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Birds in lift canopy


braindamage

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Every spring I battle the same swallows that love to play, nest, and sleep in the lip of the canopy under the frame at the bow and stern.

I've tried reflectors, which work ok, but they seem to have gotten used to that. I’m now trying some scent pucks.

ive been thinking of glueing some hook/loop strips onto the vinyl and the frame to fold up the lip. Has anyone tried this before?

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Are they in the corners or along the straight parts?

Each season myself and some of our neighbors all tie a plastic grocery bag in each corner where the frames meet and a bird would nest and kind of “fluff” it to make it puffy. Birds will attempt to fly under and nest but don’t like the rustling and texture of the bag so they leave. Have never had a nest. Neighbors without usually are picking nests out pretty regularly. 

Edited by SouthsideBoarder
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4 minutes ago, Eagleboy99 said:

Could you zip tie some bird spikes there?  I use them a lot on the house purlin supports.

And it is pretty easy to make your own spikes to fit the area you need.  Sections of small copper wire, safety wire, steel fence wire, etc. can all be wrapped around a central stick or stiff wire and left pointing in the directions you need.

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Neighbor of mine mentioned he's had good luck the last couple years laying down a 4-6" long bead of toothpaste in each corner of the lift.  Sounds crazy but I might give it a try myself.

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1 hour ago, dtm8119 said:

Neighbor of mine mentioned he's had good luck the last couple years laying down a 4-6" long bead of toothpaste in each corner of the lift.  Sounds crazy but I might give it a try myself.

I'm picturing swallows with pearly whites

  • Haha 2
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We use to have this issue under our pavilion patio out by the pool.  Every spring I'd knock down nests only to find them again a few days later.  Swallows are aggressive.  Here is the secret....  Go to your local Dollar store and pick these up.  Glue them down around the perimeter.  If you look at the top of our pavilion you'll see about 6 rubber ducks and 6 rubber frogs and they've been there for 3 years and I haven't had a single bird or nest.   They're also a great conversation starter when guests come over but it works.  I know 4 other people that have taken our cue and all have had success.

91762fd048e9d3307ac0d68ebab94744.jpg

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Edited by wedge88
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2 hours ago, wedge88 said:

We use to have this issue under our pavilion patio out by the pool.  Every spring I'd knock down nests only to find them again a few days later.  Swallows are aggressive.  Here is the secret....  Go to your local Dollar store and pick these up.  Glue them down around the perimeter.  If you look at the top of our pavilion you'll see about 6 rubber ducks and 6 rubber frogs and they've been there for 3 years and I haven't had a single bird or nest.   They're also a great conversation starter when guests come over but it works.  I know 4 other people that have taken our cue and all have had success.

91762fd048e9d3307ac0d68ebab94744.jpg

Capture.PNG

There you go @braindamage

I'm sure that between the toothpaste and the rubber duckies, your bird problem is solved and these guys are in no way messing with you...  :)

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1 hour ago, UWSkier said:

There you go @braindamage

I'm sure that between the toothpaste and the rubber duckies, your bird problem is solved and these guys are in no way messing with you...  :)

Messing or not, I'm about to try the rubber duck thing to keep birds out of my peach and plum trees.  If they would just eat one each, I wouldn't mind.  They peck at 30 and knock them off, then the bunny rabbet comes and eats them on the ground.  The pellet gun is now by the door....

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29 minutes ago, UWSkier said:

Might try some duckies for my pomegranate tree too if it works. 

Does your pomegranate tree set fruit?  My friend's tree blooms constantly, but won't set fruit unless he sprays it basically daily.  Some sort of bug gets in the bloom and lays an egg before the fruit even swells.  He doesn't want to spray because we recently moved bees to his farm, and the hive is just getting itself established.

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I am definitely trying the rubber duckie/frog idea!

in the meantime, I placed these scented pucks in the specific spots where they build nests. It’s stopped the nest but they still live to sleep there.

Flock Free Grape Scent Bird... https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08BZV2SZ8?ref=ppx_pop_mob_ap_share

image.jpg

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We also had the issue on our front porch as they’d build nests on this speaker.  Didn’t glue this one down but still no nests or bird crap all over our porch.

5592E64A-59FB-421D-A7D0-28F4C64EEDA7.jpeg

  • Like 2
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11 hours ago, wedge88 said:

We also had the issue on our front porch as they’d build nests on this speaker.  Didn’t glue this one down but still no nests or bird crap all over our porch.

5592E64A-59FB-421D-A7D0-28F4C64EEDA7.jpeg

Have you tested which one works better, the ducks or the frogs? I will be trying this as well. I got them to stop nesting on my dock but they still like to crap all over my boat cover. :( Thanks for starting this tread OP!

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1 hour ago, jcon44 said:

Have you tested which one works better, the ducks or the frogs? I will be trying this as well. I got them to stop nesting on my dock but they still like to crap all over my boat cover. :( Thanks for starting this tread OP!

I haven't.  When I got this idea I had 3 little kids and my wife loved to buy little toys at the dollar store for the bathtub or pool.  I grabbed the strays laying around the house and put them in the pavilion after I knocked a nest down for the 3rd or 4th time.  I was out putting some meat on the smoker one morning and watched a bird fly into that spot, see the toy and go bat s*** crazy.  A few times I'd walk out and find the duck/frog on the ground (I guess the birds got confrontational) which is when I glued them down.  The next year we had the nest on the front porch speaker so I threw a duck up there and no more nests.  

I would bet that if you put a GI JOE up there, it would probably do the same thing.  I think the presence of anything scares them off.

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Rubber duckie, you're so fine
And I'm lucky that you're mine
Rubber duckie, I'm awfully fond of you

Hey, rubber duckie would you like me to scrub your back with my little nifty scrub brush?
You would okay, how's this?
Hey, you want me to scrub behind your ears?
Oh, I see you don't have any ears, do you?
Well, how about your tummy?
Scrub his little duckie tummy
Oh, he's ticklish oh-hoo

Oh, every day when I make my way to the tubby
I find a little fellow who's cute and yellow and chubby

Rub-a-dub-dubby!

Rubber duckie, you're so fine
And I'm lucky that you're mine

Rubber duckie, I'd like a whole pond of
Rubber duckie, I'm awfully fond of you

 

Songwriters: Jefferey A Moss

Rubber Duckie lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group

 

 

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18 minutes ago, braindamage said:

Did not work ☹️

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You got the wrong ducks... 

Sorry man!  I really haven't had a single nest in 3+ years nor have we had any issues at my parents, fieldhouse or neighbors that did it.  I wonder what gives?  I'll drop this advice from the quiver.

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2 minutes ago, wedge88 said:

You got the wrong ducks... 

Sorry man!  I really haven't had a single nest in 3+ years nor have we had any issues at my parents, fieldhouse or neighbors that did it.  I wonder what gives?  I'll drop this advice from the quiver.

All good. It was worth a try.

  • Like 1
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My next try is Velcro or hook/look to tie the canopy to the frame. It’ll still leave small areas where they could build...maybe that’s where I’ll use the rubber duckies!

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