Woodpecker Damage to my Home

I have a woodpecker problem. They are destroying my siding by standing on the trim, drilling holes, and then stashing acorns in the walls.  It happens on the east wall specifically. I would like to hear ideas about getting them to stop doing this!

We have about 5 families of woodpeckers that live in the pine trees around my home. I am fairly new to the property (8 months), and they mostly keep to the trees and the multiple standing dead trees we have left standing as habitat (away from frequented areas and structures).

Before we arrived on the property, the roof was destroyed by the woodpeckers and squirrels teaming up. The woodpeckers would stash acorns under the shingles, and the squirrels would rip the shingles off to get at the acorns... I just dropped a serious wad of cash on replacing the roof, and while they haven't gone after it yet, I fear it is next.

The house is a mobile home, with particle board siding. Re-siding the house would be in the $20,000 range.

My neighbors just shoot all the woodpeckers they see. I really am not ok with doing that for obvious reasons.

Anyone have ideas or experience with solving this in a more holistic way? Is there an ahole bird I can build a house for on my exterior wall to play bodyguard?

The chickens arw about 30 yards away from this wall, so an owl house is not a good plan.

I am in central CA, zone 8b, 2800 ft elevation, surrounded by ponderosa pines, black oak, and live oak.

Your best bet is to scare them away. Any predator to them will look at your chickens as a much easier target. Hang windsocks , chimes, those shiny twirly things, etc.  I think one I use is bird be gone off Amazon. They are shiney circles with an eye. They work pretty good. You would need to mount them so they can spin to be effective.

You can hang fake owls and such but I’ve always had better luck scaring birds with shiny things hanging.  

Maybe others have more ideas. However don’t feel guilty to protect your home from damage. Nobody can afford 20-30k in damage these days…

I’m assuming you live where these are large woodpecker so it’s a problem for most everyone. Maybe your insurance people have preventative measures since ultimately it will cost them too.

Good luck

If they only peck holes above places they can perch, maybe you can work with that.

One thought is to get some metal trim or flashing of some sort and attach it to the wall to cover the 6" above the trim.  Tack it on and paint it to match the house.  Or find a way to cover the trim with something slippery that they can't grip onto (metal flashing of some sort).  Of the two ideas, I like the former...

steel or really good concrete.  You can' scare them away and the other common answers are illegal.

Joe Hallmark wrote:Your best bet is to scare them away. Any predator to them will look at your chickens as a much easier target. Hang windsocks , chimes, those shiny twirly things, etc.  I think one I use is bird be gone off Amazon. They are shiney circles with an eye. They work pretty good. You would need to mount them so they can spin to be effective.

You can hang fake owls and such but I’ve always had better luck scaring birds with shiny things hanging.  

Maybe others have more ideas. However don’t feel guilty to protect your home from damage. Nobody can afford 20-30k in damage these days…

I’m assuming you live where these are large woodpecker so it’s a problem for most everyone. Maybe your insurance people have preventative measures since ultimately it will cost them too.

Good luck

If it is flickers scare tactics are a short term answer and they simply adapt.  Plastic owls last about 2 weeks.  CDs with mylar streamers  last about 2 months.

why do woodpeckers peck? from what I know for 2 reasons to make hole for nest and to get at bugs to eat. from all the small little holes in picture kind of looks like woodpecker was feasting on something in your house.

Mike Haasl wrote:If they only peck holes above places they can perch, maybe you can work with that.

One thought is to get some metal trim or flashing of some sort and attach it to the wall to cover the 6" above the trim.  Tack it on and paint it to match the house.  Or find a way to cover the trim with something slippery that they can't grip onto (metal flashing of some sort).  Of the two ideas, I like the former...

I have some ideas on the same lines, I do wonder if they will just perch on the top of the flashing and peck there. Then there is the problem of putting something against the siding and trapping moisture in there. Not sure what would fit the bill to be honest.

bruce Fine wrote:why do woodpeckers peck? from what I know for 2 reasons to make hole for nest and to get at bugs to eat. from all the small little holes in picture kind of looks like woodpecker was feasting on something in your house.

Ya, the siding is 20 yr old mdf. It feels spongy and so they think it is rotten and has worms. Then when they don't find any they move over a bit and repeat.

Joe Hallmark wrote:Your best bet is to scare them away. Any predator to them will look at your chickens as a much easier target. Hang windsocks , chimes, those shiny twirly things, etc.  I think one I use is bird be gone off Amazon. They are shiney circles with an eye. They work pretty good. You would need to mount them so they can spin to be effective.

You can hang fake owls and such but I’ve always had better luck scaring birds with shiny things hanging.  

Maybe others have more ideas. However don’t feel guilty to protect your home from damage. Nobody can afford 20-30k in damage these days…

I’m assuming you live where these are large woodpecker so it’s a problem for most everyone. Maybe your insurance people have preventative measures since ultimately it will cost them too.

Good luck

Thanks, I'll look into those, have you had success with them staying away longer than a few months?

If that were my house I would install some metal flashing over the holes when I am sure the birdies/squirrels are away.

I would also put something smelly into the holes a few days before doing the flashing to make sure the critters are gone.

Maybe rosemary cutting because I have those.

Yes we’ve had the same ones under the carport for years. Every so often we change them because they peel or dull etc. But they go right back on the same hangers. Nothing nest or flys under there ever anymore.

Anne Miller wrote:If that were my house I would install some metal flashing over the holes when I am sure the birdies/squirrels are away.

I would also put something smelly into the holes a few days before doing the flashing to make sure the critters are gone.

Maybe rosemary cutting because I have those.

Thanks Anne, the holes are full of acorns, no birds love there. I think I'll put in some spray foam then coat with metal. Thanks!

Noah

Joe Hallmark wrote:Yes we’ve had the same ones under the carport for years. Every so often we change them because they peel or dull etc. But they go right back on the same hangers. Nothing nest or flys under there ever anymore.

Thanks Joe. Appreciate it.

What about installing 1/2" hardware cloth about 2" out from the siding? Chicken wire is too wimpy and the squirrels will chew through it. It will allow airflow.

I'd start with protecting the most attractive parts and see if they just move elsewhere on the building.

Those holes are in a horizontal line rather than randomly distributed, that means the woodpeckers can only access by standing on the trim underneath. A vinyl siding or metal sheet wide covering that vulnerable strip should work. But how do you get the acorns out? I am afraid they will attract mice too.

Go to the forest and get  big half rotted and hollow log. Dig a hole and plant it vertically - like a telephone pole - about 30 ft away from the main area on your home that they are pecking. They will move onto the easier peckings.

This works for speckled flickers. Dont know what birds you are dealing with.

Plastic pigeon spikes along the tops of the windows and trim?

This is not an answer, but only a perhaps-entertaining woodpecker story: In 2009, my wife and I arrived in Luperon, Dominican Republic by sailboat. We'd been traveling in the western Caribbean since 2001 and were feeling pretty experienced. We anchored mid-bay - a bay full of about 70 or so anchored sailboats. Some of the boats were pretty derelict - traveling east from Florida against the tradewinds is hard. A person can island-hop through the Bahamas and get to Luperon pretty comfortably, but going further east is harder work -- so some folks get "stuck" and their boats neglected. A particularly picturesque derelict anchored conveniently close to a popular bar, belonged to Mack who was happily and determinedly drinking himself through retirement. His boat, like ours, had a wooden mast, but though ours was brightly varnished and solid, his varnish was peeling away and the mast was inhabited by about 14 woodpeckers!

We took this as a warning stay more or less sober and keep up the varnish work, but otherwise it was just cute - fun to watch the woodpecker families squabble over holes and raise their families. But the next year, the woodpecker population boom, and a bumper crop of new-fledged woodpeckers who'd learned that sailboat masts were their natural habitat; turned their attention to OUR mast! The varnish made for poor grip, and there were no bugs to be had, but the mast apparently made a lovely sound when hammered. They also much loved the plastic top of the masthead light fixture which had more of a snare-drum sound.

Being somewhat stuck ourselves, we did not simply move on. We fought back! We made a rig of light ropes festooned with old CDs and ribbon streamers that would spin and flap in the breeze - we looked like a used-car lot. The woodpeckers seemed to like it! Every week or so, I'd go aloft and patch holes with epoxy putty. The quarterly mast-varnishing chore became monthly. Sometimes I had to carve out the damaged wood (1 1/2 thick) and glue in a carved replacement piece of pine.

We fought them through a spring mating season that spanned almost four months and they finally went away. By the next year, we removed the mast temporarily so they could not get at it. We eventually built a house and used quarter-sections of the mast for house interior construction elements - the old woodpecker hole patches added some character!

going on with the comment about bugs- I've had a place with carpenter ants.  They like to live where they can borrow in moist wood to excavate holes in which to lay eggs over winter and be protected from extreme cold.  I've had a place with carpenter bees- they actually eat wood but I don't think they'd eat old glue/wood products.
I think your best bet is to find out what is in there.  See if that is as much a problem as the birds.  The holes might not be your biggest problem.  There's a problem solving technique called like the 5Q process, where you state each subsequent problem and find it's source, and keep digging until you have an overview of the situation, not just the immediate issue.


1st issue- holes from woodpeckers
2nd issue- what's the food source?  Bugs
3rd issue- why are there bugs?  what are the bugs up to?
4th issue- what ARE those bugs up to?  are they infesting any structural wood?  are the destroying insulation?  are they making paths for other problem critters?  like wasps, mice, mold, air currents....
5th issue- why did the bugs show up?  is there inadequate overhang from the rain etc?  is that area of wood damp because rain water sits on the horizontal band and seeps into the particle board?  that's my guess.  the birds stand there because the bugs are there, not because it's easier perching.  woodpeckers can walk up almost any vertical surface and stay as long as they like- super good grippy toes....


if there is a bug infestation and you need it gone, there is boric acid used in carpenter bee holes- you squirt basically roach powder in the holes and then close the hole by tapping a short chunk of dowel in and hit it with a hammer.  
for carpenter ants the same boric acid mixed with antifreeze and poured around the ant trails makes a tasty treat that they walk thru and get on their exoskeleton, it sticks, goes along wherever they go, and you get the crystalline boric acid in their homes.  the crystals slowly scratch thru their shells and they 'bleed' to death.  that's an easy way to think of it.  do some research on what the boric acid does to birds if that concerns you.  my guess they would get very little of it in their system but I'm no ornithology person.

if the wood rot is extensive my suggestion is REMOVE it. don't cover it up.  think of a sponge if you put it in a plastic bag and walk away.  nasty.  mold and god knows what else...growing inside your wall.  Please don't.
some temporary rigged scaffolding, a sawzall, cut that stuff out and remove anything else that is damp, run horizontal nailers across the vertical studs.  make the nailers at least as deep as the dry siding below. nail NEW siding over the nailers and it should come down just OVER the lower siding.  caulk the seam.
voila!  you no longer have a surface to hold water.
paint EVERYTHING

also-
hold a voodoo dance that asks the woodpecker gods to move along a few miles...


good luck
lee

another look at your post-
i would call that T-111 siding, it's not MDF in case you care.   It's still a mixture of wood and glue and can hold moisture especially as it ages
not sure of the climate but see if you can figure out why that side is more damaged than the others.  wind?  is that side slower to dry out? more prone to wind-blown rain? is there more open area, less tree protection from wind driven rain?
heat? bugs need heat.
less roof overhang?
did the builders use a sloped top on the horizontal band in any other places?  or has a prior application of caulk peeled off?

the more you can figure out why, the better prepared you are to know if it will become the same problem elsewhere...