In this article, I’ll be giving you tips on how to keep birds off porch railings, patio decks, & apartment balcony.

As much as we love birds, they could become a real pain in the neck when they start pooping all over our properties.

Keeping Birds Away From Gardens & Homes

If you don’t like the idea of having too many birds flocking around the above-mentioned areas in your home, then keep reading.

Why You Want To Keep Birds Away

There are several reasons why you would want to keep birds away and they include the following –

  • They can mess these areas up with their droppings
  • They can become noisy, especially when they are many
  • They can begin to nest in these areas and cause damages to your structure

Luckily for us, there are many means by which we can keep birds away from these areas. Each of the tips I will provide below is harmless and will not lead to the death or injury of the birds.

Home Remedies To Keep Birds Away

Follow these tips.

Use Bird Spikes

If birds are fond of landing and pooping around problematic areas in your home, then you can deter them from coming any closer by installing bird spikes.

Yeah I know, I said the tips I’ll provide on how to keep birds away will not harm them, trust me, the spikes won’t harm them. It will only make a landing, sitting, and pooping in those areas practically impossible.

A small pinch maybe, but that would be enough to make birds uncomfortable and to ensure the area is unsuitable for them to land.

There are different sizes of bird spikes in the market, all having different spaces in-between them. The type of bird spikes you buy would be determined by the size of birds that keep bothering you.

If you’re dealing with small birds, then you need to buy tiny bird spikes that are close to each other. In this case, large, spaced-out spikes will do you no good as a small bird can simply land in-between the spikes.

Keep Your Garden And Yard Free Of Debris And Bushes

Both crawling and flying insects can be found around thick, overgrown bushes and piles of junk. And guess what eats insects? Birds!

Having a hiding place for insects only means you are keeping a food source in your yard for birds.

On the other clearing out the debris and overgrown bushes means you are removing the food source, hence making your yard more unappealing to the unwanted birds.

Besides being a food source, overgrown bushes and branches are perfect nesting areas for birds, as they provide the much needed for the mother bird.

Keeping your trees well pruned will open up the spaces in the trees and they will be unsuitable for the birds to nest. Grass clippings also make good building materials for nests, so clearing them away will also help.

Use Scare Dummies

As gracious as birds are, they are also scared of larger birds or other predators, even if they aren’t real. Yes, one way to help keep birds off your front porch, balcony, or patio deck is by using scare dummies.

You can go to a nearby store and buy a large dummy owl or hawk. Place these “predators” by the area you are trying to keep birds from and let “fear” do the rest.

When the birds make their way to your spaces, they will pause, have a rethink, and turn away when they see the image of a giant owl or hawk standing by your balcony or roof.

I have to mention though, over a few days or maybe even a week, the birds will realize that the dummies don’t move and will become less scared of them. This will cause them to develop some confidence and fly towards your home.

There is a remedy to this though. You can move the position of the dummy predators every 2 days or so, just so the birds will believe that the house is truly being guarded by a predator.

You can also buy an electronic version which has a built-in motion sensor that picks up bird movement.

As the sensor picks up any bird movement around the balcony or roof, it can trigger the dummy’s head to swing from right to left or make an intimidating sound. This movement and sound will scare the birds away and they’ll be gone.

If you’re not interested in having dummy predators hanging along with your balcony, then you can use predator eye balloons. They are just balloons, but are brightly colored and have large eyes that are similar to that of a bird predator.

Due to their size, brightness, large intimidating eyes, and random wind movement, birds will be scared of coming close.

You can have a couple of predator eye balloons installed in the areas where you would want the pest birds to keep off.

Place Your Bird Feeder Elsewhere

A lot of times the birds that visit your balcony or front porch are there for the food. The big question is, where is your bird feeder placed?

If you want to keep birds away from a certain area of your house, then place the bird feeder in an area farther away.

For instance, if the birds that bother you are coming to your home strictly because of birdseed, and the bird feeder is hanging by the front balcony, then you can move the bird feeder from your front balcony to the side of the house or behind (that is if you want them away from your front balcony).

Use Repelling Electronic Sounds

There are commercially available electronic devices, designed to produce an almost silent sound that irritates birds and drives them away.

Some versions are automatically triggered when a bird flies within range, while others need to be manually or remotely turned on or off.

Most of these devices produce sounds that cannot be heard by humans, the ones that do cause no harm to the human ear, it just irritates the birds and they cannot continue to remain within range.

Install Reflective Panels

For some strange reason, birds do not like being faced with sunlight reflections, especially when the flashes of light keeps moving.

Using this knowledge, you can install a few reflective panels across your balcony, porch, patio, and any other area where you would want the birds to stay clear of.

It would be best if you install the reflective panels in a way they can dangle via wind power. This is because as the panels dangle, there would be moving flashes of reflected sunlight, which is scary for the birds.

A stationary panel can still reflect the sunlight, but a lack of movement will be less scary for the pest birds.

They are relatively inexpensive so you can buy as much as you need.

Use A Motion Sensor Water Sprinkler

There’s nothing that can scare a bird away faster than a sudden, unexpected movement or sound. In this case, it would be a motion sensor water sprinkler.

This is a brilliant device as far as getting rid of unwanted birds is concerned.

It works by detecting bird movement within a specified range and automatically shooting out water. Similar to the way birds take off when a gunshot is fired, they will fly off when hit by an unexpected burst of water.

Besides getting them wet, the water will not harm the birds, it will only scare them away. If they return, the sensor will pick up their movement and release water once again.

It wouldn’t take more than two experiences for the birds to realize they cannot perch in that area.

Do Wind Chimes Keep Birds Away?

The answer is yes and no.

Yes because most birds will take flight at the sound of an unexpected noise (like a gunshot). Wind Chimes produce such unappealing noises so they are great at scaring birds away from your yard, patio, porch, roof, and balcony.

On the other hand, over time, the birds may get used to the noise wind chimes produce and could grow in confidence the more times they visit your yard.

If this is the case, then using just the wind chimes alone may not be your best option in keeping birds away from your house. Combining it with the other mentioned tips here for bird repellant would be more effective.

Consult An Expert

If you’re unwilling to deal with those pestering birds yourself, then your best bet is to consult with experts on the most appropriate bird control options to use.

They will study your yard and home and figure out what attracts the birds to your property, then decide the next course of action.

Conclusion

No matter what you do, make sure you do not harm the birds while trying to keep them off your property.

I trust this article on how to keep birds away from porches, patio decks, and apartment balconies have been helpful.

Good luck!

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