3 Reasons To Keep Birds From Nesting In Your Roof

From the many inconveniences, homeowners face on a daily basis, having birds nesting in your roof might not sound like a serious one.

But contrary to what you might hear, there are quite a few problems that occur due to nesting birds. In this article, we will talk about why you need to keep birds from nesting on your roof and we’ll also touch on how to do that.

So, with all that said, let’s start.

1. Causes Damage To Your Roof

The number one reason why homeowners should remove any trace of bird nests is that it causes roof damage. While not from the actual nest, but from the birds. Birds can poop quite hard and quite often.

We see it every day on our cars and we absolutely hate it. But your roof also hates it because bird poop can be quite acidic. The acid from the poop can cause considerable damage to the roof as it eats away material, causing leaks.

While it could be literally impossible to remove all traces of bird poop from your roof, a nest around the house attracts more birds to your roof.

2. Plenty Of Diseases

As with any sort of feces, even bird poop brings a heap of diseases. Pigeons are probably the most disease-prone bird out there, and that also makes it bad for your health. Since pigeons are the sort of birds that will nest in your roof, they carry all sorts of dangerous diseases with them.

Sure pigeons might look harmful on the eye, but the diseases can easily spread through your ventilation system and enter your home.

The most common disease that pigeons carry is bird mites and fleas. Both are equally destructive and both travel through your home’s ventilation system to enter the interior. Bird mites and fleas can cause serious health problems, especially if they manage to bite you.

But that’s not all of your problems. The biggest problem with mites and fleas is the fact that they spread like wildfire. Sooner or later you’ll notice that your home is infected with thousands of these. Simply put, your home will be their home and they don’t plan on going anywhere anytime soon.

Fleas and mites carry dangerous diseases such as SARS, salmonella, and other bacteria. They can easily spread to humans and to animals, meaning you are also risking the health of your pets.

3. Blocking Gutters and Drains

Homeowners know how difficult it can be to unclog gutters and drains. And make no mistake from it, blocked gutters and drains pose a serious threat to the roof and your home.

A blocked gutter is the easiest way to flood your home. All it takes is for the rain to find even the smallest of gap to enter your home. And since gutters are effective in keeping water away from your home, a blockade can make your life very difficult.

Birds can make nests in your gutters and drains. And you can imagine how serious a blockade a nest can create. All of that results in substantial damage to the roof and surrounding areas. So if you ever needed a bigger reason to remove bird nests, now you have it.

While on the topic of roof damage, there is quite a bit of information on how birds can do plenty of damage to the roof. To know more about it, make sure to read this blog from Pestworks.

How to Remove Birds from Nesting Onto Your Roof

Now, let’s talk about how to prevent this inconvenience.

Use Scare Tactics

There are plenty of ways to prevent birds from nesting but the best one revolves around scaring them. Namely, we’ve created all sorts of methods to do that, but the best one is the “terror eyes”.

This refers to an inflatable balloon that has holographic eyes that give out the illusion that the eyes are following the bird every time they look at it.

You will be surprised to find out how effective this can be, as the movement of eyes can cause terror in birds. Soon you’ll notice that your roof is bird free.

Use Sound To Scare Them Away

Yet another scare tactic that causes terror, using sound can be a particularly effective method. However, not many homeowners like to use this method as it can be quite disruptive.

Since most neighborhoods can code of conduct, using sound to deter birds from nesting might attract the attention of your neighbors. But regardless, it is still an effective method.

Plenty of gadgets exist that use natural, predatory sounds to deter birds.

Install Bird Spikes

Now, you might think of this one as some evil gadget that harms birds. But contrary to what the name suggests, it’s not actually harmful to them.

A bird spike refers to spikes that make it hard for birds to land on your roof. While this method is nowhere near as effective as the previous two, you will make it extra challenging for pigeons and other birds to land onto your roof.

If you make it particularly challenging by placing plenty of spikes, you might force them away altogether. Even if you don’t succeed at that, you will certainly make them rethink about making a nest onto your roof. Birds are not stupid and they too understand the difficulty of having to manage a hard landing every time they want to get into the nest.

The best place to install these spikes is on the eaves or ledges.

Hanging Reflective Tape

Yet another harmful method to prevent birds from nesting onto your roof is to simply hang reflective tape. This can be a simple aluminum foil strip or reflective tape and you’ll need to hang it on trees that overlook the roof. This method is very effective as it reflects sunlight and disorientates the birds in the process. Not only that but whenever there’s the wind, the tape or aluminum will make a sharp, metallic sound that scares away the birds.