copious amounts of white poo everywhere. The fighting is viscous and without blaming any of them, in the last two days we have found two dead ones on the ground with their heads removed. This has not been done by cats, and normal birds of prey would remove the remains to feed to their young. Has anybody else heard of this?
Click to expand...
That'll be the Yardiebirds.
 
Does anyone know if expanding foam comes in black? we have the old type tiles on our roof that are like this ~ . Starlings get in under the eves every year and nest. i dont mind them except the car is filty from them doing their business when they fly out. Also they can be distructive - pulling out fiberglass etc to make their nests. We need to do something before next spring. anyone any ideas?
 
had this problem up until this year, bird droppings everywhere, dawn chorus at 3am, 4am, 5am every morning and suicide flight paths. but now no more. we got a new cat, she some job. spent all summer on the roof, breakfast lunch and dinner. thought it was a human way of dealing with them. neighbours also said it was great, no need to paint the house every year now.
 
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