Paved garden, too much bird poo (see pics), any advice?

Damhah

Hello,

I have a paved garden and there are too much bird poo, I have to wash the garden twice a week as I have children who like to play there. See pictures, also the only place I could put the bird feeder was above the strawberry patch, half of it is covered in birdpoo and feeds that have dropped.

I washed the garden last night, so what you see if from this morning

Obelixx

Assuming you want to keep on feeding the birds, move the feeders to the narrow passage between the gate and the hose reel - above head height for passing people -  and put a low gate across the gap to stop the kids running or playing in the poo.

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Damhah

Obelixx said:

Assuming you want to keep on feeding the birds, move the feeders to the narrow passage between the gate and the hose reel - above head height for passing people -  and put a low gate across the gap to stop the kids running or playing in the poo.

I tried it, its a dead area, no birds go there. And I just managed to get some parakeets which the kids love. I guess I just have to live with it, maybe use a pressure washer once a month

Fire

Which birds are you getting? I'm wondering if they are starlings, pigeons or such like. I never get much poo on fence, bushes or floor. I get mostly blue tits and sparrows. Perhaps you could try a change of bird food to attract a less pooey bird.

Perhaps feeding them on a bird table or on the ground would also make for less splatter.

Obelixx

If you can manage to get them above the height of that roof on the right the birds should find them more inviting.   If you just hang them between the fence and the building wall then yes, no bird would like that.

Jellyfire

If you attract the birds they are going to poo somewhere, your main problem is that at the moment they are doing it in very visible places. You could probably encourage them to poo in a less noticeable area by adding perches there. For instance if you attached some horizontal perches to the top of the fence they will probably use them rather than the actual fence, so their droppings fall onto the border rather than the fence. There wouldnt be any less of it but it would be on your plants rather than the fence.
The only way to reduce it is to either stop feeding, or as has been suggested try to attract smaller, less 'productive' birds than parakeets, starlings etc with different food and feeders that exclude larger birds

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wild edges

I have similar problems. There's not really much of a solution though I'm afraid. I move my feeders around as much as I can which spreads the problem about but reduces build up in one area. It's great for feeding the plants but there's always problems. I have to keep the birds away from the clothes line, away from edible food, away from seedlings or plants that might get trampled. I've swapped from fat balls to suet pellets as there's less mess and the dropped fat particles stink after a while of building up.

If it was me I'd get a patio stand for your feeders so you can just clean the patio off nice and easily. I see there's a drain already there which will help.

Damhah

I have a gang of about 20 starlings who are now causing havoc, BUT if i remove the suet block that the starling love, no birds actually come. And There are 4 pigeons that are very naughty and 4 parakeets. I do not get many small birds, some tits and sparrows, but they seem to get bulled a lot. 

Obelixx

More feeders then so they can share.   Sparrows will feed off the ground, or a table as will chaffinches and tits so I have grouped hanging feeders in 3 places in the garden and have a covered table out the front where I don't want too much mess and put loose ground feed down on the terrace where I can wash it if needs be but I find I don't need to very often.  I do wash the birds' water dish and the feeders themselves regularly tho to prevent the spread of diseases.