How to Keep Birds From Pooping on Your Porch: 15 Humane Ways

If you have a porch that you want to hang out on, the last thing that you want to deal with is unsightly and unsanitary bird poop. It can seem like a never-ending battle to keep your porch clean, but it doesn’t have to be.

There are many popular ways to keep birds off your porch, but not all of them work as advertised. To help save you time and frustration, here’s a list of 15 of the most effective and humane ways to keep birds off your porch.

The 15 Humane Ways to Keep Birds From Pooping on Your Porch

1. Fake Predator Birds

Birds know to keep away from other birds that are dangerous to them, so simply adding a few statues of predator birds to your porch might do the trick. Owls, hawks, and eagles are all great choices that most other birds will steer well clear of.

However, fooling the birds into believing that the predator birds are real is the trick here. If the real birds can tell that the fake birds are fake, they’ll have no problem coming to visit and poop on your porch once again.

Still, it’s a low-cost solution, and if you like the look of fake birds on your porch, anyway, you get to enjoy a functional piece of décor.

2. Bird-Repellant Spray

Birds have a stronger sense of smell than us and simply can’t stand certain scents. It’s also easy to apply, which is a huge perk when you’re trying to keep birds off your porch.

But bird repellant is expensive and you must keep reapplying it. So, while you might not need to spend much for that repellant now, you’ll need to keep purchasing more and putting in the effort to apply it on your porch to keep the birds away.

It’s great as a short-term solution, but we recommend trying to find a few other ideas from this list to continually keep birds away from your porch.

3. Ultrasonic Sound

One of the most effective ways to keep birds away from your porch is to play an ultrasonic sound out there. Birds have more sensitive ears than us and don’t like these sounds, so they’ll steer clear.

It’s effective and easy to set up, you can’t hear the sounds, and it’s a long-term solution to keep birds off your porch. However, birds aren’t the only animals with better hearing than humans. If you have cats, dogs, or other pets, you’ll probably want to find a different solution.

A high-quality ultrasonic sound system isn’t always the most affordable option either. But if you don’t have any other pets and just want birds off your porch, these systems work.

4. Keeping Them Away From the Yard

If birds aren’t hanging out in your yard, they’re less likely to visit your porch. If you’re dealing with an excess number of birds on your porch, take down any bird feeders or bird baths and limit their potential nesting areas.

Typically, this doesn’t require much work and won’t cost you a dime if you’re willing to complete the work yourself. But keep in mind that birds fly and have large ranges, so it won’t keep every bird off your porch.

Also, you won’t be able to birdwatch in your yard, and who wants to miss out on that?

5. Mirrors

Mirrors work in a few different ways to keep birds off your porch. First, birds can’t recognize their reflections. So, when they see themselves in a mirror, they think that another bird is there, making the porch feel more crowded.

Second, since mirrors reflect light, they tend to be bright. Bird eyes are extremely sensitive, so birds don’t tend to like bright lights. While you don’t want to turn your porch into a carnival fun house with a million mirrors, a few well-placed mirrors can make a big difference in the number of birds that come to visit your porch.

6. Shiny Objects

While many birds do collect shiny objects, they don’t like things that are too bright, as these can hurt their eyes. So, if you put out a few sparkling objects on your porch and the light catches them just right, they can keep birds away.

They’re easy to set up, you can tie them right into your décor, and they won’t cost much. However, while this is an effective method on sunny days, when the clouds are out, the objects won’t be as bright and the birds might come to visit.

7. Cleanliness

Birds like having places to hide, and the more clutter that’s on your porch, the safer they’ll feel. While that’s good for the birds, it’s bad for your porch.

Simply keeping up with cleaning and decluttering is a great way to limit the number of birds visiting your porch. Having a clean porch also helps preserve it.

Just don’t think that a clean porch will keep all the birds away. It’s best to pair this with other ideas from this list to get the best possible results.

8. Bird Spikes

While bird spikes might sound inhumane, the truth is that they don’t hurt birds, they just make them a bit uncomfortable. They can be an effective solution for keeping birds from perching in certain areas, but they don’t actually keep them away.

If there’s somewhere else the birds can perch, they’ll just go there, which means you might need many bird spikes to get the results that you want. They also don’t look aesthetically pleasing to most people, which is a notable drawback.

9. Windchimes

While you might like windchime noise, most birds don’t. This makes windchimes an outstanding way to add a touch of décor and beauty to your porch and keep birds away.

Windchimes come in many styles, so you can find one that matches your style and will keep the birds away. Even better, compared to most other décor, windchimes typically don’t cost much.

You will have to deal with windchime noise if you don’t like it, but the real problem is that without any wind, windchimes won’t do anything to keep birds away from your porch.

10. Pinwheels

Pinwheels combine two different elements to help keep birds off your porch. First, they’re typically bright, and since birds don’t like this, they’ll typically steer clear.

Second, they spin and that movement keeps birds away too. They work better during bright and windy days, but with multiple deterrents, they’re better than many other methods when it comes to keeping birds away.

Pinwheels are often extremely low cost, but not everyone likes the way that they look. Still, there’s no denying that they do a good job of keeping birds off your porch.

11. White-Painted Porch

White is one of the brightest colors out there, and birds don’t like bright things. For the best possible results, go with the brightest white possible, and then seal it to lock in the color.

The great thing about this method is that you’ll have a freshly painted porch when you’re done. But unless you go with an extremely bright white, it’s not always the most effective. If you do, you must then deal with an extremely bright porch.

12. Reflective Tape

Birds don’t like bright and reflective things, and what’s brighter and more reflective than reflective tape? It’s also an extremely low-cost solution.

However, most people don’t like the way that reflective tape looks on their porch, and that’s a notable drawback if you don’t have anywhere inconspicuous for it. It works best on sunny days, so you still might see a few birds milling around when the clouds are out.

13. Motion-Activated Sprinklers

Birds are like cats in that they don’t always like getting wet. So, if you install a few motion-activated sprinklers around the porch, you probably won’t have to deal with birds there anymore.

However, there are a few drawbacks to this highly effective solution. First, when you try to get to your porch, you yourself might get wet. Second, it’s expensive to set up. Third, if you forget to put anything away, all it takes is one bird stopping by for a moment for everything to end up soaked.

14. Awning

Birds like to perch on things, and if you put something on top of them, they’re more likely to perch on that. If you set up an awning just right, you’ll still have birds coming to visit, but all the bird poop will miss your porch.

A great perk with this solution is that you get an awning for sunny days, and that has a whole list of perks all on its own.

But this is an expensive solution, and nothing is stopping the birds from flying underneath and pooping on your porch.

15. Use Bird Netting

Bird netting has everything right in the name. It’s a net that you can put up around your porch to keep birds out. When you use bird netting right, it takes away any places for a bird to perch around your porch, which is important when you’re trying to keep bird poop off of it.

If you install bird netting properly, it’s a highly effective passive solution that you can use for years to come. But there is a high upfront cost, and not everyone likes the look of bird netting around their porch.

Conclusion

Now that you know a few different humane ways to keep birds from pooping on your porch, it’s up to you to put these great ideas into practice. Keep in mind that for the best possible results, you should combine a few of these methods.

With creativity, determination, and grit, you should be able to create an awesome-looking porch that also keeps birds away.

Featured Image Credit: Jason Finn, Shutterstock