Bird Control for Retail Businesses
When birds start perching and roosting around a retail store or a place of business, the problem may start to impact the business. The birds are often considered dirty, and they may spread droppings over the area and start scrounging food from the trash. They also present a problem to the customers and most business owners would prefer them elsewhere.
So, what can you do about a bird problem at a retail business location?
The first steps to solving a bird infestation are getting rid of the birds’ motivation to be in the area. There are usually two primary reasons birds are hanging around an area: food sources and nesting grounds. If you remove these two factors, the bird problem will alleviate.
Therefore the first step in reducing a bird infestation for birds like seagulls, pigeons, and sparrows is removing bird food sources. Common bird food sources include open trash containers, food strewn across the ground, and food intentionally fed to the birds. All three of these factors should be reduced as much as possible. Open trash containers can be replaced with closed trash containers, food should be disposed of in these trash containers or picked up frequently by staff, and people should know not to intentionally feed the birds.
A good rule of thumb is that if there are flies buzzing around a source of food, birds will also want their share of that food source.
There are sometimes other less-common sources of food for birds. These include insect infestations and nearby plants and shrubs. If birds are getting into this type of food source, it is important to resolve this as well. Insect infestations should be dealt with by a pest control company. Plants and shrubs can be netted off with bird netting or you can apply methyl anthranilate, the grape flavoring agent found in candies and sodas, to the plants as a bird deterrent. Birds hate the scent and taste of methyl anthranilate, and it is mostly harmless for birds and humans. It is available from bird control retailers as a bird control method.
The next step after removing bird food sources are blocking off bird nesting grounds. Birds like to nest in covered, enclosed places like in the rafters of buildings, underneath solar panels, under HVAC units, or on top of chimneys. Usually these types of locations can be netted off with bird netting.
Bird netting is our top choice for blocking off bird nesting grounds. If installed properly, it excludes birds with 100% effectiveness.
AviAway often performs jobs installing bird netting in the rafters of canopies, warehouses, and docking bays. In these locations, birds often have the opportunity to fly in and make nests in covered areas. If birds do nest, it’s harder to get them to leave. By blocking off their nesting grounds, bird infestations cannot occur.
Removing bird food sources and blocking off their nesting grounds are the most sure-fire ways to remove a bird infestation. If the bird problem is lighter, however, and the birds haven’t nested yet, there are a few things you can do at a retail store to reduce the amount of birds perching.
The first thing you can do to stop birds from perching on your retail store are install ledge modification methods. These are bird control deterrent devices that go on ledges to block or otherwise deter birds from landing.
Bird spikes are the first and most common ledge modification deterrent. Bird spikes are plastic or stainless steel rods that stick out and are placed on a ledge or surface you want to prevent birds from landing on. They work best for medium-sized birds, as smaller birds like sparrows can still nest between the spikes. Despite the name, bird spikes are not intended to harm the birds, just to block them from landing on a ledge. Most are available in blunted form to avoid hurting the birds.
Bird wire is another ledge modification option. Bird wire is wire strung across a surface from two poles. It is used to block birds from landing on ledges, similar to bird spikes. Bird wire is lower-visibility than bird spikes, however, and is sometimes preferred for that reason.
The next option is sound machines. Sound machines broadcast the sound of bird species distress cries and predator sounds. Birds hear these sounds and prefer to avoid the area. Sound machines can help a bird problem when used in conjunction with other bird control methods, but rarely work well enough on their own.
Summary: To fix a bird problem at a retail business, the best methods are reducing the birds’ food sources and blocking off their nesting grounds with bird netting. If the birds haven’t already nested, other methods like bird spikes, bird wire, and sound machines reduce the amount of birds in the area.