Last night I started hearing very faint squeaks. I thought at first it was a cat playing with a toy. But after a while I kept hearing it when I knew the cats were asleep. It was so faint that I couldn’t place where it was coming from. Today the squeaking is louder and more often and is definitely chirping. It’s coming from the attic. I went outside to check the attic vent on the side where I’m hearing the chirps and it is pulled slightly away at the bottom, maybe just an inch or so. But enough for a bird to get in? Or maybe it got in through the chimney? Anyway, the mother is obviously doing a great job at feeding the chicks often and they are enthusiastic.
I went out and watched the vent for maybe 10 minutes and didn’t see anything. It started raining and I had to come back in. I’m afraid to pull down the attic stairs and take a peak because I don’t want to startle the mother and have her flying around and maybe get in the house. I know a pest control company can take care of this but I don’t want to kill the mother or chicks. Should I wait until they are grown and gone to have someone find the entrance and seal it up? Anyone have experience with this?
I just watched some videos and baby squirrels do chirp. So I guess it could be squirrels. But what I’m hearing is excited chirping for a few minutes and then silence for about 15 minutes or so while I assume mom is gone. That seems to be more birdlike. And I haven’t heard any pitter patter of little feet.
We had a bird get into the dryer vent hose when we lived in an apartment in VA. They apparently didn’t put screens over them. When I disconnected the hose to try to shoo it out, it got into the bathroom. I finally threw a towel over it after much cursing, and released it outside.
I had a bird in my attic once. I only discovered this after I accidentally stepped on it’s dead body.
Strange thing about that: immediately after my foot sunk down on its decomposing body, my ears were pierced by the loudest unholiest scream of a little girl… yet I was the only one up there!
But they’re shitting up there every few minutes too. And if one chick dies, which often happens, you’ll have a slowly decomposing stinking bird body up there. They’re also probably vandalizing your insulation for nesting materials.
The sooner you have them removed and the opening sealed, the less damage & trouble you’ll have.
I had a family of squirrels in the attic. They tore up a not insignificant amount of insulation and were chewing on the wood.
We found out they were up there when we spotted a huge black snake hanging from the attic vent. His head was stuck in the slats. The squirrels had about 2 inches chawed out and snakes eyeballs were lying to him when they said he’d fit thru.
That was a head scratcher. Get the snake out with-out getting bit or him dying, get the squirrels out.
Somehow we did it. Fixed the slat and screened inside the vent.
Wait till they fledge, only 2-3 weeks then everyone leaves, sounds like small birds rather than large …clean the nest area, seal it up. Nature needs a bit of help sometimes.
About 20 years ago we were talking a family who lived about ten miles from us. The wife went blind due to cryptococcal meningitis, and they believe it was brought on by birds living in their attic.
OP, you need to set your emotions aside and get rid of those birds ASAP.
I have not had birds in the attic but I have had them in crevices in the eves. The first one was a family of swifts and by the time I found the nest they were close to being gone (about another week or two), and after I saw no more activity I went up high on the ladder and plugged the hole - they never returned. There is a scrub jay nest just above my window at my desk I am typing on now and it’s cool to see them swooping up there right in front of me. They are on the outside of the attic under an eve so I am letting them be.
Earlier this spring a pair of small birds that I am unsure of the kind, were flying into a spot under a corner tile on the edge of the roof high up. They were tapping on something and we could hear it so I, uh, discouraged them by squirting the hose up there whenever they were around. There is no nest there now - it would have been bad for them anyway as the eggs would have cooked under than tile.
Last year we had a family of woodpeckers chipping away the stucco under an eve very high up and causing visible damage. They were very skittish and flew away as soon as we went out there - I guess that was enough to discourage them, too. I still need to get that fixed.
I have dealt with a squirrel getting into the attic and at great discomfort and contorting I managed to block every hole around the edge of the attic from the inside. I found his/her little nest which was a hole in the insulation it slept in at night. It went out foraging and I went up there with a bucket of tools and wood and metal and when it came back it could not get in. I went outside to further discourage it and it looked down at me from the roof with a “WTF?” look.
In the house we lived it until 2019, the master BR had an ensuite bath with a fan. The fan was vented through a dryer hose that went through a walk-in closet to a louvred opening.. One day we heard a chirping in the closet. When I went outside I could see the louvre dislodged. We hired someone to get up on a ladder, remove the nest and reset the louvre. I could see the birds eventually getting through the plastic cover on the dryer hose. This whole arrangement was an added room over the garage.
My sister once found a squirrel nest on a shelf in her closet. She freaked and ran naked to get her husband to do something. When he saw her naked he first thought she had a different something in mind. I think there was a hole in their roof.
Update on the birds. The chicks flew the nest last Thursday at 16 days. Critter Control came today to assess. They will replace the attic vent, seal an exhaust vent and do cleaning and sanitizing tomorrow. $1130. Jesus. That will teach me to keep a closer eye on the outside of the house. I hate expensive life lessons. I probably should have gotten another quote but I also hate lingering problems and just want it done.
