Key Takeaways:
- Eliminate food attractants by immediately cleaning spills and using self-closing waste bins to ensure birds do not identify the facility as a reliable feeding ground.
- Seal entry points and gaps in the building exterior, including dock seals and door frames, to prevent birds from accessing warmth and nesting sites inside the facility.
- Remove outdoor storage like pallets and racks that provide birds with protected harborage and ideal environments for building nests.
- Report activity early to professional services to intervene before birds establish a territory or hatch a brood, which makes them much harder to remove.
- Three of the most common nuisance birds around facilities in Nashville are pigeons, European starlings, and house sparrows.
How Do You Prevent Birds Around Your Facility?
When birds see a facility like yours, they see a great place to nest and roost. They know that food production plants, distribution centers, and other types of processing facilities offer all the resources and amenities they need.
Fortunately, there are some simple ways you can prevent birds from gathering around your facility by making it less attractive to them. Let’s start with some actionable prevention tips, followed by the risks of having birds around, and some additional information on three of the most common nuisance birds that show up around facilities.
Tips to Prevent Birds Around the Exterior of the Facility
If you have a major bird infestation, we recommend calling for professional help as soon as possible. A commercial bird control expert will be able to reduce the issue so it’s manageable, then implement long-term prevention measures.
If you’re having occasional bird issues, these tips are an easy way to make your facility less attractive to them and minimize future issues.
1. Immediately clean up any spilled food around dumpsters, break areas, and waste receptacles.
Birds have incredibly sharp eyesight and are highly motivated by food. A single dropped cracker or a leaking trash bag acts as a beacon for “scout” birds.
If a scout finds a reliable food source, it may lead more birds to your facility. Cleaning spills immediately disrupts this process, so the area isn’t marked as a feeding ground.
2. Use waste receptacles with self-closing lids. Empty garbage frequently.
A self-closing lid ensures that the “human element” — forgetting to close a bin — doesn’t lead to a bird infestation. If a lid is left even partially open, birds like gulls and crows will enter and scatter trash, creating further sanitation issues.
3. Don’t racks and pallets outside; they provide harborage for birds.
The gaps provide a perfect environment for nesting because they offer protection from predators and wind.
4. Pest-proof all doors and other openings.
Pest-proofing involves inspecting the building exterior for any gaps larger than 1/2 inch and sealing them with durable materials that birds cannot peck through.
Birds are experts at finding areas where warm air escapes the building. They will use even the smallest gap in a door frame or a missing vent cover to enter a facility for warmth or nesting.
5. Check timing mechanisms on automatic doors. Make sure doors seal when they close.
These doors should close approximately 6 seconds after the person enters the building and clears the sensor. If a door lags or stays open too long, it creates an inviting path inside.
The seal is also critical; if the door doesn’t sit flush against the threshold, it leaves a gap that allows birds to hop inside.
6. Keep dock doors and personnel doors closed when not in use. Check bumper seals around dock doors and make sure there’s a good seal when a trailer is backed up to the door.
Open doors are the primary way birds enter warehouses and plants. Dock doors are particularly vulnerable because of their size.
Even when a trailer is present, gaps in the side bumpers or the top “header” seal can allow birds to enter. Ensuring these seals are tight against the trailer creates a continuous barrier that maintains the bird-free integrity of the interior.
7. Report any bird activity to your pest management provider.
Early reporting is the most cost-effective way to manage birds. Birds are highly territorial; once they successfully hatch a brood on your signage or dock, they are biologically driven to return to that spot every year.
Your pest management provider should know the ins and outs of bird management. Reporting activity immediately allows your provider to intervene with deterrents before the birds “imprint” on your facility as their home.
What Are the Risks of Having Birds Around Your Facility?
Birds are unsanitary, destructive, and noisy. And the more birds you have around your facility, the more likely it is that some of these birds will get inside your facility, bringing those risks even closer.
Whether inside or out, bird infestations pose the following risks:
- Health Hazards: They can spread diseases, such as salmonella, potentially contaminating food and food contact surfaces.
- Structural Damage: Their acidic droppings can corrode metal, leading to damage to structures.
- Property Loss: Birds can damage stored products and materials within facilities, necessitating their disposal.
- Safety Concerns: Droppings on sidewalks and other areas create unsightly conditions and slip hazards.
- Fire Risk: Nesting materials present a potential fire hazard.
Which Birds Are Most Common Around the Exterior of a Facility?
Birds of all types have been known to nest around food processing and other types of facilities, but there are three main pest bird species that are most common.
The most common pest birds are:
1. Pigeons
Signs of pigeons around your facility
| Droppings | Large, white, acidic accumulations (guano) on ledges, sidewalks, and under roosting spots. |
| Nests and nesting material | Flimsy, flat nests made of a few sticks, often held together by dried droppings. |
| Sounds | Near-constant, low-pitched “cooing” and the sound of heavy flapping/scraping on metal ductwork. |
2. European Starlings
Signs of European starlings around your facility
| Frequent entry/exit | Noticing birds disappear into small holes in siding, eaves, or vents. |
| Huge flocks | These are also known as “murmurations,” and they often appear to move in synch. They can easily overwhelm trees or rooflines around dusk, when they’re most active. |
| Nesting material | Large, messy “cup” nests stuffed into cavities, often made of grass, pine needles, and feathers. |
3. House Sparrow
Signs of house sparrows around your facility
| Hopping behavior | Sparrows have a distinctive “hop.” It’s how they get around on the ground rather than walking. |
| Nests in elevated corners | They love rafters, especially near heaters or lights for warmth. |
| Insulation damage | Sparrows like to peck and gather fiberglass or foam insulation to use as nesting material. |
What to Do If a Bird Enters the Facility
If you have a large bird population or persistent bird issues around your facility, professional help is warranted. Once birds become acclimated and find food, water, and shelter, they can be much more difficult to remove. And many birds are protected by state and federal laws, limiting the bird removal options you do have.
Call the commercial bird control experts in Nashville ASAP and let us know about the problem. Our experts will perform a thorough inspection of your facility, gain an understanding of the full scope of the problem, and create a custom bird management plan for your business.
Ready to get started with your complimentary inspection? Call us today.