[Special Supplement: Bird Control Guide] Steps to Keeping Birds Out Of Facilities

Editor's note: The information here was excerpted from materials by Copesan. Copesan’s Internet training program, Copesan University, is now available to the entire pest management industry. Click on the Copesan University logo at www.pctonline.com for available courses.

When they’re enjoying the colors of the trees in autumn, birds probably help to make your customers’ nature walks more enjoyable. Yet, like other wildlife, birds can become pests when they find their way into food manufacturing plants and other facilities where they can cause damage, contamination and transmit disease.

The most common pest birds — pigeons, European starlings, English (house) sparrows, and the Canada goose — can cause a wide range of problems for pest management professionals and facility managers, including:

• Fire hazards. Nesting can create fire hazards when nesting material is next to wiring, causing extensive damage to structures, roofs, eaves and machinery.
• Safety concerns. Birds that frequent airport and military base runways sometimes get sucked into jet engine intakes, which may force an aircraft down.
• Contamination. Bird droppings and feathers can contaminate human and pet food supplies at all stages of processing and packaging at food-manufacturing plants and storage facilities.
• Property damage. Bird droppings often deface property by creating unsightly stains that are difficult to remove from building surfaces.
• Health threat. Accumulations of bird droppings in buildings and on soil pose a health threat to humans when they become a growth medium for the air-borne pathogens Histoplasma capsulatum fungi (which results in histoplasmosis — an incurable disease) and Chlamydiophila psittaci bacteria (which results in ornithosis, also known as psittasosis).
• Disease transmission. Birds host parasites and insect pests that can bite humans. For example, pigeons carry a variety of disease organisms, including toxoplasmosis, encephalitis and Salmonella typhimurium.

WHY BIRDS TAKE ROOST. Buildings have structural features that provide the physical requirements sought after by several bird species, which include:

• A secure place to rest with a commanding view of the ground and surroundings.
• Recesses and cavities in which to nest that offer protection from the elements.
• In many cases, access to an abundant food supply.

BIRD PREVENTION STEPS. What steps should facilities take to keep birds out?

• Close all doors and access points when not in use.
• Repair or cover structural features and flaws conducive to roosting, nesting and entry, such as construction gaps, vents and piping.
• Conduct daily clean up of cereal, grain, seed and other food spills that attract birds into and around food-processing plants.

Additionally, pest management professionals can render exterior structural features unsuitable for bird loafing, roosting, staging and nesting by:

• Strategically anchoring sheets of bird netting.
• Using bird spikes to prevent roosting in retail signs and other areas.
• Installing closely spaced arrays of stretched or coiled wire.
• Mounting devices that deliver a mild electric shock upon contact.
• Applying polybutene sticky repellents on roofs and building edges (caution must be exercised to avoid creating an unsightly mess on building surfaces and disabling birds in public settings while using these materials).
• Using chemical repellents based on optical and taste properties.
• Installing motion- or sound-based intimidation devices (note: Devices that repetitively emit amplified distress vocalizations/calls of nuisance birds can be more annoying to people than to the target birds. Additionally, the longer sound devices are used, the greater chance for birds to become acclimated with them and start to ignore them.).

WHEN BIRDS FLY IN. Depending on third-party auditor criteria and local regulations, birds already within buildings can be removed by using:

• Live-netting systems
• Trapping with nest box traps
• Shooting, where applicable, by a marksman
• Structural or chemical repellents

The authors are technical director, Pro-Guard Commercial Pest Solutions, Columbus, Ohio, and technical director, Gregory Pest Prevention, Greenville, S.C., respectively.