Hang your plants after they start nesting. You could try tenting chicken wire on them too but the wire would be pretty hard to remove once the plants start growing, or you could stack one basket on top of the other and make a ball instead of a bowl.

Farmers protect their blueberries from birds by putting something that moves or is shiny on their plants, such as a pinwheel or strands of foil-like material that move in the wind. Easy test would be aluminum foil, ripped or cut in strands to hang over the edge of the pot, or balled up in the spot where the birds want to land. Once they nest elsewhere you're good for a while, til the next rounds of eggs to be laid. What type of bird is it?

I dont know what kind of birds they are. But i also dont know to much about when birds nesting. I did not know they started so early! They better be careful becuase i spent to much money on plants to have them reek havoc!

You could plant a cat in a hanging basket..err, well....

This year has been exceptionally warm, and the birds are probably reacting to the apparent early spring.

Buy a package of bamboo BBQ skewers at the store and insert every single one of them into the potting mix, pointy side UP. Your plant will look like a porcupine but it should keep the birds away.

Be sure to remove every bit of nesting material before using the skewers.

Floral, the plants that i buy are rare, expensive, and mean a lot to me. I dont want them damaged so birds can temporarily nest. I could have the plants for several years to come. The birds also have the potential to bring unwanted pests and bugs.

Sound neat. What types of plants?

I would assume Hoyas, which I know he/she likes

From our personal experience, we have yet to find anything that keeps birds from nesting on our porches (not in hanging baskets, but on the porch column ledges). Our issue is finches. Sharp pointy things don't work. Shiny metal things that move and wave don't work. Fake owls that move don't work. Fake snakes don't work (but they did keep FedEx from putting our packages on the porch!). These things are all reported to have worked for others, but they haven't deterred these finches! Also, the birds do nest more than once a year (we are in the south). Our current plan is to build boxes to close off the ledges, but that won't work for hanging plants. I look forward to hearing what does work for others.

I think an enclosed porch would work....that's about it :)

Just FYI, in Arizona, lots of people have fake owls sitting on their roof to keep woodpeckers off their chimney (the woodpecker will seriously attack the metal chimney cover with its beak as if it's a tree, so it sounds like a jackhammer inside the house). Anyway, usually the owl acts to attract birds and you will see them hanging out in groups on the roof on the houses with the owl. Kind of the running joke.

One of the ideas already mentioned should work, or it wasn't applied en mass well enough. You have to be persistent, and remove every speck of a previous nest. (I've never seen a finch to be that annoying. Barn swallows, yes.)

I have the same problem in Florida with my orchids. They hang in various baskets under the trees. Not only do the birds try to nest in the baskets, they love the sphagnum moss which is part of the potting mix. They also love the coir baskets, pulling chunks off the baskets which leaves big holes where all the potting mix falls out.

One thing I did last year which seemed to work was to add small lava rock to the top of the potting mix. They do not like it and have left the plants alone. I removed it after nesting season and saved it for this year. I found a bunch of house wrens and finches landing in the baskets this morning and I knew it was time to get the rock out.

You could probably use small gravel. Would work the same.

Good luck and let us know how it goes...

Jane

I've tried fake owls, an inflatable snake, a rubber snake, all to no avail. House wrens are immune to phony spooks! Funny story though, last year I had a red-tailed hawk come on to my front porch and steal my rubber snake! I stepped outside just in time to see him fly off with the rubber snake wriggling in his grasp, very lifelike! I bet he'll be disappointed when he tries to take a bite out of it...

Well, this is a 8 year old thread.

Those birds are dead and gone

Just found a beautiful nest of blue eggs from a Robin in my hanging Christmas cactus. What is the PROBLEM?!

I've got a crazy robin nesting on top of my front porch light (which is motion activated so it goes on and off all night long every time a car drives ). Two large oak trees are only 20 feet away. I'm afraid when the babies hatch I'll be attacked by the parents every time I walk in or out of the house. Crazy bird!!

Move them every day until they lose interest... hanging...on the ground... move plants between hooks...etc

It shouldn't be to hard to outwit an animal with brain the size of a mustard seed

Ken