help on stopping birds poop all over my garden.

mickysquint

Hi guys, sorry if this in the wrong place but i need any ideas or tips on how to stop birds crapping so much in my garden.
I have a large concrete slabbed dog run that the birds are absolutely destroying, they go mad for the food that i put out for the dog, so i stopped leaving the dogs food bowl out all the time hoping this would stop them but it hasn't, they still go mad for the water bowl which i have to leave out for the dog.
the birds are crapping every where, the dog run, fences, washing, pathways.
i'm having to power wash the garden every 2-3 days to take the nasty look away.
so does any one have any ideas on how to scare birds away from the garden and get them pooping elsewhere??
Cheers all

looksee

Pigeons? Seagulls? Starlings? It must be something in flocks to do that much damage!

Could you not put the dogs' water under some sort of cover(shelf, open ended box) so the birds cannot easily see it and will be unlikely to go into a partially enclosed space to get at it. Or create a covered area where the food and water is placed.

Can you do anything to make less perching places?

String up old cds so they move and flash, though if it is pigeons or seagulls they are not easily alarmed. Try a silhouette of a bird of prey over the dogs area.

Morag

Feed them.
Be it old bread and bread crumbs or a feeder or a string of feedballs, once the birds start eating there they stop crapping there.

mickysquint

sorry I should have said, its starlings that are doing the damage, and there's easily 2 dozen at any one time.
As far as stopping them perching I don't think I'll have much joy with that's as they just sit on our roof or surrounding houses.

I think i might try the cd trick or try and find a dummy bird of prey some where.

cheers guys.

looksee

Starlings are a nuisance. They were nesting in a corner of our roof, year after year, and made a good bit of mess. Then we got the roof fixed so they could not get in, and while some of them came back and hung around for a couple of years after that, eventually they got fed up and nested somewhere else. If you can find where they are nesting and block it you might have more success.

bmaxi

If it's starlings I'm afraid it's a lost cause, they really are the most determined and ingenious species. I had to stop feeding the birds in my garden because of starlings, they could strip one of those fat ball feeders, the one with four balls of fat, in a day. They are like mice, almost instant metabolism, they eat, they crap straight away.
I tried everything from scaring them to making it difficult for them to feed but they bested me at every hands turn. As suggested earlier, remove anything that might be attracting them. They don't like sudden movement or loud noises, maybe old cds hung up or kids' windmills, I don't know how you could provide loud noises without being evicted but good luck and let us know what, if anything, works.

cora09

Reminds me of a joke Don Conroy told us when he visited our school - 'What do you do when a flock of starling flys past? - Duck'
But seriously i feel for you, especially when all the berries ripen and their poo turns purple icck.. That cd idea sounds good... maybe wind chimes might cover the noise thing but then again they might feel more zenifyed than scared by those... my cat is pregnant.. if you want one??? lol