Birds and the Conservatory

[Don]

So. I've had to get a bird out of the conservatory twice in the last two days - not good. This morning a delightful little chap (sparrow) flew into the windows that my wife had opened wide to air the room and, of course, couldn't get out. He proceeded to zoom around the interior at full pelt smashing into the glass until he brained himself and flopped to the floor.

At this point I was able to intervene, pick him up, and put him outside. Took him ten minutes or more to recover but recover he did and off he went. Happy ending for those currently worried and going "awwwww".

As an ongoing method, though, the whole waiting for them to brain themselves and putting them back out is somewhat flawed. For a start there's the risk of poo on the oak floor, damage to ornaments and, not least, the distress the poor little buggers suffer.

So I'm thinking - what's the best method of discouraging them from flying in through the open windows? Mesh? Anyone needed to solve this problem?

[cobra kid]

Oak and ornaments?

[The Moose]

Do you really wanna mesh up all your windows?? Do you even think that would work with the catches etc??

I don't know what you can do really - we have the conservatory doors open basically all the time at the moment and we don't seem to have this issue (and there are a lot of them around here!).

The only thing I could possibly suggest would be to keep a bird table away from the conservatory and they head to there??

I'm guessing something is attracting them in through the windows - you just need to identify what and remove it/change it i.e. moving the food source if they think there is food in there??

Cheers

The Moose

[Don]

cobra kid said:

Oak and ornaments?

Oak floor tiles. A couple of statuettes on the window sills. My wife likes ornaments. You didn't they were mine, did you?

Anyway. The birds. Sure fire methods for discouraging them from coming into the house whilst not actually doing them any harm?

(And no. I will not nuke the little blighters from orbit or anything similar.)

[s4avant]

The best thing is not to panic the bird.
If there are plenty windows open, leave the bird to quietly find its own way out.

[FTJoe]

Keep some kind of bear in your conservatory. Doesn't matter which species as the birds will avoid any of them given the chance so simply get the largest one you can realistically keep in there. I gather sloth bears make a good "first bear" instead of going straight to the polar or grizzly.

[Don]

The Moose said:

Do you really wanna mesh up all your windows?? Do you even think that would work with the catches etc??

I don't know what you can do really - we have the conservatory doors open basically all the time at the moment and we don't seem to have this issue (and there are a lot of them around here!).

The only thing I could possibly suggest would be to keep a bird table away from the conservatory and they head to there??

I'm guessing something is attracting them in through the windows - you just need to identify what and remove it/change it i.e. moving the food source if they think there is food in there??

Cheers

The Moose

Good thought, that. I wonder what could be attracting them in. We don't leave food in there. We already have a bird feeder well away from the Conservatory to attract them to another part of the garden.

[Don]

FTJoe said:

Keep some kind of bear in your conservatory. Doesn't matter which species as the birds will avoid any of them given the chance so simply get the largest one you can realistically keep in there. I gather sloth bears make a good "first bear" instead of going straight to the polar or grizzly.

[Gold]

Don said:

cobra kid said:

Oak and ornaments?

My wife likes ornaments. You didn't they were mine, did you?

HTH

[SystemParanoia]

[Don]

Gold said:

Don said:

cobra kid said:

Oak and ornaments?

My wife likes ornaments. You didn't think they were mine, did you?

HTH

Ahhh. The Wing'd Horse of Chav Tat. Awesome. I must show this to the wife. Sadly I expect it will not dissuade her.

[Daisy Duke]

You could try putting silhouettes of a bird of prey on a couple of your windows, it seems to work for friends with a similar problem. I haven't tried it personally as we have a bird feeder close to our French doors, so we just have to put up with the occasional incursion (for some reason they seem to be attracted to sitting on the pool table). However we might have to do something similar as MOH was most fed up yesterday when one of the little buggers crapped in his shoe!

[Parrot of Doom]

The birds are after something. Look around you, it should become obvious what it is.

You might also consider installing a bird table, so they go for that goodies on that, too.

[FTJoe]

Parrot of Doom said:

The birds are after something. Look around you, it should become obvious what it is.

Have you got a tv in the room, wii or perhaps a stereo? Any of those could be the target

[johnnywgk]

if you put blinds up that should stop them comming in.
if they come through the door, close the blinds, and they will go for the light of the doorway. same if you have a wasp in your room, close blinds/curtains but leave them open where you have a open window
hth

[Hoppy2008]

Years ago my mate went out for the day.
When he came back he went into his bedroom and said he saw what looked like something out of a horror film. Blood and st everywhere.
It took him ages to figure out abird had flown in through his window, gone mental, and smashed itself to pieces.
He found the dead bird behind his TV.

[ali_kat]

Beaded curtains over the door

[Simpo Two]

Why wait until it's stunned? Just open the door and usher it out by flapping a towel.

[robinhood21]

Parrot of Doom said:

The birds are after something. Look around you, it should become obvious what it is.

Did you have your PC in there with Twitter open?

[texasjohn]

robinhood21 said:

Parrot of Doom said:

The birds are after something. Look around you, it should become obvious what it is.

Did you have your PC in there with Twitter open?

Badum tish

I dont know whether to laugh or cry at that.