What should I do about birds in my chimney?

No matter where you live birds seem to be everywhere. For the most part, you are quite likely to ignore their presence. As long as they are not making too much racket when you are trying to sleep or they are not attempting to get into your home or attacking your pet, then you can handle a little bit of chirping and bird matter that may appear around your home. They may be a little bothersome at times, but nothing that you can't handle.

When they become a problem is when they are trying to invade upon the natural tranquility that your home is supposed to provide. Your home is supposed to be your Castle, your refuge from the rest of the world, but that becomes shattered when birds are doing things that can infringe upon that peaceful domain. 

One of these instances is when a bird or birds have set up their home within your chimney. The reason that birds choose a chimney makes perfect sense. First of all, for six or seven months out of the year most people don't use their chimney at all. It's warm enough so that they are not in need of creating a fire. This gives the bird or birds a lot of isolation from the rest of the world.

In addition, since there is really only one access point into the chimney, if you don't open up the flume to your home, this means that they have a safe and secure place that is well protected from most of the world around them.

It's abundantly clear why birds would choose to make a home inside your chimney. However, that does not mean you actually want them there. You want them out of this location, especially as winter is approaching and so getting them to go away becomes a significant priority.

Before talking about what you can do to try to get the birds to go away, let's talk about what you should not do. Too often, someone comes up with a brilliant idea of starting a fire in the fireplace and then opening up the flume. This is really one of the least intelligent ideas that anyone has ever come up with. The potential to unleash these birds in your home, with some of them even catching on fire, is a disaster you simply do not want to occur. This should never be an option for you whatsoever.

The first thing to consider is that it is quite likely that the reason that the bird has set up a nest in your chimney is because it is the ideal location for the mother bird to lay her eggs and then care for them and tell they hatch and the baby birds are ready to go off on their own. If this is a simple matter of a mother just needing a location for her young to mature then you have no real concern. When the babies get all the enough to fly out on their own then they will simply leave. The mother will follow shortly after them and all of them will be gone. Then all you are left with is the need to clean your chimney. All that you need to do in this case is to simply the patient.

There is also the situation where as it begins to get colder the birds will migrate to a warmer climate. If you are living in a cooler are colder climates where the winters can be rather severe then you can be sure that your bird problem may resolve itself through normal migratory processes. You may wish to use your fireplace earlier, but waiting a few extra weeks may resolve your problem for you. If you can be patient this may be the time to do so.

Of course, if you find that the birds are unwilling to go on their own then it becomes a different story altogether. You will have to take some steps to get them to leave. Again, fire is not an option.

A simple solution could be to hire a professional to come out and remove the birds for you. You can be sure that your local animal control agents will not handle this, but there are professional services that do provide service in the removal of birds from your chimney.

If you cannot afford this option then there are some alternatives for you. The best of these is to simply try to scare the birds out of the chimney area. This is most often done by creating a ruckus in the fireplace below the chimney area. If you set a couple of loudspeakers near the fireplace and blast the sound up towards the flume this should scare the birds and off to get them to leave.

The most common reason why this would not work is because the birds nest is not in the lowest part of the chimney. If that is the case then your problem may be easier to solve then you know. If you go onto the roof with a chimney sweep you can sweep out the nest thus getting the birds to leave. Before doing so it is important to make sure that you cover your skin, and protect your eyes and respiratory system by wearing goggles and a mask. Birds carry a great many diseases that you do not want to risk your health. They also may attack you if you are attempting to destroy their nest. Covering yourself protects you from this situation.



Also read our other bird tip: Will a plastic owl scare a pigeon?