How do you keep swallows out of your boat lift?

[Gus]

It never fails. Every year the swallows make a nest in the corner of the boat lift and make a mess out of the boat. I've tried removing the nest every chance I get, but they always rebuild while I'm gone. Last year I tried hanging a owl decoy and that worked for about a day. Then they came back and made a mess again. Anyone have a solution?

[Guest]

You could try putting moth balls in panty hose,like 10 balls to a foot and tie the foot closed and hang up.In the town I live in,the city did this to keep the birds out of the trees on main street,they were leaving a mess on the parked cars,it worked.Put more than one or two around under the canopy,and that should do the trick.Wife or girlfriend must have some hose with runs in them,seems like they always need a new pair.

[Valv]

That's a good idea, I wish I can do same for my pole barn.

Yeah, the plastic owl is a joke....I think they laugh at it when they fly inside my barn.

[Feldy]

Here's a tip I learned for birds. If they like going into buildings that is. Hang a insulated wire that will hold form that looks like a snake hanging. Just coil it up and stretch it out a little then hang them all over the lift. Let me know if this works.

[Valv]

I'll give it a try..

Heck, cannot be worse than the Owl....

[Gissert]

There is a product called Tanglefoot that works well. It it pretty sticky, and they hate getting their feet and feathers in it.

[New Yankee]

Never tried it but I've heard hanging old CD's by mono line around the area works if there is sunlight to make them flash a bit. I looked on the web and see they also sell balloons with a big eye on them that look scary to me

[Valv]

NY that was funny LOL......I am still laughing, very hard. I can see my 160ft long pole barn with dozens of 1 eyed balloons hanging from ceiling... nobody will EVER come back to buy parts from me.....

[New Yankee]

Valv - I'm thinking about getting one for the garage just as a conversation piece!

Don't disagree that your customers might find the sight a bit disturbing

[IFallsRon]

I've seen dowels placed at the corners with streamers like those on a pon pom. They whip around in the wind and don't take a beating from rain.

[Surface Tension]

Being a roofer in Duluth's west end at one time. Those 12/12 pitched roofs with dormers that pigeons love to do what ever they do in had less pigeon doo-doo then the ones without the snakes. Of coarse the first snake I saw nailed under a dormer seemed weird at the time.

If nothing else the snakes will keep your owl company.

[Dave]

As the same with CD's and pom-poms, try hanging tinfoil under the canopy. I guess the 'flash' keeps 'em out.

[Powerstroke]

I prefer lead poisoning. Get a pellet gun

[JoeTC]

I had this problem last year and so I hung some tin foil down in each corner and it seemed to work. I also strung line back and forth under the canopy so they would run into it if they tried flying around underneath. This worked for the sparrows but my real problem is trying to keep the seagulls off the top of the canopy. Any suggestions for that? We have an owl next to it but that doesn't seem to work.