Pond Boss Forums GENERAL QUESTIONS Pond Boss Woody the Woodpecker likes my log home!

Got a new visitor starting yesterday. A woodpecker has decided my log home is just as good as any tree in the area to peck for food.

I've run him off three times now. The only other nonlethal method I know if is to put something reflective up to spook him away. I'm not sure I'm crazy about handing a pie plate from my log home though. The fish cages were trailer trashy as it was. Am I missing anything for those of you that have log homes.

I hate to kill him but it may come to that. I just don't want to kill animals anymore that are doing what comes natural.

I sorta know how you feel and generally don't kill anything that I'm not going to eat. Unless it is a problem. That peckerwood sounds like a problem just like mice in the house.

No but usn toothlees folk in them trashi mobil homs don't have them thar problums.

I have found some holes from them on the cabin, I guess the solution is stay with a trailer.

Cecil,

We fight the fight every year. The primary reason they attack our house is because we have carpenter bees. We have an exterminator who comes four times a year, and when needed, to kill the carpenter bees by spraying powder into their holes. That helps for a while.

Ken

ouch
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JHAP,
is it time to reach out to PETB?

That makes sense. I killed a bunch of carpenter bees with a fly swatter last year and that was the only year I didn't have an exterminator come in. I have the powder and bulb pump that didn't work worth a crap. (The bulb pump) I may have to use the compressor this time like the exterminator does. Or I just may have them come back out.

There are times I wish the wife hadn't been so adamant to have a log home. They look nice but lots of maintenance and headaches. That and mine is really, really, tall with a steep pitch. I had a satellite dealer actually refuse to get on the roof!

I think the woodpecker may be telling you something tasty is in your logs, whether it is those carpenter bees or something else. I, personally, would not go around beating my head on a log unless there was something in it for me.

Nah I do it all the time.

I agree that the way to get rid of the woodpecker is to eliminate the wood eating insects (which are likely to do more damage than the bird). Its like killing the grubs in your lawn which eliminates mole problems.

I'm not sure you can really "eliminate" them. No matter what you do there are always some new ones the following spring.

Cecil, it sounds like a heavy re-coating of the logs with sealer is in the cards for you this year. That should keep you out of trouble for a while!

My father in law up in mammoth hangs blanks cd's on the side of the house. That seems to do the trick for him.

Do they taste like chicken

I was out in the travel trailer 2 summers ago and every morning something was relentlessly pecking on the rubber molding. Sounded like a woodpecker, but not sure.

I was gone for a week and a bird built a nest that bridged the awning roller on top of the door and the outside light fixture. Also had a Robbin build a nest on top of my 6 foot ladder. Another bird built a nest on top of my pneumatic box stapler.

Being surrounded by trees, ya think they would choose a more suitable place!

When we re-chinked and re-sealed/re-stained our log home two years ago, our exterminator service recommended something to put into the sealer and stain to keep the bees away. I unfortunately don't remember what it was. It probably helped, but if they are already in the wood, there isn't much that can be done until they start to move around and you can see their holes.

I'd say that eliminating the woodpeckers would be futile -- and illegal. At least at my bird feeders we always have lots of lots of the smaller ones, plus we have a couple of families of pileated woodpeckers on our property. I'd have a hard time bringing my brain around to destroying such valuable birds.

They would not leave my chimney alone... it got to the point I had to stone it. Have not had a problem since.

I once watched a woodpecker and couldn't figure out what kind of shock absorbers it had in it's head.

Well since it's the first one I've ever had since I built the house in 94' I'm not sure it would be futile. And as a last resort I would not hesitate to kill it, even if I had to go to court. I can't imagine a judge telling me I would have to let this woodpecker mutilate my logs.

He didn't show up today. Hopefully moved on.

I especially find the piliated woodpeckers amazing. The photo below shows the hole made in a few hours by one of my red-headed friends. I wish I could find the photo of what he did to a maple stump outside our back door. The 10-12 inch high stump was about 12-14 inches in diameter at ground level, and about 8 inches at the top. He completely destroyed it in about three days, leaving nothing but big wood chips.



They completely destroyed some facing boards on our porch eves a few years ago -- in very short order.

Ken I had the same thing happen to a large balsam tree, we watched a Pileated woodpecker destroy it and we kept piling snow around the bottom of the tree and he would come back and uncover it.


Cecil have you seen this gizmo.
http://www.animalcontrolproducts.com/Woodpecker.html?gclid=CMTB66Dq_qYCFYHb4AodnQfxeg

Cat,
Does a Borate or Borax solution sound familiar? From what I've read, these solutions are used to keep insects out of air drying lumber piles and powder-post beetle infected furniture. I would imagine that it should work for a log home, also.

I there are no holes its not carpenter bees. The adults chew the holes and them and feed the young insects.

Woops - not insects but a pollen mixture is used as food.

Woody hasn't been back for several days. Hopefully he or she has moved on. I don't want to do anything drastic. I prefer to live and let live.

It's warming up outside. Were at 42F right now.

I wonder if the weather had anything to do with it. Maybe it was too cold to find food in a tree -vs- the warmer aspects of your log house. Bugs, grubs and trees do freeze.