When you open your front door and find twigs all over your welcome mat and entryway floor, you know that's not a good thing!
Looking up, I find the culprits are trying to build a nest right in the hanging chandelier!
It's so far up! The top of the front door is 8 feet tall...
...then another 8 to 10 feet from the top of the door to where the chandelier hangs...
That's too high for us to climb up and take the nest down. We'll have to call someone with a tall ladder and nerves of steel. Can you tell high places scare the bejesus out of me?
If you know how much I love and baby my Hydrangea bush, you know my first thought was...Birds, This Means War!
Wild Bill removed the nest from the flowerpot before I thought to get a picture of the mess.
I bought a large box of mothballs and spread them around in the pots. Wild Bill got out his pink Barbie BB gun and shot it off each time the birds flew into the entryway.
Birds don't like the sound of shots (even little pink BB gun shots) and will learn to stay away.
In some small rural towns that have problems with birds nesting in downtown trees during the nesting season, they employ "noise cannons" to discourage the birds from nesting there.
In regard to the mothballs, our last house was near a lake where 22 deer roamed freely around using our flower beds and flower pots as a salad bar.
The only thing I ever found that deterred the deer and other wild animals from eating our plants was mothballs. Hopefully birds don't like mothballs either.
Thanks for dropping by!
What I want to know is how did the birds get in the house in the first place!
ReplyDeleteOur entry way is outside. It has no door just an archway and no windows, just arched openings. The builder should have thought it through and skipped the chandelier.
DeleteWe have had birds build nests in my wreaths on both the front and back door.....One year we had one build one by the shed out back in a tree and the birds would dive bomb Joe every time he tried to go back to the shed!!! Thanks so much for stopping by and thanks for your kind words!!!
ReplyDeleteHugs,
Debbie
Goodness. They can be messy and it is no fun when they start to dive bomb you after the eggs are laid. There are plenty of other places to nest. xo Laua
ReplyDeleteOur son and his wife had BATS staying between house siding and deck ledger and making a mess all over their patio. They were right above the door that comes out onto the patio. Our son used the water hose/spray nozzle to get them out of there and sealed the area. He bought a bat house to put out in the wooded area behind his house as the bats were controlling the mosquitoes. He hopes they will use it.
ReplyDeleteJoyce, my first thought was to blast the nest out with the water hose, until Wild Bill asked me if I was crazy? I guess electricity and water don't mix well together.
DeleteYour front porch is extremely high. Hope you can get the birds to nest somewhere else.
ReplyDeleteWe had robins building a nest on top of the light fixture by the front door.
ReplyDeleteWe have a few nests in a tree that borders the property. Apparently the birds are dive bombing the neighbors as the walk by with their dogs. It's scary!!
ReplyDeleteOh, the little BUGGERS!
ReplyDeleteI know how you're feeling - I love the birds, but don't want them building their nests in my space. It was a disaster for a family of wrens that built a nest inside our garage....with the cat that lives out there... These birds really do need to check out the neighborhood before they start moving in, don't they? But do you think it could have been a squirrel digging in your hydrangea? Sometimes they like to bury things.
ReplyDeleteJust re-read that a nest was removed the nest from the hydrangea.... Birds... ;-)
DeleteLOL- Been there, done that. We have a side door that we don't use all the time until summer comes along. Well, when I opened the door I startled this poor bird and she flew off the nest that she had built in MY WREATH! lol I sealed the door with construction tape until she could raise her babies and they had left the nest. You just can't win with those darned birds sometimes.
ReplyDeleteGood luck, Sugar! xo Diana
I'm so sorry about the nest in the light fixture. Sometimes birds make nests in silly places. I'll love hearing how the moth balls work out.
ReplyDeleteThis year I was guilty of leaving the garage door open too much and a bird started building a nest on top of the opener box! I started remembering to shut the door.
ReplyDeleteOf all the places available for birds to build, I can't imagine them using your chandelier. Maybe they wanted a pretty home this time? Don't think I would want to be walking under that nest every day either.
ReplyDeleteHenny Penny, you are right. The birds tried to chase anyone on the front steps away.
DeleteWe have had swallows on our entry light fixture and wrens in a pot on the patio. I love both of the birds but those swallows are messy!
ReplyDeleteSometimes they call them Barn Swallows because they like to build inside things. These birds are swallows I believe...and they are very messy.
DeleteWe have a bird couple that has come every year for 5 yrs to build their nest in a small tree beside my house. Not sure what kind of birds they are..they have a bright yellow belly. I go out every morning to ck on the little ones in the nest and the Mama and Pappa try to dive-bomb me...
ReplyDeleteHonestly, for the first time I hear birds take someone's house. I Imagine your shock.
ReplyDeleteI don't mind birds building their nest in my garden but not in the house and messing the place up and damaging the plants.
ReplyDeleteOh my. We have a wren right now nesting in the charger base for the weedeater; it hangs on the back porch wall. We just leave her alone because the babies will hatch soon enough and then she'll be gone. I've had them in flower pots too, and so many other places, but I'm a live and let live kind of person and appreciate their bug-eating ways. But in the entryway light?? That's taking it too far--and could be dangerous if they should cause an electrical short.
ReplyDeleteGranny, they were just building the nest, so no babies in there. Since there is nothing to hold the nest up...as you can see it is just thin crossbars...we felt if they had babies they would fall out anyway so chased them out before that disaster happened. For the last few years, the birds have just sat on the chandelier's cross bars and pooped on the cement in front of the door. Another unpleasant experienced that we discouraged by shooting the Barbie BB gun when they were near. Bill bought a pink Barbie BB a few years ago for that purpose and he was shocked to see how realistic the toy guns and BB guns are! He went with Barbie Pink so people wouldn't think he was a lunatic with a gun.
DeleteOh, this problem happens to many people. Probably need to do repairs and change arches.
ReplyDelete