Are Birds Nesting in Your Chimney? We Can Help!
Some people love the sounds of birds chirping in the spring; however, when you hear the sounds of birds coming from your chimney, you may feel the opposite emotion to love! Not many people enjoy listening to bird noises inside their homes, but if a family of birds have nested within your chimney, you will have to get used to it for a few months until they leave on their own to fly to their winter home. Since some birds like chimney swifts are protected by federal law under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act, it is illegal to remove nesting birds, according to Chimneys.com. When they do leave, they will leave their nests behind, which can be hazardous. Weststar Chimney Sweeps has 17 years of experience with dealing with birds in chimneys across the San Diego area, and we are proud to offer nest removal services. We can also give you some advice on sharing your home with a family of birds if one has nested in your chimney, and we can prevent these birds from coming back next year to move back into your home.
Why do birds nest in chimneys? What kinds of problems do they cause?
Birds like to take up residence in chimneys because so many trees have been cut down for development and construction reasons, and chimneys are the next best thing to trees for the shelter needed to build a nest. Not only can birds make loud and obnoxious noises at times, but they carry diseases, like histoplasmosis, which causes blindness. They also may become trapped and even die inside your chimney, which can be an unfortunate and smelly situation. Learning to live in a home with a family of birds for a few months can be difficult, but once your family is used to the birds, it really is not as bad as it seems at first. One of the biggest problems birds cause inside your chimney actually happens after they leave. When they fly away to their winter home, their nests will be left behind, and the nesting materials can lead to a couple of hazardous situations. The straw, leaves, sticks, and other debris used to build the nests are all very flammable and create the risk of a chimney fire. The nesting materials also block the flue, which forces the toxic gases from combustion, including carbon monoxide, back into your home. Weststar Chimney Sweeps can remove every bit of the nests that remain in your chimney once the birds have left and prevent these hazardous situations from occurring.
How can Weststar Chimney Sweeps prevent birds from getting back into my chimney next year?
Many birds will return to where they last nested, so if you have or have had a family of birds living in your chimney, you will definitely want to take action to keep them from coming back to share your home again. We recommend having a good-quality chimney cap professionally installed at the top of your chimney to prevent their return next year. You will need a cap that is equipped with mesh metal sides to keep them from entering the chimney when they come back to try to nest again. We are proud to offer a wide variety of these types of chimney caps and can help you select one for us to install on your chimney. The chimney cap will also keep water from rain from leaking into your chimney — it is an important part of your chimney!
Protect your chimney from birds getting inside to nest. Contact us at Weststar Chimney Sweeps if you are dealing with birds in your chimney as we can help.