Birds in RV Barn

[Dakota 1120]

Some years ago, when Morton Buildings put up a storage building on farms, etc. they would install "bird rods." These rods were a section of aluminum tubing with a wick protruding the length of the rod. They were treated with a substance and when a bird landed on the rod, the substance would be absorbed thru their feet.
With bird rods in the building, within a few days not a single bird would enter/roost in the building even with the huge sliding doors open for extended periods of times .. like weeks on end in the summer.
NO idea if Morton Buildings still has "bird rods" as whatever was in the rods to keep the birds out was probably to effective and the government banned it ..... like they did with DDT. A call to a Morton Building retailer would tell you.

 

[cabjewels]

Our RV barn is open. Shortly after building it, we started having some birds. We got a couple of plastic owls and mounted them....some help, not completely. Then we purchased a LOT of rubber snakes and put them in the eves. Seemed to help a lot. Then, here they came again. We put up wind chimes and that really helped for a while. NOW, this year the birds are back in multiples. I think every one that was ever born near is now nesting in our RV barn. It looks like a bird outhouse.

Any suggestions?

I don't know if anyone has brought this up but native birds are protected. You can't kill them or destroy active nests. Here is a link to the Fish and Game site explaining this.

https://www.fws.gov/birds/bird-enthusiasts/backyard/bird-problems.php

 

[swe13]

My dad had lots of problems with pigeons in his barns. He ruined my boyhood .22 by using birdshot in it. I used a pellet gun (ammo is much cheaper) and shooting it is likely to be legal. Also had a huge problem with bats - which totally freaked my wife so I spent a day shooting bats with the pellet gun. YMWV

You what is likely to NOT be legal? Killing bats. Hope you get what you deserve.

 

[aircommuter]

Careful with those swallows they are a protected bird. Migratory bird act 1918.
They have disrupted many big projects on bridges and overpasses. Being pro-active and preventing them from building is allowed.
I built an airtight building using cold storage panels for walls, no bird or bee problems.

 

[wpeterson4]

If they're barn swallows, Wipe Palmolive dish soap in the areas they are building

on.

 

[Garnie]

Birds

Again, mothballs in the area they roost or nest, in plastic bag with holes to let smell out

 

[dpitt22030]

Bats

Be careful - bats are protected in California and it is illegal to kill them.

 

[Adda]

I was head of maintenance for a school district and we had the problem of birds (mostly barn swallows) building nests high on the eaves of the gym. I found that barn swallows do not like "bag balm" and using a long pole I dabbed it on the preferred nesting area after the birds had finally gone away for the year. The following Spring the birds returned but were upset and would not build where the bag balm had been used. Yaaaaayyyy! no more bird poop all over the building. In my Rv barn at home I used rain gutter netting from home depot with the option of using bag balm on the lower support framing.

https://www.tractorsupply.com/tsc/product/bag-balm-lotion-8-oz?cm_vc=-10005

 

[CurtPutnam]

You what is likely to NOT be legal? Killing bats. Hope you get what you deserve.

50+ years ago it was. Bats created a huge rabies scare in the area. So what does a new father say to a scared wife? YES