Bird Deterrents
Four families of product, and how to tell which one your problem needs.
Most of the money wasted on bird control is spent on the wrong category rather than on a bad product. So before anything else, work out which of these three sentences describes your situation.
The decision, in three lines
- Birds are sitting ON something. A ledge, a sill, a gutter, a parapet, a fence rail, a sign. That is a spike strip problem.
- Birds are getting INTO something. A roof void, a soffit gap, the space under a solar array, or at a crop. That is a netting or mesh problem, and a spike does not close a hole.
- Birds are USING an open area. A yard, an orchard, a garden, a pontoon. That is a repellent or a powered unit, and none of them is a permanent unattended fix.
Spike strips
Stainless steel pins on a clear base at €5 per 50 cm, or a one piece moulded plastic strip at €7. Both are sold with no minimum and butt end to end for any run. They remove the footing and nothing else: nothing is repelled and nothing is hurt.
They suit pigeons, gulls, crows and similar. They do not stop sparrows or wrens, which settle between pins spaced for a pigeon, and our pages for those birds say so instead of taking the order.
Netting and mesh
A knitted 20 mm garden net in two sizes from €89, with the ties and stakes in the pack, for crops and open structures. And a fine PVC coated galvanised steel mesh kit at €99 with 70 clips, for closing the perimeter under a solar array, which is where a bird problem gets genuinely expensive.
Tension is the safety point with any net: a slack one entangles birds and hedgehogs, a taut one is a barrier they bounce off.
Non contact repellents
Repellent gel from €65 for the surfaces a strip will not sit on: a sill too narrow, a round pipe, carved stone nobody will let you drill. Reflective tape from €16 and hanging discs at €5 for open ground, both of which need wind, daylight and moving about. A decoy owl at €49 with a head that turns in the wind.
Powered units
A solar sonic unit at €179 that cycles ultrasonic, audio and light through the daylight hours, and a motion activated ultrasonic unit at €499. Both are for open commercial ground, both are unsuitable anywhere neighbours are in earshot, and both work best alongside physical measures rather than instead of them. The specification pages say what is known about each and say plainly what is not.
What none of it does
Nothing here traps, poisons or injures anything. That is deliberate and it is also the law's direction of travel: wild birds and their active nests are protected in France as across the EU, so the sensible plan is to make a surface unusable before the nesting season rather than to deal with a nest afterwards.
Frequently asked questions
Where do I start?
With the problem rather than the product. Birds sitting ON something is a spike job, getting INTO something is a netting job, and using an open area is a repellent or a powered unit.
What is in the Bird Spikes category?
The stainless strip and the moulded plastic strip, plus the gutter and fence pages, which are the same two products with advice for those positions.
What is in Special Species?
The same two strips again, listed by the bird or animal people search for: pigeons, gulls, sparrows, wrens, Indian mynas, squirrels, possums, cats and snakes.
So the species pages are the same product?
Ten of them are the one stainless strip and four are the one moulded strip. The advice on each differs, the object does not, and the flagship page says so in the copy.
Why not just sell one page then?
Because a person with gulls searches for gull spikes. Keeping the page and telling the truth on it is better for everybody than pretending there are fourteen products.
What is in Repellents?
Repellent gel, holographic scare tape, hanging reflective discs, a decoy owl, and the solar sonic and ultrasonic units.
What is in Bird Netting?
A knitted 20 mm garden net in two sizes, and a fine PVC coated steel mesh kit for closing the gap under a solar array.
What is the cheapest thing you sell?
A stainless strip or a hanging disc, both €5. There is no minimum order on either.
What is the most expensive?
The motion activated ultrasonic unit at €499. It is a commercial scale purchase and its page says so plainly.
Do I get a discount for buying more?
For a bulk order, yes: the wholesale page has a quote form. On a normal order the price is the price.
Is there a discount code?
There is a 15% code for valued customers. If you are on the mailing list you will have it.
How do I know how much to order?
Measure the run in metres and double it, because a strip is 50 cm. Round up. On a wide ledge, double it again for two rows.
Can I mix products in one order?
Yes, and most orders do. Spikes on the ledge and netting over the opening is a very common pair.
Which product suits a balcony?
Usually a spike strip on the rail, and gel where the rail is round or too narrow for a base. Discs if it is an open balcony with wind.
Which suits a fruit tree?
Netting, framed clear of the fruit and pulled taut. Discs or tape help during the weeks that matter but they are not a barrier.
Which suits a chimney or a ridge?
Stainless strips on the stack top, the flashing ledges and the ridge. Not on the pot, which has no flat surface.
Which suits a solar array?
The mesh kit. It closes the perimeter gap, which is where the expensive damage happens.
Which suits a shared fence?
The moulded plastic strip. It is blunt, it has no wire, and it is visible, which is worth something on a boundary.
Do the powered units work indoors?
Poorly. Ultrasound reflects and shadows badly in an enclosed space and every coverage assumption in that category is about open ground.
Are the powered units suitable near neighbours?
The sonic one is not. It runs recorded audio at 120 dB on a cycle through the daylight hours.
Is anything here fit and forget?
The spike strips and the mesh, apart from an annual clear out. The visual deterrents need moving every week or two and the gel needs a fresh bead about once a year.
Do you sell fixings?
No. Fixings are chosen for the surface rather than supplied, because brick, timber, metal and railings all want something different.
What if I order the wrong thing?
You have fourteen days from delivery to change your mind and a further fourteen to send it back. We would rather you asked first, though.
Can you tell me what to buy?
Yes. Email theteam@birdspikes.direct with a photograph of the surface and what the bird is. Several pages here exist mainly to talk somebody out of the wrong purchase.
How much is delivery?
Free across France over €35, and €15 below that.
How long does it take?
Processing is 2 to 5 days and delivery is about 10 to 18 business days from there, tracked throughout.
Which payment methods can I use?
Card and PayPal, and those are the only two. Both go through the checkout on this site.
Are prices in euro?
Yes, and the price shown is the price charged.
Do you sell to trade?
Yes. There is a wholesale page with a quote form on it.
Is anything here harmful to wildlife?
No. Everything sold is a physical or visual deterrent. The one thing to be careful with is netting, which must be tensioned and staked: a slack net can entangle birds and hedgehogs, and every netting page on this site says so.