Ultrasonic pigeon deterent

[GrahamGKD]

Following on from my thread on bird spikes (thanks for the help with that) – having stopped the birds sitting on the gutter and pooping on the patio, I now realize I am going to have to do something to stop them roosting under our solar panels.

Ours is a tall two-story house with an old tiled roof – getting onto the roof to install physical barriers isn’t something I would consider doing myself, and I imagine a professional installer would want to factor scaffolding into the cost the job so will be expensive.

I’ve looked at various products online – most of which seem to get very mixed reviews. The claim that pigeons don’t like ultrasonic sound led me to muse about rigging up an ultrasonic sound emitter in the loft. I can get a battery powered ultrasonic oscillator for about £12 and piezo sounders seem pretty cheap. We don’t have felt or insulation under the tiles so the sound would only have to pass through the tiles themselves. My thinking was to give it a blast at roosting time and then again first thing in the morning. If it works, I could think about setting it up on a timer. My feeling is that if I could break their habit of roosting there, they would find somewhere else and leave us alone.

Any thoughts?

BTW – I have an air rifle but shooting at them isn’t an option as we live in a built-up area. In any case, I would probably end up damaging the solar panels!

 

[Kram]

Dont know but my brother has a pet cockatiel, he has problems with it pooing everywhere, particually in his hair and around the bathroom door. He has a solution for the latter...

Get a pet sparrow hawk?

 

[pedrobedro]

I just used to throw a tennis ball up at them, After a few days they soon got the message and went somewhere else.

 

[nickk]

Good luck,pigeons are especially randy atm,and noisy as hell on my steel roof.

 

[Barking Mat]

My avatar, spends its life barking at pigeons, and trying to chase them out the garden.

The pigeons just wind her up.

I'd post you my dog, but she won't fit in a jiffy bag, the customs declaration would be a nightmare, and she'd drive you mad.

 

[voipio]

Ultrasound wouldn't pass through tiles/slates very well. The transducer would need to be fitted outside. It could be weatherproofed using thin polythene sheet or a bag.

 

[arther dailey]

what about a plastic bird of prey ? if they are available

 

[arther dailey]

just googled plastic bird of prey , £15 plus postage plus vat, nothing to lose at that monies..

 

[reb78]

just googled plastic bird of prey , £15 plus postage plus vat, nothing to lose at that monies..

They dont work - we had one at the farm and it even made a hawk noise. No good.

 

[GrahamGKD]

Ultrasound wouldn't pass through tiles/slates very well. The transducer would need to be fitted outside. It could be weatherproofed using thin polythene sheet or a bag.

Thanks, that is exactly the kind of tip I need - I can easily have the driver on the inside and sneak a small wire out under the edge of the tiles to the piezo speaker on the outside.

 

[GrahamGKD]

what about a plastic bird of prey ? if they are available

Thanks for the suggestion - I did look at those. Not sure about pigeons but I see them a lot on boats down in our local harbour - the guls seem to like to cr@p all over them ;-)

 

[GrahamGKD]

I just used to throw a tennis ball up at them, After a few days they soon got the message and went somewhere else.

Yeah, I can't really make that method work here - the one roof is above quite a narrow alleyway - there is nowhere you can actually see the pigeons from without climbing an awkwardly steep ladder.

 

[tom2207]

I had a big owl that sat on top of the radar on my boat ,,, i swear the sea gulls used to bring it fish ,
total waste of time , i read some where about a guy chasing starlings and he was playing a recording of distressed starlings from time to time , and it worked.

or could you gaffa tape a cat to the end of a long stick and sort of '' wave '' it in the direction of the pigeons , just a thought.

 

[tom2207]

could you put a mesh over the whole lot to stop the getting underneath .

 

[Arc Tourist]

Overseas my buddy had a problem with crows roosting under the eves in his house, so he set up a strobe light connected to a motion detector; the birds decided to relocate, problem solved. The setup also worked to encourage the bats in my barn to leave, so no more guano on everything. I understand that bats are not to be bothered here in the UK, and thankfully we do not have any around our home.

 

[Armin]

if you use a gas-filled balloon, it works very well

 

[GrahamGKD]

could you put a mesh over the whole lot to stop the getting underneath .

I could.... but I really don't fancy teetering about on the roof.

 

[GrahamGKD]

if you use a gas-filled balloon, it works very well

How exactly - a balloon bobbing around to frighten the pigeons? Inlfate a balloon under the panels to keep them out? Burst a balloon to scare them off?

 

[brightspark]

Following on from my thread on bird spikes (thanks for the help with that) – having stopped the birds sitting on the gutter and pooping on the patio, I now realize I am going to have to do something to stop them roosting under our solar panels.

Ours is a tall two-story house with an old tiled roof – getting onto the roof to install physical barriers isn’t something I would consider doing myself, and I imagine a professional installer would want to factor scaffolding into the cost the job so will be expensive.

I’ve looked at various products online – most of which seem to get very mixed reviews. The claim that pigeons don’t like ultrasonic sound led me to muse about rigging up an ultrasonic sound emitter in the loft. I can get a battery powered ultrasonic oscillator for about £12 and piezo sounders seem pretty cheap. We don’t have felt or insulation under the tiles so the sound would only have to pass through the tiles themselves. My thinking was to give it a blast at roosting time and then again first thing in the morning. If it works, I could think about setting it up on a timer. My feeling is that if I could break their habit of roosting there, they would find somewhere else and leave us alone.

Any thoughts?

BTW – I have an air rifle but shooting at them isn’t an option as we live in a built-up area. In any case, I would probably end up damaging the solar panels!

feed them in the garden and pop em off from inside the house through the window

 

[Armin]

How exactly - a balloon bobbing around to frighten the pigeons? Inlfate a balloon under the panels to keep them out? Burst a balloon to scare them off?

attach the balloon to a thread and let it rise to the level of the solar system

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using an aluminum foil balloon are cheaper and work just as well