Bird guards on chimneys

[Carol]

Having spent the last three hours rescuing a baby jackdaw from our kitchen hearth that had fallen or flown down the chimney, I am puzzling over a preventive measure. We have had bird guards fitted on the other flues but due to the steep roof line, the fitter (6'3"!) couldn't reach the kitchen pot from the ridge. He suggested scaffolding or the hire of a cherry-picker, each of which seemed excessive to fit a £25 bird guard! Does anyone know of a remote fitting system or a better idea. This is our third bird in three years!
PS. Baby Jack is fine and flew out of the window to meet his noisy relatives who had been waiting in our garden.

 

[Ian Bond]

Hi

Got a similar problem myself - so far I've rescued 3 birds. Well, the last one rescued himself - a huge crow got away from me and exited via the window, which was closed at the time. Goodbye to the ancient crown glass, but fortunately no harm came to the crow.

Once I went away for a few days, and came back to find a pigeon had got in. You don't want to know about the mess he made of my sofa!!!

There no way to reach my chimney pot unless you're a 7 footer, so I'm going to play it safe and get a ridge scaffold - a plaftform designed to fit over the ridge - I can put a step ladder on that. It's not worth the risk of overreaching and having an accident. I'm planning to re-point and repair the chimney stack at the same time, so that should make the scaffold costs worthwhile.

Sorry, can't think of any other way (that's safe).

Glad you rescued the little Jackdaw, it's a great feeling watching them fly off, knowing you've done a good deed for the wildlife

 

[Gervase]

The cherry-picker's probably the cheaper option of the two, and if your pots are normal height you'll certainly need something like that. Round here we sometimes cheat with the bucket of a Manitou muck shoveller lifted up as high as it will go with a tall person standing in it. That seems to reach most chimneys (though sadly not ours).

 

[Penners]

Carol

The answer's simple. Next time a bird comes down your chimney, don't be in such a hurry to release it. First train it to fit the bird-guard to the chimney, and then release it.

Do I have to think of everything around here?