5 Ways To Keep Birds Out of Soffit

Waking up to birds singing in the morning can be so rejuvenating. It’s nice to have them around as long as they’re not wreaking havoc in your soffit.

To prevent that from happening, you need to keep birds out of the soffit area of your property.

Birds flying around your home and garden may seem lovely, but if they make a permanent nest in your soffit, it can lead to many problems. Let’s find out why birds can be nuisances and what steps can ensure that they don’t feel at home in the underside of your eaves.

Why Prevent Birds From Nesting in the Soffit

Birds are a crucial part of the natural ecosystem, but sometimes they need to be kept at a distance.

Even though they’re acting upon their survival instinct, it can lead to some major property damage and health hazards.

Here are some reasons why birds should not be allowed to nest in soffits:

1. Bird Poop

When birds inhabit your soffit area, they won’t just poop and mess in that spot.

Every time they fly in and out, they’ll be sky bombing their droppings all over your property.

What if it lands on your head or clothes? Not a pretty sight!

2. A Lot of Mess

Besides the poop, birds will be laying eggs and bringing all sorts of edibles to feed their young.

This will create even more mess as the younglings poop and spread the food all over the place.

All this leftover gunk will attract more pests and germs to come to you and become permanent residents of your house.

3. Damage to Property

Building on the bird poop and the mess they make, bird droppings, feathers, and nest debris extensively damage buildings.

The acidic nature of the excrement eats through the construction material, allowing the germs and bacteria to spread into the property’s ventilation and plumbing system.

Also, the nest debris can clog up the ventilation and drainage systems, leading to more repair expenses.

4. Health Hazard

The biggest reason to keep birds from nesting in the soffit is the potential health hazard they pose to humans and pets due to the reasons mentioned above.

Damaging the property is one thing, but if it leads to you or your loved ones getting sick, that is something you need to take seriously.

5 Ways To Deter Birds From the Soffit

Before the birds can cause any issues, here are 5 ways to hinder their visit to your soffit:

1. Placing Predator Decoys

Birds are scared of big predators like large owls, eagles, and cats.

You can’t get real animals to act as a deterrent, but birds aren’t that smart and can get scared easily.

So, get some large-sized and scary-looking natural bird predators with big staring eyes.

Place the decoys at strategic entry points of the soffit to scare off the birds.

2. Using Audio Bird Repellers

Placing an audio deterrent in the soffit next to a visual one will add to the scare factor.

The birds will be sent flying away due to the large predator making high-frequency sounds.

You can get bird-repelling devices specifically made for this purpose.

3. Laying Down Bird Spikes

Okay, these aren’t sharp spikes that would impale the birds or anything. In fact, these spikes are made in a way that doesn’t allow the birds to land on an even footing.

The difficulty of moving around the spikes will prevent the birds from thinking of your soffit as an ideal living space.

These comb-like strips are harmless and a humane way to tell your flying friends to find another spot for nesting.

4. Installing Motion Sensor Lights

Birds like to nest in safe, hidden, and somewhat dark places. This makes the soffit the perfect area to keep their eggs and nestlings.

So, light up the soffit by installing motion sensor lights. This way, when a bird comes close and within range of the sensor in the soffit, it will scare off the bird with the sudden dancing of the lights.

5. Blocking the Soffit With Wire Mesh

This may be an arduous and a bit costly measure, but if all things fail, this is the best way to keep birds and other pests from inhabiting your soffit.

By installing high-quality and sturdy mesh in the underside of your property’s eaves, you will block off all entry points for the birds.

Conclusion

Most domestic birds are protected under state and federal laws, so make sure you don’t do anything that would harm or kill them.

By following these preventive measures, you can keep the birds out of the soffit in a humane manner:

1. Placing predator decoys
2. Using audio bird repellers
3. Laying down bird spikes
4. Installing motion sensor lights
5. Blocking the soffit with wire mesh

Remember, if for any reason, you’re not able to perform any of these ways to deter birds, you can always get in touch with your local bird’s nest removal professional.