How To Get a Bird Out of Your House

{Photo by Ryan Jacques, via Unsplash}

Today I have a funny DIY idea for you-what to do when a bird flies into your house. This happened to me once, and since then it has happened to several of my friends (one while I was on the phone with her). I remember how scary it was and how I was frantically trying to Google for a solution while this bird flew from lamp to lamp, pooping all over my home and teasing my cats. So I thought I would share a solution here, and if this ever happens to you, you'll know what to do.

My experience came a couple years ago while I was painting my kitchen. The glass in the back storm door is broken out, since I accidentally slammed it on a cold winter night and it shattered. I was painting on a warm summer day, though, so I opened up the back door and through the broken storm door, I could get fresh air and hear the birds, paint fumes could get out, and the cats would stay in.

I left the room for a minute to get something, and that must have been when the bird flew in. I never saw it enter the house. I was painting right along and watching Felicity on my iPad when all of the sudden, out the corner of my eye, I saw Max's body fly across the dining room and slam into the wall. I ran in to find Max had tackled the bird to the floor and was ready to take a bite. Afraid of having to watch a bird murder and clean blood off my cat, I screamed at Max, who was startled enough to let go of the bird. It began flying back and forth from all the highest perches in the house. It went from the ceiling fan to the tops of the cabinets to the hanging lights and the tops of the windows, dropping little white puddles on my hardwood floors in between stops.

This was driving the cats crazy and I had no idea what to do, so I immediately began trying to Google a solution. It was hard to focus and type on the iPad with so much craziness in the house, and to make things worse, most of what a Google search turned up had to do with superstitions about birds in your house being bad luck. Finally, after what seemed like forever, I was able to dig up a solution on a reply forum that worked.

If a bird flies into your house, here is how you get it out. Turn all the lights off and close any blinds or curtains that you can. Make your house as dark as possible, but open one door or window where you want the bird to fly out. I opened the front door as wide as I could. It was less than 30 seconds before the bird headed straight out the front door.

That's it. My friend I was on the phone with had this happen to her at night. Since I was talking to her while it was happening, I told her what I did. She was able to open her front door and turn on her porch light, and it worked as well. The bird will go toward the light. Unfortunately for her, the bird flew back in and her dog ripped it apart and dragged it over the carpet. Tip: Be sure to close the door as soon as the bird flies out.

Perhaps this advice will be helpful to you in the future. I hope you never have a bird fly into your home, but it happens sometimes, and it is easy to solve if you know what to do. The sooner you act, the less bird poop you will have to clean off your floors.