When it comes to building maintenance, pest bird control is sometimes treated as an after-thought. In other words, limited attention is given to a couple of perching seagulls until the entire flock has staged a coup and facility managers are scrambling to control and cleanup after the winged usurpers. However, what if we look at pest bird damage the way we do security issues?
If there were teenagers loitering on the building premises – disturbing customers, making noise and leaving their trash behind for you to clean up, how would you handle that? Maybe you would install a fence. How about if people were walking their dogs on your facility grounds and not picking up after their pets? You might put up a sign or threaten fines. If vandals were in your parking lot defacing vehicles you would probably call the authorities. The point is: you would do something to prevent said occurrence from happening again. You would NOT make cleaning up after teenagers, or dogs, or vandals a large part of your ongoing building maintenance plan or budget.
Pest birds can cause comparable problems. When many birds are gathered, the flock can be loud and obnoxious. Pest bird damage is serious – with acidic droppings permanently defacing building surfaces, sidewalks and vehicles. These feathered assailants are even known to get tangled in machinery, build nests that cause fires, peck holes in roofing; geese often attack people when nests or goslings are nearby.
This is why pest bird damage and building maintenance should be handled preventively, similar to security. Implement pest bird control as a preventive measure, stop ‘security breaches’ before they start, and save money.
STEP 1 – Removing Temptation
One of the first rules of security is to remove all temptation. Even in our cars, we push valuable items under the seat to avoid luring thieves who might be tempted to break in. When it comes to bird control and building maintenance, you must also remove temptation. Don’t make things easy for scavenging birds!
- Make sure food sources (dumpsters, trash cans, outdoor eating areas) are kept clean and contained
- Use signage to instruct people NOT to feed the birds
- Choose thicker foliage over barren landscaping and let grass grow long round the edges of ponds and lakes – birds such as geese love wide open areas with unobstructed views
STEP 2 – Preventing Physical Access
Another obvious security measure is to prevent access – this is what fences, gates, doors, and locks are for. With facility bird control, you can do the same:
- Bird Netting seals off openings and areas where birds are not wanted
- Bird Spikes can be installed on rooftop edges, ledges, window sills, etc. to keep birds from landing
- Roost Inhibitors such as Bird Proof Gel can be applied to surfaces like signs, statues, and light posts
STEP 3 – Intimidation, Threat and Becoming the LEAST Convenient Target
What other tactics make up your security system? Alarms, sirens, lasers and the threat of being caught make your facility less of a target than the building next door. A preventive bird control system can have all of this:
- Visual scares and predator replicas intimidate pest birds
- Sonic/ultrasonic sound repellers make the area inhospitable to birds
- Laser bird control devices protect indoor/semi-enclosed spaces
So instead of spending thousands of dollars each year (and hundreds of labor hours) cleaning up after pest birds, think about preventing bird infestation and pest bird damage before it starts. Many bird control products require little-to-no-maintenance, consist of a one-time installation and last for years! Find out more about pest bird control and building maintenance solutions at www.bird-x.com.
Chrissy Hansen is the Marketing Manager at Bird-X, Inc.
