I'm going to hang mirrored ribbons on a customer's house tomorrow to deter woodpeckers. How long does everyone recommend leaving them in place? Thanks

Most of the damage comes in the Spring in most cases when establishing nests. However if the client has carpenter bee or other wood infested areas in their soffit or siding they can have an off and on problem year round. I have had a downy woodpecker hitting some old carpenter bee galleries on my log house in the last week. I am glad I was home when it started hammering my logs.

Most jobs with deterrents installed we keep the devices up year round. Then replace them when they wear out if the problem is persistent. Some high wind areas can be hard on some devices that are functioning with swivels of some sort.

I've had good results with these -

https://attackspider.com

However , perfect timing on this post , you can buy basically the same thing much cheaper from a Holloween supply store and everything there gets seriously discounted on November 1st. You can get them dirt cheap.
Birds away gets $20-$30 for the same thing with ADC packaging.

We always left them up after they were installed. I assume the customer left them up. They generally aren’t as clued into seasonal indicators as we are. They probably feel as long as the woodpeckers aren’t there, it’s working.

Same

Thanks fellows. I ordered some deterrents today and will install when they arrive. I'll advise to keep them up year round and install them in an area which meets the job requirements and is asthetically pleasing.

IME, there really isn’t a way to make them aesthetically pleasing. They need to be out in the open where they will be noticed and do their job the best. The least obnoxious ones may be small, but still redirect light and make it look like you have strobe lights flashing over the side of the house.

I like that aesthetically pleasing, pleasing or not, they have to go up. I've had some that I wouldn't want to go back on to remove.