opening and bird poop

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mariane

mariane

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May 8, 2012
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Metro Detroit, Michigan
Pool Size
11500
Surface
Vinyl
Chlorine
Liquid Chlorine
I am hoping for people's opinions re: opening with bird problems. Here is our situation and question:

We wait till June to take off the pool cover and open because we have birds that clean their nest and drop baby bird poop all over the top rails and into the water. If the cover is on they drop it in the cover. If the cover is off it lands in the shallow or deep end. :hammer:
Years ago, we didn't know why we couldn't pass the OCLT even though the water looked clear. Then we discovered we had ducks swimming in the pool every morning.
I don't want to even think we're swimming in bird poop. :puker:

I think it would be nearly impossible to keep the FC levels up and the CC levels low enough. Perpetual SLAM? Or not worry about keeping it perfect till swim season starts?

It would be nice to look at the sparkling water but, I think I would have to be vacuuming everyday or else it would become a mess quickly. Yuck
Am I thinking correctly on this?

What would you do? :unsure: :lovetfp:
 
Oh, how I feel your pain... we've tried a ton of things to stop the birds, with no luck. Last year, we put up a net! lol You can read about it here...spoiler alert, it didn't work well --> Preparing for battle against the blackbirds/grackles...year 2!

I usually open the second week in April, though we usually don't swim until mid-June. Last year, our first fecal sac showed up on 5/1 and we were still getting them into the second week of June. I am almost tempted to just leave the safety cover on until the first week in June and possibly deal with opening to a green pool. I suppose I could dump chlorine in and circulate it with our submersible pump to keep algae at bay starting in May.

The constant clean up only to have it be a mess again in an hour is almost more than I can take this year.and I'm not sure it's worth all the extra work just to look at my "pretty pool", which in reality looks like a bird's toilet! lol Hoping I can just hose the sacs off the cover and pool deck a couple of times a day. I almost wonder if I should just get a big old plastic black tarp to place over the green cover and the edges of the pool deck. Might make it easier to hose the sacs off into the nearby grass. UGH...
 
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@DiverGirl1972 Oh you really do know my pain! Thanks for sharing. :puker::pukel:
Ours started about 5 years ago and its awful. Each year seems to get worse!
With our heater, we could swim mid May but those birds! Argh! And we usually find at least 2 dead baby birds in the cover in the spring.

Do they dump on the safety cover? Does it look like water?
They dump on our winter cover when water is in it. And all the other birds use it as their Roman Bath. Keeping water out of the solid cover is never ending in the spring with the rain.
The black tarp might not be such a bad idea. It would be easier to clean. We started cleaning the cover while its still on the pool, scrubbing, hosing it down, pumping it out and then removing it. It was a lot harder to clean it after we took it off the pool.

Like you, I don't think I'm up to vacuuming the pool and cleaning off the top rails several times a day. I do get a little envious seeing others enjoying looking at their pretty pool in the spring, especially since we have such a short swim season to begin with. ;o( sad face :cry:
 
Looks great and I'm glad it's cutting down on the bird bath behavior! Fingers crossed for you!

We bought a 60 x 60 blue poly tarp and we're going to literally cover the entire retaining wall, pool (over the safety cover) and entire pool deck/patio area. We were hoping to get black, but for some reason, we just couldn't find one in that size that wasnt a ridiculous price. At first I was worried about getting a blue one thinking it would attract the birds, but honestly, we've kind of given up thinking we can stop it. I'm pretty sure we could put a purple tarp down and they'd still drop their sacs onto it! lol The tarp is just to make clean up easier.

I wanted to have it down by now because I think things are going to start happening soon (first sac last year was 5/1, according to my log), but at the last minute, I decided to pull the trigger and get an SWG due to concerns liquid chlorine might be scarcer this season. And, I am tired of lugging those bottles around town.

The pool place thinks they might be able to get it done next week, so my new plan is to open, clean and balance the pool within the next couple of days, have the SWG installed next week and then re-cover the pool with the safety cover again before laying the tarp. I'll just have to pop off the cover near the returns every couple of days to add a little LQ until fecal sac season ends in June and we can remove everything and open for real!
 
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YippeeSkippy said:
I wonder if you laid some big rubber hoses or toy snakes on there it would discourage them a bit?
Click to expand...
I think I tried it in the past but can't remember if it worked. My son suggested we put a real snake in the pool and I told him it would keep ME away. LOL

I'm pretty sure the grackles are looking for water to dump the poop sacs and dead baby birds in. So as long as they can't tell there's water, the net might work. I'm keeping my fingers crossed.
 

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I had a similar problem. I have a 15 foot pool and the sparrow birds would land on my solar cover and just drink the pool or rain water and then poop everywhere on the cover or the rails. When we know we won't be using the pool for a few days we put bird netting up so they can't land on the solar cover and pull the bird netting tight. It works good for the cover but they still land on the rails walk around and poop. Thankfully they are tiny birds so its not that hard to clean but annoying.

Oh and I'd like to add I open my pool around now, last week in april and just keep the winter cover on until about memorial day to keep out leaves and such. I bring my pool up to the correct levels and run the pump an hour or 2 a day as the water is still cold but it prevents algae. Perfectly fine to 'open' the pool and still leave the cover on.
 
We have a bird, and I forget which one, but it poops in the water to hide it’s home from predators. The ones that poop from their nest leave a pile below that tells the non flying predators to climb the tree. A coworker was overrun with them and he researched it. I have many birds and only this one kind goes after the pool. It’s not random it’s a planned attack.
 
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if i understand your problem correctly then this idea might help some. i'd buy a large innertube and as large of plastic ball as i could, place the ball in the inner tube and float it in middle of pool under tarp. might take two of them to make the tarp not hold water and be a bird bath.
 
I have a large plastic owl that I perch on the rail at the pool ,the first week or so a few birds came by briefly so I move it to stare at a different area and It works. Very little bird poop in the pool.
 
Newdude said:
We have a bird, and I forget which one, but it poops in the water to hide it’s home from predators.

A coworker was overrun with them and he researched it. I have many birds and only this one kind goes after the pool. It’s not random it’s a planned attack.
Click to expand...
Yeah, the grackle or common black bird. :mad::rant:
 
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harleysilo said:
i'd buy a large innertube and as large of plastic ball as i could, place the ball in the inner tube and float it in middle of pool under tarp. might take two of them to make the tarp not hold water and be a bird bath.
Click to expand...
Thanks! Great minds think alike.
We actually put items under the leaf net to hold it away from the winter cover that fills with water. The birds don't see the water thru the net and stay away from the pool. Unless the net touches the water and then they all come swooping in.
So far its working! :whoot:
 
Big Blue 72 said:
I have a large plastic owl that I perch on the rail at the pool ,the first week or so a few birds came by briefly so I move it to stare at a different area and It works. Very little bird poop in the pool.
Click to expand...
We tried this a couple years ago and no luck. We tried the plastic snake and same. My son suggested we use a real snake and I told him then it would keep ME away. :laughblue:
 
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Well, the day after I mused to my boyfriend that maybe the grackles would leave us alone this year (YEAH RIGHT!!! LOL), we got our first fecal sacs on May 3rd. We had partially uncovered the pool last week and got the pump up and running for the season as we were supposed to have our swg installed last week. I did my first tests, got the FC levels up and was going to give it a good brushing, but discovered my brush was shot so I had to order a new one. As there really was nothing more I could do to it after running the robot 4 - 5 times, we put the mesh safety cover back on.

When the sacs started falling on Saturday, we quickly got the blue tarp down over the pool and pool deck. They hit it with a vengeance this morning! lol It has not slowed them down one bit, though I didn't expect it to. What is does is make clean up a breeze and it keeps my safety cover clean. A quick wipe with a towel wet with Chlorox clean-up and it comes right off, no scrubbing required. That surely was not the case when it hit the pool deck, diving board or my pavers last year!

Allegedly, the pool place is coming out tomorrow to do the swg install and I've finally received my brushes. Tomorrow, we'll uncover it again, get it thoroughly brushed, get a few things added (salt and conditioner) and then close it back as soon as possible until this madness is over in June.
IMG_2261.jpg
 
Ok....had to Google "Gackles, fecal sac". Actually kinda interesting. Who knew? Apparently Gackles always drop 'em in water, aim for it it seems. Its the parents cleaning out the nest and they carry off these little poop bombs that the babies have made. The good news for you is that the Gackle population has been dropping.

Maybe your tarp should be green in color, like grass?

Maddie :flower: Yay Audubon Society!
 

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