Recent Posts

Bird Control – Products to Protect Your Garden From Unwanted Visitors

iStock_90474025_SMALLSummer is the sign of things coming back to life, and it’s the time where your home and garden are infested with these pesky birds as well. Sparrows, pigeons, crows and swallows can be a nuisance for gardeners and homeowners because of the costly damage it brings. These birds also bring diseases like West Nile Virus, Histoplasmosis, and Avian Flu. With so many Bird Control Products to Protect Your Garden From Unwanted Visitors to choose from, what type would be most efficient in repelling these birds away?

Investing in bird repellents is a great money-saving method. It minimizes the damages set by these birds on repairs and cleaning. If you’re unsure what type of bird control products would suit your needs, here is the list of bird repellents to choose from:

Physical bird repellents:

According Bird control Toronto, bird spikes and netting are some of the bird control products that belong to this category. Bird spikes are used to prevent birds from staying on your rooftop and other areas where they might cause damage or leave discharges. These are best situated along peaks and edges of rooftops, patio covers, fences and other areas where you don’t want them staying.

Bird nettles provide a barrier between the covered area and where the birds might settle. This method works well against woodpeckers and swallows.

Bird propellers make use of rotating arms to sweep these birds away from a certain area of your home. If you have fruit-bearing plants like blueberries, this equipment should keep these birds away. It’s best situated on patio covers, docks, and boats.

Sound repellents:

There are various bird control products under this category that some homeowners use. This equipment uses predatory or distress sounds that trigger an instinctive response from these birds to fly for safety. In choosing the right one, be sure to purchase bird control products that are waterproof with sonic sound units. The sounds made by these devices are bird specific, so you’ll need to determine what kind of bird you want to deal with.

Visual repellents:

These types of bird control products use visual triggers to scare them away. Flash tape is used to drive birds away from fruit trees, plants, and seeds. Flash tapes are usually places in poles where it flashes when the light hits the tape. These flashes often distort the bird’s visual perception to divert its direction.

Scare balloons also have reflective tapes on them that have similar effects as those in flash tapes. Bird control products like these are usually placed near fruit trees or seeds that most birds would feast on. These types of instruments are used to scare away woodpeckers.

Other more advanced types of bird control products include bird wires, fog repellents, and taste aversions. These types are a bit hazardous for homes with kids. Be sure to keep them away from these devices while they’re playing in the lawn or backyard.

It’s better to anticipate finding bird control products for spring and summer. Be ready to set it outside your home and place in areas where they are most prominent. Some types of products only work for certain species. If you want to be thrifty, go for items that cater to a wider group of bird species. Be sure to choose safe products and keep your kids away from these repellents.

Benefits of Using Electronic Bird Control Repellent

Bird’s invasion is a problem most homeowners go through especially after spring, and it gets worse during the summer, and thus it can spell a disaster for a homeowner’s garden and family welfare. Bird discharge carries bacteria and viruses which can affect the health of an entire household and to help with the situation a homeowner is advised to use an ultrasonic bird repellent. It is one type of an electronic bird control product one can choose from. With that said below are the benefits of using these types of product.

Ward of birds and other pesky animals

An ultrasonic device is a control system that is used in preventing birds from coming in one’s home, although it is not useful as compared to an audio device, it helps in warding off birds and other pesky animals. An ultrasonic device uses a sonic wave frequency for irritating birds and to keep them away from yards, rooftop, patios and fruit bearing trees. Also, some of these devices are used in warding off animals such as rats and squirrels.

Covers wide area

A sonic device which is another type of an electronic bird control repellent helps by fending off pesky animals by use of sounds. They are the most preferred electronic bird control devices than the ultrasonic devices because they can cover a wider area and can also be used in diverting ducks and geese off the golfing areas.

Predatory and distress sound

Most of the sounds that are usually produced by electronic bird control repellent are predatory, and distress calls for frightening birds. However, there are high-end sonic devices which use multiple distress and predatory sounds to avoid in desensitizing the birds, but this type of device should only be used in areas where the neighbors have accepted it.

Pair with other devices

It would be great to pair an electronic bird control device with other products like bird netting, bird spikes, and other visual devices to cover wide species of birds. Visual devices like the flash tapes, balloons and scarecrows would create a distraction or an illusion and thus they would ward off birds setting or nesting in the homeowner’s patio, pavement, or rooftop.

In conclusion, electronic bird control repellent is an alternative way of diverting birds from home or garden and before purchasing this device, it is important for a homeowner to determine if the device is safe for the home environment, kids and the elderly.

Why Raccoons Can be Dangerous

iStock_000068546495_SmallRaccoons can do several things with their paws including uncovering the garbage bin. They are also witty in learning to stay in areas inhabited by people and fit in. Some people are not happy with this idea of them living around people. This is because once these animals become used to being around people, they can become problematic.

Raccoons are generally nocturnal by nature so they are rarely seen during the day. They can be destructive both in and outside the house. They can make their place of dwelling in the attic and even chimneys such that you will need to do something to eliminate them for they will have become a nuisance. They will also increase the litter in your home with their feces and smell from their urine.

Wild animals are unpredictable because there is a barrier of communication. We cannot relate to the animals, just as they cannot understand, comprehend, or relate to us. This makes them dangerous. Wild raccoons are no different. As a wild animal, they can become aggressive if they feel threatened, or if they are defending their nest. Raccoons have paws that are similar to human hands, except they have long sharp claws that help them with hunting, climbing, and self-defense. They can use these claws to scratch and injure humans and other animals. This is why it is so risky approaching a raccoon in the wild. If they are scared, they are likely to attack.

Raccoons Carry Infectious Diseases

Raccoons can also bite, which is not a good situation considering they are carriers of multiple contagious diseases. Raccoons can pass along bacterial and viral illnesses to humans and outdoor pets if they bite. Their saliva and urine are huge danger zones for disease. For dogs, both diseases are fatal, which is why vaccinations are so important. One of the most common is raccoon roundworm. Rabies, Distemper, Giardia, and Leptospirosis are other fatal and severe diseases that can be transmitted by raccoon droppings or urine. Raccoon droppings look very similar to a canine’s deposits. Most often, they also contain undigested berries. This is generally a tale-tell sign of raccoon feces. The feces can also create airborne spores that, if inhaled, can be transmitted or cause serious respiratory problems, like Histoplasmosis. Other diseases include Canine Hepatitis, Parvo, and Leptospirosis.

Raccoons may look harmless, but don’t be deceived. These bandits are actually very dangerous, especially to your pets.They can be unpredictable and attack you or another person, or child, and cause permanent damages.

Raccoons in Attic – How to Deal with Them

iStock_000069062301_MediumMany of us have been there-you are lying in bed at night trying to go to sleep, and you hear a thump in the attic, followed by the scamper of little feet. It can even sometimes sound like an entire herd of elephants running around in your attic. “What is that?”, you wonder. Is it aliens in your attic? While it is probably not aliens in your attic, it sure sounds like it sometimes. The most likely culprit for the noises in your attic are raccoons, and they can cause extensive damage if you don’t get rid of them, and fast.

Raccoons are notorious for finding their way into areas which are dark, woody, and with a lot of places to hide. Your attic can be the ideal location for raccoons to bed down, create nests, and even deliver litters of baby raccoons. They can often get in directly through damage in your roof, or they can find places in your eaves, vents, or chimney to get into the attic. Once they have made their home in your attic, they can cause extensive damage. Raccoons are mischief makers by nature, and will figure out ways to open latches, shred fabric, and urinate and defecate everywhere.

The most effective means of removing raccoons from the attic is prevention. Make sure all attic windows are closed and locked, inspect yearly for weak spots in your roof and holes in your eaves. Check to make sure there are no cracks, holes, or any other places for raccoons to get in and take up residence in your attic. If they are already there, there are a number of ways of removing raccoons from the attic.

The best way to remove raccoons from the attic inexpensively is to set traps. You can contact your local animal control agency and ask them for “have a heart” traps. These are small cages, which you can bait and trap a raccoon in without injuring it. Once you have caught the raccoon (or raccoons), contact animal control to have them removed from your attic safely. Animal control will most likely relocate the raccoons to a place where they are unlikely to find their ways back into your attic.

If there are too many raccoons, or you can’t seem to capture them with the traps, you may want to consider contacting a professional exterminator. They will come into your home, assess the situation, and find a way to remove the animals in the most humane way possible.

Once all of the raccoons are removed from your attic, you will need to do repair and maintenance work. You will need to make sure there are no other ways for the raccoons to re-enter your home, and do regular inspections to keep your home pest-free.

Tips to Keeping Squirrels Away From Your Garden

iStock_000070130963_SmallSquirrels can be among the cutest of the woodland creatures. Many of us enjoy seeing their fluffy tails with anticipation or watching as they frantically gather nuts and seeds for an upcoming winter. When they move their scavenging from the woods to our gardens, however, their relative cuteness can quickly descend into bitter annoyance. Squirrels can do severe damage to flowers, vegetables, and root systems as they hunt for food. Also, they are renown for relentlessly making their way onto bird feeders. To deal with their destructive nature, there are many different steps which can be taken.

The more trees that are available surrounding your garden, the more appealing the area will be to squirrels. To discourage an open pathway from the protection of the tree canopy to your garden, install aluminum flashing around the base of the trees using nails or stainless steel screws. This measure will also prevent damage to the bark of the tree at its base. When the time comes for planting new bulbs and vegetables, your garden is at its most vulnerable point. To protect your plants, consider placing a plastic mesh or netting over the freshly planted items. The loose dirt encourages scavengers. However, the mesh provides a barrier which will not prevent the growth of your garden.

Motion-detecting sprinklers are another effective method of keeping out squirrels.If squirrels are in the area, these systems may be programmed to activate when they sense the movement. Sudden streams of water will frighten squirrels away temporarily. Squirrels also have an aversion to certain spices. Planting peppers either around your garden or in pots that surround the space can serve as a deterrent to eager squirrels. When the chili pepper is hotter, the more effective, your barrier will be. Thai chilies, cascabel las, and habaneras are among the most popular choices for this measure of protection.

Bird feeders are the most challenging element of your garden to protect. Squirrels are aware that this is a reliable, secure source of food. For these reasons, they will go to great lengths to conquer any deterrent that may be in their way. The first action to take is a simple one. Keep the area beneath the feeder raked and free of seeds. Bird feed which has fallen on the ground is the first thing that brings the feeder to the attention of the squirrel. It may seem like a loss to your garden, but moving bird feeders away to paved areas can help to eliminate the temptation for the squirrels to enter. Should you be set on having a bird feeder in the garden, there are many efficient feeders which are designed specifically to keep out squirrels.

The easiest methods for controlling squirrels is to call pest control services. If all of the above methods are ineffective, this option is the only choice left. Pest control services can offer a variety of solutions for removing squirrels that will not harm your garden in the process of removing the unwanted critter. The use of chemicals or poisons in the ground surrounding your property is an unwise choice. Pest removal on the professional level is best left to companies with experience and expertise.

How to Control Pigeons at Your Property

Feral Rock Pigeon (Columba livia) perched with a blue sky background
Feral Rock Pigeon (Columba livia) perched with a blue sky background

Summer is here and we all want to spend time in the out of doors. After being inside for most of the winter, the outdoors calls to us. We clean out the BBQ, hose down the patio furniture and pull all the weeds; now it is time to enjoy our yards. So we invite the friends and family over for a garden party and guess who shows up? The birds!

Each year homeowners spend hundreds of dollars to keep birds out of their yards, away from their gardens and off of their homes. Birds seem to love our yards as much as we do. It is a nice place to find food (your garden), water (your pool or fountain) and shelter (large trees or the eaves of your home). These birds can cause a lot of damage if left alone. They can ruin housing material, decimate your garden and eat all the fruit off your trees. The droppings and debris they leave behind is also harmful, pest birds like pigeons and sparrows can carry any of 60 transmittable diseases. To get rid of birds, it is time to install some sort of bird control.

Keep Pigeons Out Of Fruit Trees

Scare birds out of your fruit trees with visual bird deterrents. These “flashy” bird deterrents move with the breeze and reflect the sun with their shinny surfaces. The birds do not like the moving objects in the trees or the reflections in their eyes. They will be frightened and keep going to a more suitable place to land and grab a bite to eat.

Keep Pigeons Out Of Your Garden

Birds love to eat out of your garden. They will eat the seeds you have just planted and gorge on the veggies as they ripen. To keep them away from your garden install garden bird netting. Using regular garden stakes, install the stakes around the garden. You can now attach the bird netting to the stakes so that the birds cannot get through. As the plants grow, just move the netting up the post. Garden bird netting comes in different mesh sizes, get the right size for the type of bird that is attacking your garden. It if is small birds get the ¼” mesh netting, for larger birds you can use the 1/4 mesh net.

Keep Pigeons Out of Your Yard

A good method to keep pest birds out of your yard is to use a sound bird deterrent. These deterrents play loud distress and predator calls of the birds that are invading your yard. When the birds hear these calls they will by instinct flee the area. The distress calls tell the pest birds that danger is near and to move on to a safer area (most likely your neighbors yard). Once the birds are gone you can turn off the bird deterrent, if they should start to return just turn it back on.

In the spring and summer birds can be a beautiful thing to watch and listen to in our yards, but when they start eating our gardens and pooping all over our property, they become pests. Once the birds become pests it is time to get rid of them.

Simple bird control methods – which one to go for?

Homes, professional and corporate buildings, small businesses and boats are only a small part of those affected by the bird problem. In order to solve that, we have bird control, which is a name for all the methods that can deter or eliminate the pest birds which might land, nest or roost and damage our home or property. This is an important issue, since birds can not only cause physical damage, but they can be the reason for a number of health-related problems. To counter this, there are currently a couple of methods available, and each is more effective in certain circumstances, and less effective in other ones.

Physical deterrents, such as plastic spike systems, electrified or non-electrified wire systems, slope barriers or mechanical spiders are one of the simplest ways to battle the bird problem. These methods can either harm the birds, or simply shock them so they do not come back. Among these, the most effective ones are the shocking wire and strips, along with the mesh and netting, since they effectively repel the birds, while not causing them harm.

Chemical deterrents can be a little trickier, since there are certain localities which place restrictions on the use of these chemicals. This is due to the fact that some of the chemical deterrents are made to kill the birds, while others, that do not cause harm, have so far produced limited results which are not sufficient for some people. Some of the solutions currently available on the market include fogging agents and taste aversion products.

Sonic avian deterrents are another widely used method. They usually comprise of audible sounds which are made to represent distress and predator calls of a number of birds, thus chasing away any potential pest birds which might come near the area. These devices are very simple, but most of the pest species will get used to them in a matter of months, rendering them ineffective.

To sum it all up, which of the aforementioned simple bird control methods works for you is mostly dependent of the environment and conditions you are in. If you’re in a house or a building which doesn’t have an open area surrounding it, you’ll be best of with physical deterrents, or chemicals, provided they aren’t restricted. If you’re in an open space, sonic avian deterrents are your best bet. Whichever you go for – you will solve your bird problem and you won’t have to worry about it anymore.

Understanding Why Pigeons are Dangerous for People

Pigeons are one of the most hated and dangerous birds in almost all parts of the world. Close to everyone is looking for ways to get rid pigeons and their mere sight repulses many a people. And people looking at ways on how to get rid of pigeons are not new; they have been hated for many centuries now. There was a time when these birds used to be used as messengers to send messages across, when the times of telephone and email were not there, and some of the military use to use them too as message services but the nefarious habits of these birds have caused them to be much hated all over the world.

One of the first reasons why people hate pigeons and look at getting rid of them is that these birds consider just about every place to be their home. They make nests in household, on rooftops, in ac ducts and so on and so forth and by the time you realize it and look at how to get rid of the pigeons, they have already had babies and no one has the heart to throw out a mother pigeon and her babies, no matter how much they hate the bird and how much they want to get rid of pigeons.

These poopy creatures poop all over the place making homes, offices, public areas dirty and smelly, not to mention slippery. If you were to wake up early morning to go for a morning jog only to see that the entire walkway and your car is littered with pigeon poop and is smelly and stinky, I wouldn’t be surprised if you were to scream your head off at these birds because I would!

Yet another reason for people to be singing pigeon removal is that pigeon poop, which these obnoxious creatures so kindly leave all over the place, is also extremely dangerous. It causes the walkways and roads to become extremely slippery causing accidents and tripping old people who sometimes hurt themselves severely. It also gives some people breathing problems, especially asthmatic patients.

The biggest problem associated with living in close proximity with pigeon is that these creatures can spread a lot of diseases. Their droppings as well as their nests carry a variety of bacteria and viruses that can be harmful to health. Once the droppings dry, the spores contained in them become airborne and can therefore be easily breathed in. Their droppings contain chemicals that can corrode the exterior of buildings. In fact, the highly acidic droppings can even damage concrete and steel.