On Fri, 17 Jun 2005 07:27:11 -0500, Darrel Toepfer
wrote:

Roger wrote:

Although, if you had a way of just putting a single mothball back
there it would most likely keep them and any bees out.

We play a 24 hour radio station on a boombox, seems to keep them away
from the planes in the hanger... I saw a feather duster hanging from the
roof of one t-hanger, plane owner attested to its effectiveness...


Down here in San Antonio, we have this little pesky "split-tail
swallow" that is endangered. When I worked on Randolph AFB, the damn
little birds were coming in under every door cover could and literally
sticking a nest to the side of the stucco walls. One year, a pair
stuck a nest right over the door. At least two/three times a week --
someone would open the door to walk out, startle the bird on the lip
of the nest which would take off crapping as they went. We were
getting hit all the time.

We were severely warned about the fines & penalties if we were caught
knocking down nests. And when one nest disappeared after duty hours,
some environmental freak actually came out and ran an "investigation"
to find & punish the "horrible killer". Worse yet, we weren't even
allowe to scare them away once they had a nest in progress.

We tried a number of things to keep them away, but didn't have a lot
of luck. Until one person suggested we hang pieces of fishing string
from the underside of the overhang. Apparently -- they can't see
fishing string, hit it in flight, and that scares them off. We didn't
believe it would work any better, but set out a few. And the guys who
had to go outside to smoke reported seeing the birds completely
confused when they could come under and hit the fishing string.

After that, we strung it up all over the place. We would run pieces
left to right every 6 to 12 inches taped to the underside of the
cover. Then from those, we would cut various lengths and tie them
onto the side-to-side pieces leaving them hanging. After that, we
NEVER had bird nests under the overhang any more.

I tell this story as it might help you guys with hangers. I doubt it
will help the guys with outside storage much. But the guys with
hangers might consider hanging lengths here and there next time
they're in the rafters. I tell you -- it's the funniest thing when
they swoop under, hit those strings, and back off flittering around
trying to figure out what's out there. It should cut down on the
nests in the rafters too.


Chuck
PA28-180