Last spring, the Skedaddle Humane Wildlife Control team experienced something that many of our customers face. Birds had found their way into our office bathroom’s fan vent and nested inside the building. We didn’t follow our own advice for protecting vents and ended up with an infestation of birds and bird mites. Here are some lessons we learned about how to remove a bird nest from a vent.

How To a Remove Bird Nest From a Vent on Your Property

If you think you have birds nesting in or around your home, you need to contact a professional right away. Birds can cause thousands of dollars of damage to a property, and their droppings can become toxic to the people living and working inside. According to the International Association of Certified Home Inspectors, some other problems with birds in your building include fire hazards, noise, the potential for disease spread and equipment damage.

How and Why Birds Nest in Vents

Many bird species choose to make their nests in protected areas, such as inside tree cavities or holes within rock faces. As more forest becomes housing, birds have adapted to look for new sources of shelter. Vents on the roof or on the side of a building are the perfect hiding spot away from the elements and predators. Vents that are high up and close to trees are tempting for birds. They can easily squeeze in through the flaps and find a way inside and build a bird nest in the vent.

Signs You Have a Problem

Usually, there are subtle clues that birds are nesting in your vents. If it’s a dryer vent, you may notice a dip in dryer effectiveness. You may also hear chirping or rustling noises in the ceiling or walls. Birds often leave droppings or other debris outside of the vent opening as another sign.

Preventing Birds From Getting Inside

Homeowners need to work with contractors and companies like Skedaddle to create a prevention plan to keep birds away. First, your technician should trim away any tree branches or limbs that are close to your home. Consider adding vent covers to your home’s exterior that keep birds out.

Bird Removal Strategies

If you notice a bird’s nest in your home, don’t try to teach yourself how to get rid of a bird nest. Bird removal requires a professional team, protective gear, knowledge and experience in the field. Skedaddle Humane Wildlife Control can identify the type of bird that is causing the problem and use safe and humane techniques to relocate or remove them.

The Experts for How To Remove Bird Nests From Vents

Our priority is keeping our customers safe and their properties secure from the wildlife in our region. Nesting birds like to return to familiar areas year after year. It’s important for you and your family to have a dedicated preventative plan from Skedaddle Humane Wildlife Control to keep birds from returning to your vents once we have removed them.

Removing birds starts with understanding them. We begin the process of removal with a comprehensive inspection of your property. We look for clues that birds are present and determine the exact location of the infestation. 

Once we confirm that birds are nesting on your property, we can then focus on species identification. We use our extensive knowledge of wildlife in the area to make a positive identification of the type of bird that may be giving you and your family problems. The most common species of birds that may nest in vents in homes are house sparrows and starlings.

Effective Plan of Action

After pinpointing the location of the problem and determining the bird species in your home, our technicians and other staff members come up with a plan to remove the birds from your home safely. We work with homeowners to create a solution for birds nesting in vents. We use the details of your home, your lifestyle and other information about the specific bird to devise a plan that works.

Vents for residential homes and commercial buildings are often located on the roof. When it’s time to remove a nest of birds, our technicians have the training and knowledge required to safely go up on the roof and clear away wildlife. This is something that could be dangerous to attempt by the average homeowner, so it’s best to use a pro for bird nest removal.

Cleanup Strategies for the Aftermath

Your wildlife problems don’t end with the removal of the animals and their nests. The next step we use in our process is clean-up. Birds can leave behind toxic droppings, urine, debris and nesting materials. Our team can clear and clean the area of your vent to prevent further damage and disease spread to your home and its occupants.

Next, we make recommendations for other services your home may need to get back to its state before birds moved in. This may include insulation replacement, siding repair, roof repair or other fixes. If the infestation was long-term and caused significant damage, there could be a long list of repairs that are needed to make your home safe and secure again.

Keep Birds Away for Good

The last step in the process is to look for vulnerabilities in your home that could lead to future issues with birds in your vents. We work with homeowners to devise a plan that protects your home and prevents new infestations. We use a combination of deterrents and simple home modifications to your roof and exterior to keep birds away.

Contact our team today for more information about keeping birds away from your home. We can come out and inspect your property to help with a solution for how to remove a bird nest from a vent.