# Birds nesting where we don't want them to



## MiniPoo (Mar 6, 2014)

It is Spring and the birds are building nests. I opened the front door today and had a close up and personal experience with a swallow flying to the bricks above my front door to continue building its mud nest. I tried to shoo it off but it just came back. 

I forgot that this happened last year as well. I have to hook up the hose and take down the partially built nest and may have to do it another time or two. Just don't want a bird nest above my front door.

I temporarily moved a scare owl from the backyard to the front to hopefully keep it from building up the nest before I get outside to remove it. The swallow just sat on the roof of the house looking at the owl, more curiously than really scared.

























For those of you that remember I put an owl in my backyard gazebo to scare off birds from building in the unfinished ceiling, it worked for a while. Then some stupid, stupid robins started building a nest in the rafters. I had to put up a net across the ceiling. That seems to have taken care of the problem so that we can ignore it until next year when we will have more time to finish the ceiling.

I kept up the owl in the gazebo because I kind of like it hanging there.


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## zooeysmom (Jan 3, 2014)

LOL such determined birds What's wrong with a nest above your door? I would love that.


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## MiniPoo (Mar 6, 2014)

I'll be sure to send these birds your way, but it might be a long flight.

Once a stupid robin tried to build a nest on top of our garage door opener. He waited till we left the door open and flew in to deposit more nesting material. Before I realized what he was doing, the material got into the opener and we had to pay someone to clean it out so that it would work again.


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## PoodleRick (Mar 18, 2013)

zooeysmom said:


> LOL such determined birds What's wrong with a nest above your door? I would love that.


We had swallows nesting very nearby and they are a PIA. They love swooping around and don't forget, they built that nest right next to the front door so every time you enter or leave or somebody visits they FREAKOUT cuz you're intruding on them. Oh and they're really really noisy birds.

Rick


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## lily cd re (Jul 23, 2012)

But let's not forget that swallows eat mosquitoes! Now if you really want an annoying bird around you need an un-mated male mockingbird. He will sing 24/7 for weeks. Or if he finds a girlfriend and their nest is too close to your entry doors or other high traffic areas they will dive bomb you.


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## ApricotsRock (Jan 10, 2014)

After I groom the cats I throw the fur outside because I read that the birds like to make nests out of it. Sure enough a chickadee went hopping by with a big wad of ragdoll fur in his mount.

The whole underside of my deck is bird nests. I don't mind, but they do make me jump when I walk by them and they fly out at me. 

Usually we have robin too, but I'm not sure who won this year.


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## sidewinder (Feb 3, 2016)

I can see not wanting a swallow's nest right over your front door. If you let them do that, you end up with a big streak of white bird poop down the front of your house under the nest, and a puddle on the porch. Icky. 

Around here, we have tree swallows...no nests attached to buildings. I love watching them swooping around catching bugs...like a sky dance! And, they are reputed to eat their weight in mosquitoes every day!


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## zooeysmom (Jan 3, 2014)

Eh, on second thought, maybe it wouldn't be awesome to have a bird next right outside my front door :lol:


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## TrixieTreasure (May 24, 2015)

Can you put something up there, perhaps like a welcome type of decoration, or some kind of sign? It may deter them from coming back to that area.


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## MiniPoo (Mar 6, 2014)

TrixieTreasure said:


> Can you put something up there, perhaps like a welcome type of decoration, or some kind of sign? It may deter them from coming back to that area.


I googled this problem. Someone said they affixed to the wall of their porch some of that material you put under rugs to prevent them from moving. That seemed to work for her and she was able to take the material down after nesting season.

The front of our house is brick and faces west where it is often very windy. I cannot see how to attach anything to the brick which would stay up there.

I hosed the nest off the wall yesterday and will continue to do that if they rebuild. I am not sure what else to do.


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## Poodlebeguiled (May 27, 2013)

If they don't get their nest finished in time, they won't have a place to lay their eggs and their babies will die. When I had horses, they would build a nest above a stall and poop on the horse's back. Each year they'd return and add to the nest so it got more and more shallow. Babies would fall out and get stepped on by the horses. Finally, I climbed up their and took a piece of a sheet...maybe 3 or 4 feet square and tacked it up on the ceiling where it loosely hung like a hammock. The birds quickly habituated to it, as I knew they would, being the brave little tame birds they are, and could fly in and out just fine to feed their babies. If a baby fell out, I climbed up and put him back in the nest. (it's a myth that all birds never return if they smell human scent on their babies) So the birds lived. 

I don't know if that's an option for you. And I don't know how you'd attach something like that to your brick wall....(since it's not on the ceiling) But maybe there's some way to co-exist with these lovely little birds. I love swallows. Good luck! I wouldn't like bird poop either right above where you come in the door. But I also would hate to destroy all that hard work those little birds have done. :sad:


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## MiniPoo (Mar 6, 2014)

I am sorry. I simply cannot feel bad about removing the beginnings of a nest on the side of my house over the front door. There are nests in my trees and shrubs and on my fence. I have birds flying everywhere right now during this time of the year. I feel like I am dodging them at times. If the swallows cannot build a nest somewhere else, I can live with that.

Another thought occurred to me. My PWD Neeka has been barking a lot at the front door lately. She sleeps in a chair with her head towards the front and has been barking while lying there. I go look out the front door and saw nothing to bark at. It really bugged me and I actually made her leave the room one time to make her stop barking. Now I am thinking she was seeing the birds fly up on top of the door to build their nest and they weren't there when I checked outside. Guess she wasn't barking at nothing.









Next time she barks, I will look up as well as down to see what she is barking at.


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## TrixieTreasure (May 24, 2015)

MiniPoo said:


> I googled this problem. Someone said they affixed to the wall of their porch some of that material you put under rugs to prevent them from moving. That seemed to work for her and she was able to take the material down after nesting season.
> 
> The front of our house is brick and faces west where it is often very windy. I cannot see how to attach anything to the brick which would stay up there.
> 
> I hosed the nest off the wall yesterday and will continue to do that if they rebuild. I am not sure what else to do.


I just now did a Google search, typing in, " how to attach signs to brick", and although I didn't click on anything, I did notice that there were a lot of sites that help show how to do it, and a couple of YouTube videos.

Of course with it being windy there, I'm not sure, but IMO, it seems like it's something to at least check into. If you could do it, it sure would save you stress of having to hose the nest off all of the time.


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