If birds are eating from your garden, getting rid of them is a great step to take. By getting rid of birds, you will win back your garden from the pests that eat your plants. You will also reduce bird presence in the area and decrease the amount of bird droppings spread across your property.
The best solution for excluding birds entirely from gardens is bird netting. Bird netting is a bird exclusion method that completely blocks birds like pigeons or barn swallows from accessing plants. Bird netting allows plants to grow in sunlight and rain while still blocking birds and other pests from eating the plants.
Bird netting is best set up with wooden scaffolding around plants or an entire garden area. If the netting is draped directly over the plants, you run the risk of birds eating plants through the netting and animals potentially getting fatally trapped in the netting.
If installed properly, bird netting will exclude birds with 100% effectiveness. It is one of the top bird control methods in general and a great solution for a garden in particular.
Another bird control option for gardens is a chemical repellant. Chemical repellants repel birds by making garden plants undesirable to eat.
The chemical repellant we recommend using is methyl anthranilate. Methyl anthranilate is the grape flavoring agent found in candies and sodas. It is harmless for birds and humans and will wash off after being applied. Birds hate the small and taste of methyl anthranilate. It activates their pain sensors on perceiving it, and they will avoid eating plants treated with it.
Methyl anthranilate is available in liquid form and can be directly applied to gardens, or it can be used with a fog machine to be applied to an entire area. It is another great solution, like bird netting, that will deter birds with certainty.
We don’t recommend using other chemical repellants as these can be harmful to birds or for the environment.
If your bird problem is lighter, there are a couple of other options that can help deter birds. The following methods are less effective than bird netting or methyl anthranilate but can work to deter a few stray birds.
Scarecrows are the first option. These come in a couple of different varieties. There are motion-based scarecrows, such as jumping spiders, fake predators, such as fake owls and coyotes, colorful wind-based flapping streamers, and inflatable terror eye balloons. All of these can be applied to a garden to keep birds out.
The effectiveness of these units varies. Some bird problems are solved cheaply and effectively using a scarecrow device. In these cases, the birds will leave in the presence of a scarecrow.
In other situations, the birds ignore the scarecrows completely or get used to them within a few hours or days. This can be especially true for a garden, where birds are motivated to find food. In these scenarios, they will often risk a stationary fake owl or a terror eye balloon to eat the plants in the garden.
The other option for deterring birds from a garden is a sound machine. Sound machines broadcast bird species distress cries and predator calls, warning birds to stay away from the area. These are often used on baseball fields and other large, outdoor areas to scare away birds.
Sound machines can work well for a small bird problem that has not developed into anything larger yet. Birds hear the call and believe there is danger in the area.
If there are many birds already in the area, however, and motivated to eat plants from the garden, birds will often risk the predator calls to get their food. Birds are less likely to believe sound machine calls if they are flying together in a flock and are used to the surrounding environment.
Final Words:
The best methods to exclude birds from a garden are bird netting and methyl anthranilate. If the bird problem is small, scarecrows and sound machines can also deter birds from gardens.
If you’re having a bird infestation problem and you need help, a bird control company might be your best bet for getting the problem under control. AviAway is a bird control company that services all bird problems throughout the United States and Canada. Visit their website or call 844-247-3373 to get a free quote based on your bird control needs.
