How do I keep Birds off my roof?

[dugimodo]

I have what I think is a large Cherry Laurel tree in my front yard. Its berries attract birds which then like to land on my roof and eat them. They make a hell of a racket and leave seeds all over my roof and driveway.
It's rather annoying. I've just strung a piece of nylon along the ridge line about 4 inches high and am hoping that'll do something. Any other Ideas? They are particularly active first thing in the morning and early evening.

Of course I could cut down the tree, it's poisonous anyway, but I'm not sure I want to go that far (and it's fairly large).

[Kame]

Things that make noises, like wind chimes, or move in the wind and sparkle, like foiled helium balloons will scare them away hopefully but those berries maybe too tempting.

Theres a spray, which isnt harmful to animals or the environment which if you sprayed it over the tree, it'd make the berries taste awful to them that those ones will never return. I can't remember what it is, but was some type of food flavouring spray.

Cheers,

KK

[KarameaDave]

This may be worth a look

https://store.nzfarmsource.co.nz/cat...el-300g/205268

[kenj]

I had a beautiful Canadian Maple that I planted too near the house and after a few years it grew big and filled my gutters with magnificently coloured leaves that I had to clean out. Fortunately my son is very practical so when I spoke to him he came round with his chainsaw and, in the words of a famous Kiwi..."knocked the bastard off" I loved that tree, but never missed it

Ken

[CliveM]

A shotgun would do the trick

[Zippity]

Get a cat

[gary67]

Get a cat

This or move out for a month each year

[pctek]

Things that make noises, like wind chimes, or move in the wind and sparkle, like foiled helium balloons will NOT scare them away. Birds are fairly smart, some more than others.
They learn very quickly these things are harmless.

Sadly you have 2 choices. Remove the roof or remove the tree.

We have mynahs. They nest (if a large untidy pile of actual rubbish can be called a nest) in our roof.
And hassle one of the cats. And come inside the house after her.
And make a hell of a mess.
And bully the other birds.

We tried a slingshot. Worked for a short time. Then it would just duck.
Tried an air rifle.
That was very effective. But the birds didn't learn from each other and a new set would move in.

16 birds later, we block the roof gap access with tinfoil.
That worked.

But your birds are just sitting there eating right? So you can't cover your entire roof with something, birds can sit on most things anyway...so I'd say the only solution is to remove the food.

[Zippity]

Things that make noises, like wind chimes, or move in the wind and sparkle, like foiled helium balloons will NOT scare them away. Birds are fairly smart, some more than others.
They learn very quickly these things are harmless.

Sadly you have 2 choices. Remove the roof or remove the tree.

We have mynahs. They nest (if a large untidy pile of actual rubbish can be called a nest) in our roof.
And hassle one of the cats. And come inside the house after her.
And make a hell of a mess.
And bully the other birds.

We tried a slingshot. Worked for a short time. Then it would just duck.
Tried an air rifle.
That was very effective. But the birds didn't learn from each other and a new set would move in.

16 birds later, we block the roof gap access with tinfoil.
That worked.

But your birds are just sitting there eating right? So you can't cover your entire roof with something, birds can sit on most things anyway...so I'd say the only solution is to remove the food.

"Remove the roof"??

That's a bit drastic, no??

[dugimodo]

Well thanks guys, food for thought. The Nylon has proved semi effective and this morning I get to see the birds on the ground and my driveway for a change with only an occasional one up on the roof. Seems they are mostly Mynahs and another bird about the same size I don't know the name of, they don't seemed concerned about each other though just stay about a foot apart. It was interesting to see them because I've never been able to catch sight of them on the roof or in the tree, just heard them there.

I've done my time with cats, won't be doing that again. In any case the neighbour has a few and they have been leaving a trail of dead birds around my property for months with no effect on the roof issue. Funny thing, this has been going on for years and only this week have I realised the seeds all over the place are coming from my own tree.