I personally think that part of the beauty of having a deck or a balcony is the birds that come and perch there. As many have said, simply hose it down from time to time

Classic Ironworks | Design and Build

On Sun, 31 May 2015 12:34:32 +0200, Angela Dean
wrote:


Brooklyn1;1014122 Wrote:
Gus Overton wrote:-

Anyone have ideas on how to keep birds off a deck? I had the deck
recently stained and repaired and almost every day there are 2-3
bird poop on the top railings. Mourning doves seem to be the worst
about doing this... And the other day, I noticed one of the top top
posts was gnawed a bit. Which the squirrel has done in the past.
Anyone else have these problems, and what do you do? I wash off the
bird poop since that can't be good for the wood, and is unsightly.-

Bird poop won't harm a wood deck, and easily washes away, rain/hose...
unsightly, don't look.

I personally think that part of the beauty of having a deck or a balcony
is the birds that come and perch there. As many have said, simply hose
it down from time to time

I enjoy birds on my deck, they are gorgeous... I never even think
negatively about critters pooping, it's all free fertilizer. I think
those who complain about critters pooping would be much happier
spending their life in a concrete prison cell, hoping they don't need
to wait long to die.

Once upon a time on usenet songbird wrote:
Dan Espen wrote:
...
The purpose of the mono-filament would be to get in the way of
the perfect perch that a railing provides. The birds can't
perch on it or the railing.

i dunno how well it would work, but it was an idea.
probably would need to be replaced once in a while, but
still cheaper than other options. another thing to do
could be to put dowels out from the railing to give
them a perch where they could poop into the grass away
from the deck. more work and expense than fishing line
but at least then you can still see them.

we have a few species that try to perch above my
patio door, which i discourage by pounding on the
wall to startle them away. sometimes they try to
build a nest up there too. i have chunks of wood to
put up there when that happens and they go away.
dunno why the builder didn't fill in that space to
begin with. a flat sill like that is just asking
for bird nesting.

i don't want to discourage the birds completely as
some of them come around and check the eves for hornets/
wasps or spiders and they are fun to watch as they perch
on the roof and look around.

I used plain old string similarly tied tightly just above the top rail of my
black / boysenberry framing to stop birds perching there and it worked a
charm. Mind you that is thin timber - maybe with railings the birds might
still have room to perch to one side of the line?
--
Shaun.

"Humans will have advanced a long, long, way when religious belief has a
cozy little classification in the DSM*."
David Melville (in r.a.s.f1)
(*Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders)

On 5/28/2015 9:32 AM, Gus Overton wrote:
Hello,

Anyone have ideas on how to keep birds off a deck? I had the deck recently stained and repaired and almost every day there are 2-3 bird poop on the top railings. Mourning doves seem to be the worst about doing this... And the other day, I noticed one of the top top posts was gnawed a bit. Which the squirrel has done in the past. Anyone else have these problems, and what do you do? I wash off the bird poop since that can't be good for the wood, and is unsightly.


A wire or nylon fishing line running along and above the railing will
probably keep them from perching there - string it about 2" above. I
have also seen grids of about 4-6" squares made from nylon fishing line
to keep birds out. A flower box might be a good alternative; I have
seen doves nesting in flower boxes (and on the light outside my front
door ) ).

Brooklyn1 wrote:
Gus Overton wrote:

Hello,

Anyone have ideas on how to keep birds off a deck?

Pussy!

I had the deck recently stained and repaired and almost
every day there are 2-3 bird poop on the top railings.
Mourning doves seem to be the worst about doing this...
And the other day, I noticed one of the top posts
was gnawed a bit. Which the squirrel has done in the
past. Anyone else have these problems, and what do
you do? I wash off the bird poop since that can't be
good for the wood, and is unsightly.

No birds, no sqirrels... guaranteed!
http://i59.tinypic.com/2q3tzr5.jpg
http://i62.tinypic.com/1zpislz.jpg
http://i62.tinypic.com/htih5c.jpg
No moles, no voles, not even a mouse:
http://i58.tinypic.com/29vbclw.jpg
No more birds in my barn pooping on my tractor:
http://i62.tinypic.com/e8s7l5.jpg
http://i57.tinypic.com/30dbdl4.jpg

Now if only there was a solution to the cat poop in the spinach.