Solar panels and pigeons

Kwman

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I've had my panels for approximately 5 years and the last 12 months I have had problems with pigeons roosting under them. As well as being noisy, they are causing a mess and I have had to clear the gutter a few times so far this year.

I've tried ripping out the nests, but they keep coming back.
Tried putting a fake owl up, but they ignored it and even rested on its head.
Tried foil strips on a pole. Not sure if they were working as the wind always ripped them off after a while.

So do any fellow owners have a solution they could recommend?

Thanks in advance
 
Am I the only owner of solar panels a problem with pigeons? :eek:
 
Oh we have problems with pigeons, but luckily they're not so smart to use the gap between the panels and roof, yet.
 
My parents' neighbours had this issue they got the panel installers out to fit a mesh around the panels. I think it's worked but from what I can see they've left the ends open so it may be only a matter of time before the birds figure this out!

My parents also have solar panels. They got their installers to quote for mesh which came to £800 iirc, which would pretty much wipe out the savings from the panels! I'd get up there and do it myself but there's no way to get a scissor lift/cherry picker to access it. It's a 2 storey house and the panels take up most of one aspect of the roof, so you're moving about on a narrow strip around the edge. Too risky for me. Would be easier on a bungalow though.

So my dad dealt with it by patrolling the garden and turning the hosepipe on the pigeons every time they land on the roof. I shxt you not! (He's retired so has plenty of time on his hands and it gives him a break from playing golf!) The birds were persistent and it took several weeks but finally they got the message. I'm sure they'll be back though.

I've suggested fitting an ultrasonic noise maker up there, they're supposed to repel rodents, so might work on the flying variety! Or even a speaker/device that you can give them a blast of sound to scare them away, used sparingly or might annoy the neighbours.
 
You would of thought they would make a trim to put around the panels to fill the gaps. It would better also.
 
Just an update. I bought a mesh wire kit and got it installed for 2 weeks now and so far so good. Took a day to install and was pretty straight forward. My panels on the short edge did not have the lip for the clips to attach to so hopefully it won't be the weak link where the pigeons can get in...

Will update in a few months time if I rememberm but at this moment in time it looks like money well spent!
 
Just an update. I bought a mesh wire kit and got it installed for 2 weeks now and so far so good. Took a day to install and was pretty straight forward. My panels on the short edge did not have the lip for the clips to attach to so hopefully it won't be the weak link where the pigeons can get in...

Will update in a few months time if I rememberm but at this moment in time it looks like money well spent!

Where did you buy the kit from and who installed it? And how much did it cost, if you don't mind my asking?
 
The mesh kit I got from here:


I got my plumber to install it £900.00 in total (Labour and Kit)

Basically he watched this youtube video and said yep I can do it.

 
I paid about £450 inc parts/labour from a local company and not had any issues since. As long as they can access with ladders/crawler you should be fine. My brother in law had to have a picker/scaffold and this was about £900
 
I paid about £450 inc parts/labour from a local company and not had any issues since. As long as they can access with ladders/crawler you should be fine. My brother in law had to have a picker/scaffold and this was about £900

That is cheap!
 
Just to add to this thread, I just moved into a house with solar panels and there were loads of pigeons.
Employed a company to come and box the panels in not with mesh, but with a solid corrugated panel.
They also cleaned the panels, closed some gaps between the panels and fixed some guttering.
£550 all in.
I was well pleased as they evicted 18 pigeons.
The guy said that it might take a couple of weeks for them to get the idea and move on.
 
No issues with pigeons in our two years. Didn‘t even occur to me they could be a problem... I’ll start to keep an eye out for nests.
 
We had our PVs for about 10 years with no problems, then all of a sudden they discovered them. We had a mesh fitted around them, cost £1000 so not cheap but was needed.

They're not interested in the hot water tubes.
 
A local roofer put mesh around the panels for around £350 to £400. Just used ladders. Said it was a very common problem and really the installers should do it. The pigeons still gather on the roof but can't nest under the panels any longer.
 
A local roofer put mesh around the panels for around £350 to £400. Just used ladders. Said it was a very common problem and really the installers should do it. The pigeons still gather on the roof but can't nest under the panels any longer.
Yep, three months later I've still got a few stragglers looking confused.
Bird brained morons.
 
Squirrels also chew on the wires (like teething toys) under the panels requiring panel replacement too. The mesh is also a protection against them.
 
This is a long shot but have you tried spraying the area around the panel with WD40? Maybe not on the panels as I have no idea if that would harm their efficacy.

I read this idea in one of those 2000 things to do with WD40 articles once. Apparently pidgeons don't like the smell. The surprise to me was that pidgeons had noses.

Anyway a few years later I had pidgeons nesting on my balcony. I kept removing their nest materials but they kept bringing more, eventually they laid an egg on the bare tiles. I wouldn't actually mind them nesting if they were to promise not to poo - but as that wasn't going to happen they had to go.

I removed the egg (which felt like murder - well it was murder) and sprayed the balcony panels and between the tiles etc liberaly with WD40 and they didn't come back. I resprayed in spring for a couple of years following and they havn't tried to nest on my balcony again. This was maybe 12 years ago now.
 
We've had our panels about 4 years, 2 years ago I kept bashing a nest in, then they left. This year we thought we beat them again. They just went higher up and I didn't notice they'd built a nest. Now there's a chick in there.
They are super noisy, no idea what they are doing lol.
Going to have to sort, but don't want to spent 450 to 900 quid!
 
Mine cost about 1k had to have scalfolding put in which was probably more than the supply fit of the mesh . Though worth it as its stopped the flying rats….
 
Forgotten about this thread, which means its good news. Pigeons still hang around because they nest under my neighbours panels.
 
I've still got 4 or 5 really stubborn ones which are still hanging around.
They've not nested here (I think) so hopefully the next brood will go somewhere else.
 

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