[Bird Control] for the Birds

Published June 08, 2004

Most people look kindly at birds. They don’t want pest control professionals to kill them, even if birds are pests. That’s the contention of Pete Markham, corporate pest control specialist for Eli Lilly Pharmaceutical and president of A-Mark Bird Management with offices in Rockville, Ind., and Baytown, Texas. His company works nationally and specializes in bird relocation, structural modifications, and testing and development of new bird control products for the pharmaceutical, food and energy industries.

Markham spoke at the National Pest Management Association’s 2003 convention in Dallas, and offered a number of general bird management strategies to pest management professionals.

"When it comes to bird control, relocation can have several meanings," he said. "It can mean building and placing nets or spikes to keep birds out. Or relocating them to a higher ground," he says. "But bird control is a sensitive thing. If you use an avicide on pigeons, for example, and they start dropping dead in the local fast food establishment parking lot, you’ll make the front page. I guarantee you don’t want that to happen. So bird control, when it’s done in areas where people work or live, is tricky.

"It doesn’t take a massive amount of birds to create a problem," he said. "Even two birds can do a lot of damage if, for example, they contaminate a food preparation area. Droppings from just a few pigeons can cause a lot of problems."

BIRD CONTROL CASE STUDIES. Markham related several instances where his company was called in to control birds that were infecting the people in the area with certain diseases.

One situation Markham discussed was when his company encountered 40 pigeons living in the attic of a manufacturing plant and the company had one worker come down with cryptococcus (a disease affecting the brain). At another location, a courthouse, pigeons caused 11 cases of hystoplasmosis that occurred within a year. Two individuals died.

What do you do in cases like these? "First, remove the birds and clean up their droppings," Markham advises. "If droppings are allowed to accumulate over a couple of years, they begin to grow yeast spores, which cause histoplasmosis. Be sure you have power washing equipment and employees who are willing to work in high places. We usually spray with different products to sterilize droppings. But we make sure those droppings are saturated because you can contract the disease."

Markham maintains that bird control doesn’t have to be difficult. "But you must come in and solve the problem. Choosing the right equipment is important," he explains. "Strip doors work very well in keeping pigeons and starlings out, but I’ve seen pigeons sitting at the bottom of the strips waiting for a forklift truck to go through. They’ll follow them under the moving strips and into the building." To prevent that, he suggests installing strip doors with weights on the bottom. "Make sure you’ve got enough coverage and overlap, so the birds can’t fly in," he said.

"Plastic spikes are good products, but you have to use them according to the special needs of the job. First, observe what’s going on around the building in question. At a bank where pigeons were a problem, I put spikes up. But a different type of bird thought that was a good place to build a nest. When you’re doing a spike job, you need to pick a spike with repellents that will work for your special circumstances. Take time to assess the bird species around the area.

"And be careful in how you install those spikes. I know of a company — now out of business — that was paid $58,000 to install spikes on a building. Unfortunately, they used Liquid Nails that didn’t adhere to the building. You’ve got to be sure your product will adhere and that it will work. Test it before you use it. A good rule of thumb is, if it’s inexpensive it will usually cost you more in the long run."

At another job — a corporate facility — his company found about 500,000 starlings roosting in an arbor.

"We actually netted and enclosed a whole arbor, using airline cable and hog rings," Markham said. "It was a big job. But you can do it if you’ve got enough people who are trained to work high above the ground. And you’ve got to make sure you have the proper safety equipment. Be sure when you warranty your work that you don’t include problems caused by nature, such as ice."

Barns, stables and machinery sheds can be good opportunities for bird control business, he said. These buildings always have insulation on their roofs and starlings tend to go in and tear holes in that insulation. "We had a customer with a new $250,000 building at a college. The starlings were tearing out the insulation like it was grain. You can take regular ¼-inch cloth and install that cloth underneath the insulation and it will prevent the starlings from tearing it out. That worked very well for us. You can sell that as a service that you’ll provide your customers," he suggested.

Markham said that pigeons, starlings and sparrows aren’t the only pest birds to deal with. He cited vultures, geese and ducks as problem birds, too. "Learn all you can about all species of birds," he advised.

"The geese population in this country has tripled. Trapping them is going to be bigger and bigger business. Every company facility with a pond on their property is vulnerable to a problem. In some states, like Indiana, you can get permits from local governments to relocate the geese. The government tells you where to take them after you capture them."

He said there are good profit margins on geese jobs, but cautioned that the right equipment — cages, boats, etc. — is necessary. "Geese molt two weeks a year — at the end of July — and therefore can’t fly. That’s when you can actually relocate massive amounts successfully. But you need adequate amounts of people and equipment to do so.

"When you capture them, you’ve got to actually get inside the traps and keep them separated. Otherwise they crowd together and smother each other," he said.

The photos that accompany this story are courtesy of Bird Barrier.

The author is a freelance writer from Milwaukee, Wis. He can be reached via e-mail at jfox@pctonline.com.

For More Information

Avitrol Corp.
www.avitrol.com

Bird-B-Gone
www.birdbgone.com

Bird Barrier America
www.birdbarrier.com

Bird-X
www.bird-x.com

Cat Claw
www.catclaw.com

D&S Specialty Products
www.flybye.com

Dr. T’s
www.animalrepellents.com

Hot Foot America
www.hotfoot.com

JT Eaton
www.jteaton.com