Repurpose These Aluminum Materials To Deter Birds From Your Garden

Birds can be darling as they flit around a bird bath or chirp a cheery song outside your window, but those same avians can also be a menace in your garden, leaving behind droppings and pecking at your plants. Believe it or not, you may already have what you need to rid your garden of pesky birds: shiny objects. Reflective objects, such as aluminum cans, pie plates, and even strips of foil, create visual disturbances to help scare them away from your flowers or crops. Because birds dislike shiny surfaces, reusing aluminum materials in the garden can be a surprisingly effective way to keep them out.

It's important to remember that when trying to deter any animal, no method is 100% foolproof. You may have some birds that react negatively to the deterrent, while others may ignore it and go about their day. Still, the simplicity and affordability of using these materials make it worth a try, especially if you don't like using netting to protect your garden from birds. When the birds encounter your aluminum, they may associate the flashes of light with the flapping of a predator's wings or the ominous glinting of their eyes. The birds will then retreat in fear. Gathering these materials from around your home is an easy way to make your garden less welcoming to birds.

Next time you finish a cold one, consider keeping the can rather than tossing it in your recycling bin. Look for cans with a shiny, reflective surface, then repurpose them with household items into DIY windchimes. Making them into a wind chime creates both a visual and an aural disturbance for birds, as the chimes' sound may scare them away, as well as the appearance.  If you don't want to make a wind chime, you could gather a bunch of cans, tie them to a branch, and let the clattering and flickering reflections do the job.

Some gardeners like to cut aluminum cans and shape them into spinners to catch the light and dissuade birds from visiting as they blow in the breeze. The process involves poking a hole in the can's bottom, then removing its top. From there, you can slice the aluminum into strips, then fold them so they fan out. With only one can needed per spinner, you could make a series of them and attach them in a chain with twine.

The disposable pie pan you have leftover from your latest baking project can be repurposed into a noisemaker to scare birds away. This old farming hack is quick and easy to do. Just punch a hole in the plates and then tie them together. After that's complete, install your pie pan noisemaker in your garden by hanging it from a tree limb or a hook. For a final, noisy touch, you can incorporate a tied-on metal nut so it dangles down on either side of the pie plates. As your contraption rattles and clatters in the wind, the sight and sound will deter birds. This garden pest hack may also work on deer.

The same approach can be used with baking trays. Often wider than pie plates, their large surface will reflect more light and rattle even louder. You don't need to make a hanging apparatus for this noisemaker. You can simply string them up in a nearby tree or attach them to a fence post. The shimmering light and loud banging from the pans will make your garden less appealing to birds.

Don't worry if you don't have any extra aluminum cans, pie plates, or trays handy for the garden. Simple aluminum foil is a great choice for scaring away birds. There are multiple ways you can use foil, starting with cutting it into strips or squares. You can then place these in the trees, letting the foil sheets shimmer in the light for a visual bird deterrent. Making pieces of foil into small balls, then stringing them together, may be an alternative that works.

Pest control experts at Northwest Exterminating recommend that gardeners use strips in the ground and in the air to deter birds. They suggest burying small strips in your soil so birds encounter them when they dig in your garden. The sensation is unpleasant to their beaks as they eat in the dirt, so they will likely leave for a more welcoming area. Foil can reflect sunlight, which can benefit your garden if you'd like to improve sunlight retention for your plants.