I've been having problems with birds trying to build nests in our charcoaler. Obviously, the simple solution is to keep all the vents shut. Unfortunately, my other half is having tremendous difficulty grasping this concept. Even with the vents shut they crap all over the top of it. We have never had any trouble with this before. I know lots of ways to get rid of birds, but most would contaminate the grill. Any ideas? I can't shoot them, I live in a decent neighborhood.

 

Put a garbage bag over it....if it will fit

 

I would put up some noisey windchimes that have flashy metal pieces. The noise and bright flashes might be enough to scare them away.

Now if someone could tell me why birds have been flying into my house windows for the last two months I'd sure appreciate it. They are not building nests in the gutters or anywhere near our house. But for no apparent reason they will try to fly into the top half of the window or the bottom screened half. It doesn't matter what window. They do it mainly at our kitchen and dining room windows on the back of the house and my 3yr old sons window on the front of the house. It's sporatic, but they seem to do it almost on a weekly basis. It's freakin me out, man. Imagine being half asleep in the morning and hearing a thud...scratch...scratch.... at a window on the other side of the house. That's enough to scare me awake and think it's a burglar. Crazy birds. And they've scared the poop out of me when I'm at the kitchen sink and they smack into the window in front of my face. Now we don't windex and squeegy our windows every day so we know that they should be visible to most eyes. This bird thing has us perplexed. Kinda reminds me of that old Alfred Hitchcock movie. Sorry, I'm not trying to hijack the thread; but would like some bird advise too. They keep scaring my son early in the morning.

 

Try one of those fake owls, near the grill.

 

The problem with fake animals and noise makers is that they get used to them and then they don't work. Been down that road before. Maybe if I can catch one I could hang its corpse under the grill for all the others to see.

 

I'll vouch for the garbage bag (39 gallon) keeping the birds off the grill. The birds used to sit on the handle of the grill and...uh...leave their mark. Been using the garbage bag for about 4 years and no problems since.

 

get a piece of plywood and hammer a whole bunch of nails into close together and just lay it on top of the grille when your not using it. paint to match your grille if you want to be cruel.

 

I don't know if a garbage bag will fit, but I'll try it if it will. Then I've still got to train the old lady to put it on the grill when she's done cookin' my supper. Probably will have the same result as trying to get her to shut the vents.

 

Yeah, there have been many occurences of that at my house lately, they don't just hit the windows either but my garage door has taken a few. Weirdest thing, I've buried quite a few birds. West Nile has started creeping into my head cause it affects birds...

Flashy semi-noisy windchimes as suggested by cigarxtc have been known to work. Also, with the fake owl type things you have to move them around every couple of days or the birds get used to them.

 

For the windows just suction cup a few applique's on the glass.
Like stained glass ornaments.Butterflies,etc

Charcoaler ?
BBQ ?

Having a water hose around to spray water on them helps as a deterent.

You have to be viligant at it though.

You could also put a phony Cat on the lid

 

Hey, that's not a bad idea. Some small outside temp scales, and wind chimes or glass ornaments shouldn't cost too much and the wife would probably enjoy staring out the window at them too. Good idea!

 

Why not give them a birdhouse? Are they pretty birds, what do they look like?
Maybe they are beneficial, or rare and need a little help from the person that lives on the land that used to belong to their ancestors. If they are starlings or house sparrows, by all means kill them, but help any other bird find a better nest.