How to keep woodpeckers off your house

If you have wood siding you may have a problem with woodpeckers creating holes in your home. Once these holes are created by the woodpecker there is a greater chance they or other birds will make nests in your attic or in between the floors of your house. Try these methods of distracting woodpeckers from your home and keeping the peace between you and your feathery neighbors.

Instructions

1. The first thing you will need to do is make sure your home does not have an insect infestation that is drawing the woodpeckers to invade your home for food. Have your home inspected for insects and regularly treated by an exterminator.

2. 

   Hang strips of something that will flash when reflecting light. Strips of aluminum foil or a child's spinning pinwheel are both effective in some instances. You can also try hanging tin foil pie plates from the eaves of your home. They will both reflect the light and make noise that will scare the birds away. Wind socks will also create a undesireable environment for a woodpecker.

3. Hang a fake but realistic owl or hawk from your home in the areas where the woodpeckers are frequenting. Move it around periodically so the woodpecker does not catch on to your scare tactics. Fake snakes have also been known to keep woodpeckers away. Tack a few to the sides of your home and move them around from time to time.

4. Noise will also frighten a woodpecker away. Use a few wind chimes hanging from areas of your home. Also, you can try playing AM radio stations near windows where the woodpeckers have been pecking on your home. They are afraid of people and it will give them a false sense of someone's presence.

5. You can purchase netting made specifically for keeping birds off your home. Hang it from the eaves to keep them from flying and landing on your home.

6. 

   A dead tree in your yard is a great place for woodpeckers to flock to instead of your home. Leave a dead tree and they will most likely chose the tree over your siding. You can also create a suet feeder out of an old log and hang it from a tree branch. Drill large round holes in the log and place suet feed inside and it should attract the woodpeckers.

7. Cover the holes woodpeckers have already made in your home to keep them from coming back to the same place or from nesting inside your home. See the link below for how to cover a woodpecker hole.

Tips & Warnings

• If you are covering a woodpecker hole make sure the hole does not contain a next of baby birds or eggs. Wait until the eggs have hatched and the birds have left the next or you will have a mess on your hands. The baby birds will screech for days from hunger and the eggs will rot if not hatched. It is best to just deal with the annoyance of the next until it is empty before you cover the hole.

Resources

• How to cover a woodpecker hole