Content:
- Crows On the Roof: Ominous Omen or Unwelcomed Rooftop House Party
- Places Where Crows Love to Perch
- Getting In Touch With Your Local Animal and Pest Control
- Crow Removal Methods and Repellents for Roofs
- How to Prevent the Crows from Coming Back to Your Roof
Ah, they are at it again those tricky crows. Just sitting there on top of your roof, simply cawing away over what is anyone’s guess. While these enigmatic birds are fun to watch in videos and in the park, they tend to be a real nightmare for homeowners.
From antagonizing man’s best friend, scaring off your favorite birds, their constant raids on your bird/squirrel feeders, crows can be a real pain in the neck. Not only are they the worst instigators they are also some of the sneakiest winged tricksters on earth right next to humans and raccoons.
Squirrels, snakes, and even raccoons are easy to deal with, crows, however, pose the biggest challenge of all when it comes to getting rid of them. Those pesky crows simply don’t understand the notion of keeping off someone’s roof, let alone sharing with the other woodland critters.
While these birds are a friend of mother nature’s and scavenge the dead, they aren’t exactly the best neighbors to have flying around. Any gardener will tell you of their own mini-wars with the common crow and their love for murdering around crops.
There are many DIY techniques one can use to keep a crow or two out of your yard, but when it comes to figuring out how to keep crows off your roof you end up feeling a bit short-handed on solutions.
So how do you keep crows off your roof for good without breaking any laws? Is there really a way to prevent those pesky black feather fiends from living rent-free on your roof? Why do the crows always choose the roof and not some other more suited nesting spot?
You may have plenty of other questions that the crows themselves refuse to answer, but don’t worry! With this guide, you will be able to solve your crow problems without having to consult your uninvited rooftop friends. This guide will show you how to keep crows off your roof, where they prefer to perch, what to do to prevent a crow invasion, and more.
Crows On the Roof: Ominous Omen or Unwelcomed Rooftop House Party
Just when you thought rowdy teenage house parties were bad it seems the antagonistic crow has picked up on yet another human-like habit. Whoever invited the local murder of crows to nest on your roof can take these irksome birds back. These birds may be very smart in the bird world but their tenacity and daring nature can be a real bother for anyone looking for some quiet.
So how does someone give an eviction notice in crow language? While it would be wishful thinking to just mail a court-ordered eviction to the crow’s nest, it will probably be used as insulation for its future kin. These sassy birds will need more than just paper and ink to keep them away. It isn’t a completely lost cause to kick the birds off your roof, figuratively speaking.
Crows may be smart but all you need to do is figure out their habits, numbers, and what is attracting them to your roof. Once you have that figured out, you can put yourself one step closer in the right direction of keeping those pesky black-feathered birds away for good.
Crows are pretty simple creatures to understand. They share many behaviors with humans, have a love for many types of fruits, nuts, insects, dead things, and garbage scraps, and can be fairly social. Male crows are known for mimicking human speech while all crows can tell friend from foe. They have a mourning ritual and can remember faces as well as hold a few grudges.
Understanding the crow and all of its mystery is the best way to pick out which methods will work on your particular murder of crows. After all, what may work on one murder may not work on others. Crows are known for spreading information, so don’t be surprised if they figure out how to bypass some of your traps and tricks.
Places Where Crows Love to Perch
While you may be wondering why those hoards of crows love your home’s roof, a roof is not always their first choice of perch. Like many birds, crows do have a list of potential perching preferences, especially when it comes to their mating season.
Crows, once they find the home of all homes to make a nest, will consider that place every time they go to mate.
So to keep those birds off of your roof you will have to beat them to the punch and make your roof inhospitable to their nesting habits. You can expect to see some crows nesting and already incubating their eggs as early as April. This means you will need to start in the winter or early spring with your crow traps.
Places where crows like to perch and/or nest are:
- Trees
- Narrow ledges
- Wide ledges
- Flat surfaces
- Signs
- Pipes, beams, and gutters
- Roofs
- Poles and electrical lines
- Protected nooks or areas they can enter such as the attic, shed, boat house and so on
Getting in Touch with Your Local Animal and Pest Control
It is illegal to kill a crow. Crows are protected by the migratory bird’s act which means you can be fined and thrown in jail for hurting these birds. So what can you do to keep crows off your roof if you can’t kill them? Call professional animal control or pest control expert.
They will be able to help you get rid of or relocate a murder of crows fast.
These professionals will also be able to give pointers on what will work for crow prevention, where to get the necessary tools, and even help you set up bird nets, bird spikes, and so on.
Crow Removal Methods and Repellents for Roofs
While it may seem impossible to get rid of those crows on your roof, it isn’t as hard as it seems especially when you use the right techniques and a little professional help.
1.) Use bird spikes all along your roof
While you may end up feeling like you are turning your roof into a prison, it is an effective repellent against crows.
Crows will go where ever there is access, bird spikes on the roof will make this impossible for them.
2.) Use bird barrier gel paired with either a bird slide or bird flex track
there are many bird gels and other tools you can use to help keep crows off your roof. A bird slide is simple for the part of the roof that is at an incline, the flex track is for other parts of the roof.
When paired with sticky bird barrier gel, it makes it uncomfortable for the birds to land and nest. This results in them choosing elsewhere for their bird parties.
3.) Keep a bird net around any potential perching sites including your roof
Bird nets are simply an easy-to-use method that will make it impossible for the crow to land let alone live on your roof.
While it may seem like an old-school method it is effective against crows. Nothing says “spot is unavailable” like a scarecrow living on your roof instead of those pesky birds. The best part is, making a scarecrow is fairly cheap and you can have an army of these things all around your yard and garden.
It lets your creativity shine and helps you relieve some anger you may feel towards that party-loving murder on your roof.
5.) Use bird wire around the piping and other parts of your roof and other perch sites
Bird wire is great for keeping crows away from your tubes, gutters, and any other tube-like structure.
Crows will make a perch on these structures if you let them, so use some bird wire in combination with other crow repellents to keep those crows off your roof.
How to Prevent the Crows from Coming Back to Your Roof
While getting rid of crows may seem like a mission in and of itself, keeping them away is a whole other story.
Crows are adaptive and very smart, so you will need to switch out methods and use combinations to keep these birds on their toes and away from your home.
1.) Use reflective objects around your yard and on your roof
Crows are cautious by nature and strongly dislike weird reflective things moving in the wind. To them it looks like danger, to you, it is simply a bunch of old CDs, metal tape, and cheap funky party streamers dancing around.
While your neighbors might think your yard is ready for a disco the crows will see it as a war zone in their eyes.
2.) Keep your yard trimmed, clean, and free of any incentives for a crow to live on
Want to keep any pests out of your yard you have to do the maintenance. Keep all trees trimmed, all garbage in the garage with a lid, compost piles contained and lidded, fruit and nuts picked up, and so on.
Leave no stone unturned in your yard maintenance because the crow will easily take any chances for an easy life on your roof.
3.) Keep some spooky fake owls and snakes on your roof
Crows have enemies, shocking to know but true. Crows will not come near an owl, hawk, or any other predator they feel threatened by.
So don’t be afraid to set up some Halloween decorations early this year, get a couple of fake owls and spook those crows away from your roof.
4.) Pair that spooky owl with a few predator recordings
Crows fear the sound of predators just as much as they fear the sight of them.
Get a few recordings and put the recorder on repeat and watch those crows fly off en masse at the sounds of their worst nightmares.
5.) Ultrasonic crow repellers
Just like crows hate the sound of their enemies, they also strongly dislike the high-pitched sounds of an ultrasonic repeller. You won’t hear it but the crows will.
This means they will definitely get the message of staying off the roof and out of your yard for good.
