How to prevent birds from nesting in overhang?

[Richard]

New porch, new roof, new overhang.....new problems!

Last year I discovered that some birds seem to love this corner (among a couple others) to build their nests in.

I'd get home from work and find a 3/4 built nest....knock it down...come home the next day and find a 3/4 nest...knock it down...come home the next day... 3/4 nest....

Finally, because I'm simply retentive and relentless....I won the battle and the birds went away.

I'm expecting them to try again this year.

Any ideas on how to prevent this from being so enticing to them?

I was thinking about stringing a wire down the middle of this beam, sort of like a trip wire? Thinking (hoping) that might weird them out and make them go elsewhere and save me the issue of batting the nests down and that mess.

Any thoughts?

If it matters, I do not know what type of birds were doing that...unless annoying qualifies as a bird type!

 

[ihuntbear]

chicken wire

 

[Richard]

I always wondered how people caught chickens... :licking:

 

[Bedlam]

Be thankful its just a birds nest. I actually went around a birds nest on mine to preserve it. they would come every spring for about 5 years then this year its gone already?
HMM well in doing so I left a slight opening for a squirrel to make home in my wall in the porch.
I would tap on the wall and get him to run out the opening and then as I was blocking that hole up. later I heard him back yet again.HMM
Then I noticed yet another hole.:confused2:
Finally got him out and properly blocked up the holes.
So yes for me the birds were a yearly welcome thing to see the squirrel on
the other hand I wanted dead.
I understand you don't want the birds, not sure I have a solution other than to remove it as its built.and hope they are smart enough to get the message

 

[jinman]

Richard, I think the cure may be worse than the problem. I have little swallows build nests on top of the picture frame molding on the outside of my windows up under the overhang on my cedar house. I left one out-of-the-way nest and it had a nesting bird three years in a row. My inlaws have housewren that builds a nest in their hanging baskets on their patio every year. They get new plants every year and the same couple comes to build a nest and fill it with 2 or three eggs. Often, you can see the mother sitting on the nest during the spring.

I guess what I'm saying is that there are a lot worse things than having one or two bird nests in my opinion. Once the nest(s) is/are there, the birds themselves become territorial and try to run off other birds. You might also try hanging a plastic owl or two in the area so that they move in the wind. I think any wire is going to look ugly and be a pain to maintain. Daily nest removal while they are trying to build the nest may end up being the easiest solution.

BTW: Love the design of the porch roof. Would love to see the whole thing if you care to post a picture.

 

[biggerten]

New porch, new roof, new overhang.....new problems!

Last year I discovered that some birds seem to love this corner (among a couple others) to build their nests in.

I'd get home from work and find a 3/4 built nest....knock it down...come home the next day and find a 3/4 nest...knock it down...come home the next day... 3/4 nest....

Finally, because I'm simply retentive and relentless....I won the battle and the birds went away.

I'm expecting them to try again this year.

Any ideas on how to prevent this from being so enticing to them?

I was thinking about stringing a wire down the middle of this beam, sort of like a trip wire? Thinking (hoping) that might weird them out and make them go elsewhere and save me the issue of batting the nests down and that mess.

Any thoughts?

If it matters, I do not know what type of birds were doing that...unless annoying qualifies as a bird type!

My Dad fought those birds his whole 81 years. Now he's gone, but the birds aren't.

 

[dave1949]

Around here, that would be prime real estate for phoebes or house sparrows. They just love places like that. I know they can make a bit of a mess with droppings on the floor below. They are entertaining however to watch the nest progress and chicks developing. Also, the phoebes catch a bunch of bugs the whole time the chicks are growing. A couple birds constantly catching bugs is not necessarily a bad thing
Dave.

 

[Barton]

I would try scaring the birds away by propping a realistic looking fake snake up there.

 

[2manyrocks]

I've got a couple of recurring bird's nests at my house. Their families were probably here before we cleared the lot for the house. Not bothersome. They are welcome to all the insects they can eat.

 

[ragkar]

A triangle of hardware cloth will eliminate them.

When you remove the nest, I hope that you don't just drop it on the ground. They'll just use the old nest as ingredients of the new.

Owls don't work. I had an fake owl sitting on the propeller of my plane. Then one day I noticed a bird sitting on its head.

It could be worse. I had a bird nesting on the vent outlet of my clothes drier. I had to go weeks without using that drier.