Protect Your Home from Pigeons with Bird Spikes

by Alex A. Kecskes

Unless you protect your home with effective pest bird deterrents—like Bird Spikes—pigeons can cause a considerable amount of damage. Like most birds, pigeons look for sunny areas that provide safety from predators and shelter from the elements. They also look for venues that offer a close proximity to food and water. Most homes offer these and other advantages to pigeons.

A favorite nesting place for many pigeons is the rain gutter. The dish-shaped runways offer ideal nesting sites for most nests. While it’s great for pigeons, it’s bad for homeowners. The nests are often filled with bird droppings and form a solid clump that blocks gutters, sending water under roofing tiles and shingles, and eventually causing leaks when it rains. All the more reason to install specially designed bird spikes for gutters called Gutter Spikes. The best gutter spikes have adjustable clamps at the base, which makes them easy to mount to the lip of your gutter.

Another headache caused by pigeons occurs when they nest and roost on and in your home. Pigeons like to gather on rooftops because it affords them a “bird’s eye” view of the landscape, allowing them to spot predators, water and food.  If you have a broken attic window, vent grille or loose soffit, pigeons will end up in your attic and that can be a real problem. It’s surprising how little an opening they need to sneak into an attic. Bird spikes can keep them out—but you have to install the spikes before flocks of pigeons show up.

Once inside, the scent and cooing of pigeons will attract other pigeons (pigeons are very sociable) and before long, you’ll have a sea of nests and mini mountains of poop in your attic. This can create a potential fire danger and a breeding area for disease. Pigeons can carry and/or transmit any of 60 diseases—including bacterial, viral, parasitic and fungal.  Chief among these are Histoplasmosis and West Nile Virus.  There’s also the noise factor, which can drive you crazy in the mornings.  You can eliminate these headaches by installing bird spikes.

The high levels of uric acid in pigeon droppings can etch most surfaces--including brick, concrete, metals, paints and marble. If you leave your boat, car or RV in the driveway, pigeon droppings can eat into and permanently mar the paint. If you have a rooftop AC unit, solar heating panels or circulating air vents, pigeon droppings can damage these systems over time (unless you regularly clean the pigeon droppings off your solar panels, the efficiency of these panels will be drastically reduced). To save your home, car, boat and RV from the ravages of pest pigeons, you should install bird spikes, the proven effective pigeon deterrent. 

The best bird spikes are constructed of flexible, marine-grade stainless steel and feature a U.V.-protected polycarbonate base. Some bird spikes are available in a non-reflective metal finish, which means they’ll blend in more easily to your home’s aesthetics. Steel bird spikes come in 3-, 5- and 8-inch widths to cover areas up to 8 inches wide. Mid-sized pest birds, like pigeons, can be easily deterred by a 3-inch wide spike.

If you’re on a budget, you can get plastic bird spikes. They do the job nicely and last many years. They also come in a rainbow of colors to match your home’s color scheme. Current colors include white, tan, gray, black, brown, brick red and crystal clear. These spikes come in 3-, 5- and 7-inch widths to protect areas up to 7 inches wide. Consider plastic spikes if you need to protect areas near your dish TV antenna, as the plastic won’t interfere with the antenna’s ability to pick up signals.

If your home is near the sea or a lake, opt for a bird spike called the Mega Spike. It’s ideal for deterring large pest birds like cormorants, turkey vultures or raptors.
Installing bird deterrents is easy. Especially if you choose high quality bird spikes. These come with pre-drilled holes and glue troughs for fast, easy mounting. The best bird spikes are blunted at the tips and won’t harm birds or pets. They’ve been approved by a number of humane groups worldwide, including the U.S. Humane Society and PICAS (Pigeon Control Advisory Service).

Before you install bird spikes, make sure the surface is clean and dry. Prepare the area by removing any loose rust, peeling paint, bird droppings, feathers and nesting materials. Use commercial disinfecting cleaning agents to prevent exposure to airborne diseases carried by birds. If the area is heavily contaminated with bird droppings, use proper eye and respiratory protection.

Using Bird Spikes to Keep Birds off Your Patio and Roof

by Alex A. Kecskes

As a homeowner, you want to keep your roof and patio free of pest birds. Their droppings can quickly ruin the appearance of your home. And the acidic nature of bird droppings can eat into the paint covering your patio. These days, many homeowners have opted for vinyl patios, which can be permanently damaged by a build up of bird droppings.

Getting rid of birds is not always easy. You can scare them away with a water hose or loud noise, but they’ll be back minutes after you leave. Poisons and pellet guns are no solution, either, for these methods are inhumane and dangerous to pets and children.

The only solution is proper and humane bird control. And one of the most proven effective and humane devices ever developed to deter pest birds is the Bird Spike. These popular bird-proofing devices have been widely used to keep birds away from homes and buildings. Bird spikes work because they won’t allow pigeons, seagulls, crows or similar large birds to negotiate a landing, so birds leave.

Bird spikes come in either rigid U.V.-resistant unbreakable polycarbonate or high strength, durable stainless steel. The poly spikes cost a bit less and are available in 3-, 5- and 7-inch widths. One manufacturer offers poly spikes with a 5-year guarantee. They come in 2-foot long sections and are boxed to cover 6, 20 and 50 feet. Today’s poly spikes even come in a stylish array of colors--like white, tan, gray, black, brown, brick red and crystal clear--to blend in with your home’s color scheme. Installed properly, they are practically invisible.

For best results, bird spikes should be installed on rooflines, under eaves, on top of patio covers, fixed awnings and other elevated areas. The spiked strips are easy to install. They can be glued down, nailed or screwed into virtually any surface. The best bird spikes will already have pre-drilled holes or glue troughs to make installation fast and easy. Try to get bird spikes that are crush proof and have a non-reflective finish.

By the way, pest birds will often build nests in your rain gutters, which can lead to overflowing water that can seep under roofing tiles. Before you know it, you’ll have a leaky roof and expensive roofing repairs. To keep birds out of your rain gutters, you should install Gutter Spikes. These specially designed bird spikes feature adjustable clamps at the base so they can be readily affixed to the lip of your rain gutters.

Before installing any bird spikes, thoroughly clean the surface. Be sure to remove any loose rust, peeling paint, bird droppings, feathers and nesting materials. Use commercial disinfecting cleaning agents to prevent exposure to any of the airborne diseases carried by birds. You should also use eye and respiratory protection if the area is heavily contaminated with droppings.