Birds entering home, help please

[Farren]

Hi,

I seem to be having problems with our garden birds coming into the house. At first it was regular starlings coming down the chimney, once or twice a week. We managed to stop that problem with the help of a builder. Now, however, they seem to be finding other routes into the house. I really have no idea at all how it is happening and would really appreciate some help to deter them.

I've had wood pigeons, racing pigeon, collared doves, assorted sparrows/dunnocks, starlings, blackbirds (female only) and a wren. The thing is, this is regular, at least once a week. I have a dog and it drives him insane trying to catch them. I really don't know what to do as I can't see how they are entering the house or, why!? I've never had, or heard, of this problem before but it really is a problem. Yes, sitting at your computer, looking to your left and coming eye-to-eye with a pigeon, IS, amusing, but how the heck and why are they coming in?

Please could someone offer some advice? I've already lost one starling to the dog and would hate to lose more.

[alisonclair]

Are you sure they're still not coming in from the chimney? What is near where you are finding them?

[Farren]

Positive. The chimney is now capped at the top to stop birds from entering and our fireplace is castiron which has a 'door' on it so it is impossible to enter the house that way.

[shei111]

Hello I cant seem to get my head round this. must be quite a big gap to get pidgeons and doves in, Is the back door open?are the little windows open ? what are they coming in for ? I n my other house we always had blackbirds come into the kitchen and go to the dogs bowls to eat , take a beak full then go.

What I would do is go outside hide behind something or in the shed and sit and watch for a hour or two , thats the only way you will find out where they are coming in, ps shut the door behind you .!! sheila

[Pippa]

Hi Farren,welcome to WAB.


Never heard of this problem before either and agree with Sheila.

Only time i have seen birds enter, is when doors or windows are ajar.Used to get them come in and hop around our kitchen as if it were part of the garden.Once the door was closed that was it.However,we did once find a blackbird at our place of work flying madly about.It had got in again through an open door but had remained there for the whole weekend.We managed to get it out on returning to work after it almost scared OH to death.

Hope you find a solution .

[Farren]

I figured if I could maybe work out WHY they are coming in that would be a start. It really is bizarre though. At this time of year we have no windows open, the door is opened pretty much to just let the dog out to the garden and then closed after him. It's not left open. We have explored the house and there is no apparent means of them entering. Common sense says it has to be in the window of oportunity when the dog is let out, however they must be stealthy as we are either standing at the door ready to let him abck in or in the kitchen itself, so, surely we would notice a bird entering? They are turning up mainly in the livingroom although i've found 2 in the kitchen and 2 in the study. I'm really at a loss here.

As people have said, i've known and heard of blackbirds entering kitchens, or basically rooms by doors to help themselves to pet foods. That I can understand, especially as blackbirds are fairly tame in comparison to other garden birds but this is just odd. The dogs food is in the kitchen, the door to the back garden is in a room ajoined to that, sort of utility/breakfast room. It's no visible from there in order to tempt them and there is no food in that room either to tempt them in. There are various feeders hanging in the trees on our front garden and the garden there itself is completely surrounded by 8ft hedges and trees, so, we do get a lot of sparrows and birds due to that, but surely that would mean that there is more out there to attract them than inside the house?

I have to say that yes, at first it was amusing to keep finding birds visiting us, but it has reached the point now where it is more worrying and inconvienient. I worry terribly about our dog catchng and killing them. He has caught 3, one of which sadly died, the other two we were fortunately enough to get him to drop and were released safely. I just at a complete loss. The problem seems to be getting worse instead of better. We really thought that capping the chimney and buying a new fire surround which had a closing flue would solve things but it hasn't. They were definately coming down the chimney prior to this though. The fire came first so we would know when they came because the dog would bark and we could hear them the other side of the flu door and would catch them into a bag or towel to release. That was why we got the chimney capped and it has worked perfectly. not one bird down the chimney since. However that was when they started coming in anthother way. For some reason they REALLY want to come into the house and for the life of me I don't know why.

I will try the watching suggestion, it makes sense. However, as we are not leaving the door open and we are not aware of them entering in that window of oportunity the solution seems to be to deter them, so does anyone have any suggestions on how to do this? I'd rather not deter them from the garden as I do enjoy watching them but just the house!

lol,at this moment in time I don't know if I am extremely fortunate or unfortunate.

[NickCantle]

Have you checked that they can't get in any wall gaps and come through the cavities in to the house?

[ron1863]

When I lived in an old cottage we used to get the odd bird coming down the chimney so I tied wire mesh over the lums, only for Crows to nest on them. We also had old air vents with sliding doors to allow air in and we had to make sure these were firmly shut as birds can get into the house through very, very small gaps.

If I were you I would take a walk around the house at night with all the lights on and see if you can spot any small gap, especially around the eaves of the house, and check the chimney stack as there may be gaps there.

[chickenzown]

Probably a hole somewhere in the eaves of the house or a gap in the endtrim on your roof, all the birds you mention would see this kind of hole as a potential nesting site. I have had jackdaws nest in the end of my roof for years although there is no access into the house on my one.

If you find the hole you will probably reduce your heating bill also as if birds can get in, heat can escape!

[Farren]

We've checked for holes etc, numerous times but there is nothing. We had new fascias and sofits fitted less than a year ago so we are certain that there is no access from there. We have also checked the loft thouroughly whilst in the process of reinsulating it and again, no signs of birds. The vents in the walls are all airbrick type and far too small for anything to gain access and all are intact. We haven't checked the chimney stack personally but when the cap was being fitted I specifically asked him to tell us if it needed repointing or anything doing to it. As he said it was fine i'm inclinded to believe him as he would have made money if it wasn't! Even if it was the stack though they would be coming in through the fire and they aren't. The only possible place of access is a door and common sense tells me this has to be how they are getting in but as we aren't leaving doors open unattended then the birds are still managing to sneak in which makes it rather difficult for us to prevent. Hence hoping that someone could offer a suggestion for a way to deter them from actually wanting to enter in the first place.


On a side note, never in a million years would I imagine sitting at my desk asking these kinds of things lol