YOUR GUIDE TO BIRD CONTROL IN ADELAIDE
Pest birds roosting around your home or business is no chirping matter. Besides being messy and noisy, they spread infections and parasites from mites to salmonella.
Do you have concerns about pest birds? Read our handy bird control guide to help.
At best, they’re a nuisance. At worst, a health hazard or business risk. Having pest birds roosting around your home or business premises is no chirping matter.
Besides being noisy, the mess from their feathers and droppings can cause lasting damage to property and buildings, or create the need for costly repairs. What’s more, they carry and spread a range of infections and parasites, from mites to salmonella. No wonder pest birds are bad news for your home, and even worse for businesses.
If you have concerns about pest birds or pigeons, the issues they can cause, or you want to know more about how to deter or prevente them, here is some useful information to help.
What questions will this article answer?
Common behaviours of pest birds
Understanding how these pesky creatures operate can help to quickly identify and control an outbreak.
Problems caused by pest birds
Being territorial creatures, they will make their presence known in a number of ways.
Problems caused by pest bird droppings
From building damage to spreading diseases, bird waste products can cause more problems than you’d realise, so pay attention to these signs.
Bird problems in businesses
Distribution facilities, shopping centres, commercial buildings, and service facilities especially vulnerable to the effects of pest birds. They can wreak havoc by compromising health, safety, hygiene and reputation. If not controlled, this can result in heavy penalties from authorities. At Allstate, we are able to solve pest bird problems for all sizes of businesses and facilities.
Bird control methods in Adelaide
At Allstate, we recommend a number of bird control methods for both deterrent and removal. If you have solar panels, we also recommend specialised solar panel pigeon proofing, as this area is a favourite roosting spot for birds.
Cleaning up after a pest bird outbreak
Birds often leave a mess behind. There are several property maintenance services we recommend to deal with the problem quickly and effectively.
Common behaviours of pest birds (especially pigeons)
Pigeons are easily identified by their blue-grey coloured feathers, white rump and black bars across their wings and tail. They are semi-domesticated creatures who are very comfortable around people and in urban environments. These are just some of the reasons that they possess excellent survival instincts:
They are well adapted
Our homes and businesses offer excellent conditions for pigeons to roost and nest, such as:
- A good water supply from unsealed water tanks, ponds, gutters, rooftops.
- Warmth and shelter from rooftops solar panels, fans, electric transformers and heating units. Sometimes, they are even able to locate an access point to enter a roof space.
They come in large numbers
Many pigeons will often band and stay together as a flock.
They are excellent scavengers
Having a diverse diet enables them to take advantage of almost any available food source. They are good at competing against native birds for food.
They are determined to live in their preferred place
Because of their strong inbuilt homing instinct, pigeons become attached to living near to their birthplace, making them very reluctant to move on to another site. This makes it hard to discourage them from returning to your home or business.
They reproduce quickly
Female pigeons can produce about 15 eggs per year, with a short incubation period of only 18 days. So, a small flock can easily become a large one.
They don’t always need a nest to lay eggs
They can simply lay eggs on a bare surface.
Problems caused by pigeons
Aggressive behaviour
They can sometimes attack people, particularly during breeding season when they are defending their young.
Noise
Particularly cries from young chicks. The sounds of many birds roosting and nesting together is disruptive and disturbing in an otherwise peaceful environment.
Native bird displacement
Due to their dominant nature, pest birds will drive away other bird species who are less able to compete for food and nesting sites.
Damage to gardens and plants
They enjoy feasting on fruit, flowers, produce and stored grain.
Problems caused by pest birds
Building discolouration
The white-brown colour and thick consistency can tarnish the appearance of buildings, including windows, ledges, walls, balconies and surrounding footpaths of homes and businesses.
Property damage
- Rust and deterioration of paint on buildings, cars, roof top machinery (airconditioners, and solar panels), gutters and the roof itself. This is from the uric acid in bird droppings, which is a highly corrosive compound.
- Corrosion of construction materials such as limestone and calciferous sandstone. This is caused by a fungus carried in pigeon droppings
- Damage inside your property. Bird droppings can end up on support structures as well as uncovered stock, supplies, food, machinery, tools and clothing.
Parasites
Birds carry parasites in their droppings and feathers, which include a huge host of insects, from bed bugs and beetles, to clothes moths, mites and ticks. Many of these parasites will cover their new human host with tiny bites, and are capable of triggering allergies.
Moist bird droppings also attract flies and enable breeding to initiate a secondary insect outbreak.
Disease
Birds spread disease-causing bacteria, viruses, parasites and fungi. These can give you the flu, gastroenteritis, or even more serious illnesses requiring hospital stays, including:
- Salmonella poisoning
- Ornithosis
- Bird fancier’s lung
- Cryptococcosis
- E-coli infection
- Histoplasmosis
- Newcastle disease
- Encephalitis
- Aspergillosis
- Toxoplasmosis
Contamination of food, supplies and water
This occurs from:
- Bird pecking
- Droppings
- Feathers
- Debris from birds’ nests and dead birds
Safety hazards
Fresh bird droppings are wet and slippery, and hazardous to pedestrians walking along footpaths, steps and fire escapes.
Water damage
Droppings and debris from roosting birds accumulate along gutters and downpipes. If left unattended to, the build-up and blockages can result in water overflow and subsequent roof leakages.
If you are worried that pest birds are causing any of the above problems around your home, do not hesitate to contact our bird control team.
Speak to a bird control expert today
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Bird Problems in Businesses
Distribution facilities
Pest birds flying around a distribution facility are a dangerous distraction while operating heavy machinery. They can ruin stock and supplies, particularly if goods are not properly covered. Their droppings are a hygiene problem that can make staff and contractors sick and become a workplace slipping hazard. A failure to comply with industrial health and safety standards can result in heavy fines.
Read more about birds in warehouses and distribution facilities
Shopping and retail centres
With many food service businesses occupying the same space, including cafes, food courts, butchers and supermarkets, there is a great opportunity for pest birds to take advantage of readily available food and scraps. To make matters worse, there are often numerous entry points and customers who feed birds and leave unwanted food out in the open. A pest bird outbreak can contaminate food, supplies and preparation surfaces, and become an unwelcome distraction to employees, customers and other retailers. It can also result in costly penalties for failing to meet food regulatory and safety standards, damage your reputation and turn customers away.
Commercial buildings, offices and service facilities
Pest birds will not only cause widespread disruption to the operations within a commercial building. A failure to meet health and safety standards can damage the reputation for all the offices, businesses and service providers located inside as well.
Large and tall buildings
Pest birds such as pigeons are used to living in high places, and can settle in bigger complexes which consist of many offices and businesses connected by multiple entry points and lifts, infrequently used stairwells, an extensive network of ducts and vents, and complex supply chains. An outbreak may lead to major structural damage requiring expensive repairs, and compromise health and safety for many people working in the building.
Service facilities
Facilities which are often used by the more vulnerable members of our community, such as schools, child care centres, nursing homes and hospitals can also be targeted by pest birds. They can introduce a variety of germs and parasites which cause devastating health effects.
Read more about birds in aged care
Read more about birds in schools
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Bird control methods in Adelaide
As part of our bird control solutions for both homes and businesses, we may recommend the following prevention and removal strategies:
Remove all sources of food and water from the site
This is the first step to controlling a pest bird outbreak.
Bird netting
Nets are a useful, non-harmful physical deterrent to control high level bird outbreaks. They can easily be placed into custom made frames or manipulated in any direction to fit areas of various shapes and dimensions. They come in different colours and sizes (we have 19mm, 50mm and 75mm).
Bird spikes
Spikes create an insecure area for landing, so are an effective way to prevent birds from gathering in their favourite roosting position to oversee their territory, usually on the leading edges of buildings. This includes exposed ledges, sills, steel beams, chimneys and girders.
There are different types of bird spikes to suit your home or business, such as translucent, polycarbonate, steel, girder and gutter. They come in a range of sizes, shapes and all have UV protection so they last longer. Rest assured that they are not sharp and will not cause physical injury to the birds (or installers).
Bird Jolt Flat Track system
This discreet, solar or A.C. powered electric deterrent delivers birds a mild electric shock every time they land on its surface, and eventually conditions them to stay away. It can be installed on any surface due to its flexible PVC base, and has in-built UV protection for longevity. As it stands only ¼ of an inch high, it is a popular solution for areas where you need a less noticeable deterrent.
Bird wire
We will sometimes secure UV-protected stainless steel wires between plastic posts to act as an unstable landing platform. This deters birds from landing on leading edges of buildings, including exposed ledges, steel beams, sills and girders. This discreet technique is best suited to new buildings.
Bird trapping
This is a handy solution for controlling a large outbreak. Over several days, birds are gradually baited with food to enter a cage trap. Eventually, when the trap fills with birds, they are removed from your property. At Allstate, rest assured that our approach towards the birds is humane, and we provide adequate food, water and shelter while they are in the cage.
Bird shooting
Pest birds are very persistent and breed quickly. In situations where deterrent techniques have failed, sometimes there is no choice but to take more drastic action. Allstate has technicians who are fully licensed to safely and responsibly discharge a firearm to tame an out of control bird or pigeon outbreak,
We take utmost care that this process is carried out with minimal disturbance to you and your neighbours, by timing it when the majority of the birds are within range.
Solar panel cleaning and proofing
Pest birds favour nesting under solar panels, but unfortunately leave a mess, damaging the expensive panels and underlying wiring systems, so that they work less effectively.
Our maintenance team can help you control this problem by first removing the birds, then thoroughly cleaning panels and surrounding area, and finally installing a stainless steel black UV-coated wire mesh over the panels to prevent the birds from nesting and roosting.
Cleaning up after a pest bird outbreak
Recommended bird cleanup services include:
Gutter and roof void cleaning
Birds will often leave a build-up of nesting debris and fouling in hard-to-access areas like roof voids and gutters. An experienced property maintenance service will remove their mess, and sterilise and clear stains using an environmentally friendly, bio-degradable disinfectant.
Pressure washing
A build-up of bird droppings and feathers is an unsightly distraction on the roof, sides of buildings, footpaths, pavements and driveways. If left for a long time, this can also lead to permanent damage to paint as well as rust and corrosion.
Bird control pressure washing services are designed for concrete and paved areas, loading docks and buildings, to refresh the look of your home or business facility.
The Allstate maintenance team specialises in clean-up after pest outbreaks.
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How Allstate can help with your bird problems
As Adelaide’s leading independent pest control company, our licensed, expert bird control technicians use a range of methods, and are well equipped to offer personalised solutions for pest bird issues in both homes and businesses.
Our experienced team members are always available for prompt advice and 24/7 service to all suburbs of Adelaide.
Our focus is to be safe and compassionate towards the birds, people and the environment. We offer a 100% satisfaction money-back guarantee, and affordable interest-free payment plans.
You don’t need to feel overwhelmed with a pest bird outbreak, or try to resolve it on your own – we are here to help.