Do you wake up early in the morning, expecting to take in a breath of fresh air and instead find bird droppings on your porch? Are you tired of pulling out your hair in frustration at the mess and smell, and are looking for effective ways on how to keep birds away from your porch?
There are many ways to keep birds off your porch.
- Loud Wind Chimes
- Scents that are disagreeable to birds like peppermint, garlic, and cayenne
- Ultrasonic bird repelling devices
- Electronic Repelling Devices
- Reflective materials such as aluminum foil, mirrors, or shiny pinwheels
With that in mind, how can you keep birds away from your porch? Let’s take a look at some of the most effective techniques experts recommend.
Do Wind Chimes Keep Birds Away?
While there’s no doubt that wind chimes help improve the exterior of your home, there’s one question that every homeowner wants an answer to—do they help scare birds away?
The answer, however, is a little tricky. This depends on the type of wind chimes you’re investing in. If you have small wind chimes, you won’t find as much luck. But if you have large and heavy wind chimes that make a loud sound, you have more chances of keeping birds away.
What Kind of Smell Do Birds Hate?
Even though birds have olfactory glands, they tend to rely more on their other senses. But of course, that doesn’t mean there aren’t smells they don’t like.
Manmade Scents
The smell of aerosol sprays, hairsprays, and scented candles are deadly for birds. They can irritate a bird’s eyes and nostrils, and even damage their lungs.
Natural Scents
If you don’t want to harm any birds and want just to scare them away, using lighter scents is the key.
We recommend using peppermint oil, which has proven to be the most effective when deterring birds from coming near your porch. There are special bird gels available as well that do the trick. This gel is made of peppermint along with other ingredients that will play with the senses of birds. It emits an ultraviolet light that will help ward off birds. The light will work to blind the birds temporarily, so they don’t come near your property.
If you’re looking for more natural remedies, we recommend using garlic and cayenne pepper. The smell of garlic is strong and will keep birds at bay. Cayenne pepper has a spicy scent, which will temporarily irritate their eyes and nostrils.
Sounds Do Birds Hate?
We know that birds get scared easily when it comes to loud sounds, especially when it comes to wind chimes. But what about other sounds? What type of sounds can help scare birds away from your porch?
Ultrasonic Devices
There are specialized bird repelling devices that use ultrasonic waves. These devices only work on birds as the sound emitted can only be heard by them. Think of it being similar to dog whistles. You can set them up anywhere outside your house. You can leave them switched on for extended periods.
Electronic Bird Repelling Devices
There are also audible bird repelling devices that mimic the cry of other animals. Whenever a bird is nearby, the device will make a loud sound to scare it away. These devices are customizable so that you can change the sound anytime.
Electronic scarecrows are also another option if you don’t want to go for a sound device. Unlike a traditional scarecrow, an electric one doesn’t use a human face. Instead, it has a high-powered water hose. The water hose comes with a movement sensor, so any animal that comes near it will be blasted with water.
But if an electronic scarecrow doesn’t seem like a feasible idea, you can also install a fake owl in your yard. Owls scare small birds away. Some owl toys flap their wings, which is a great way to keep birds at bay.
Can Aluminum Foil Help Deter Birds?
Aluminum foil is the perfect way to foil a bird’s plans to damage your porch and garden. If you have trees in your garden, one thing you can do is use a fishing line and tie aluminum foil to it.
What this will do is blind the birds temporarily when they fly into your garden.
The light reflected from the foil will hurt their eyes. Also, the sound the foil will make when it’s windy will confuse them.
How Do You Keep Birds From Pooping On Your Deck?
If none of those mentioned above solutions have worked, that doesn’t mean there isn’t light at the end of the tunnel!
Mirrors
There are plenty of other creative ways to keep birds at bay and away from your deck. One popular strategy is hanging mirrors. Hanging mirrors near the entrance or from the tree branches will help reflect light to blind birds.
Some birds get confused when they look at themselves in the mirror. They will think another bird is about to prey on them. It also works because it “convinces” them that another bird has claimed the food source, so it’s time to leave.
Pinwheels
You can also place pinwheels near your deck. The sound and movement will scare them away.
Hopefully, this short guide helped answer your dilemma related to birds and how to keep them away from your property.