How do you guys deal with birds in chimneys? I have had several calls for this in the last few years, I’ve done all kinds of things to get them out, but wondering what others do.

wws

i have used an owl decoy to deter them with chimney caps

I can usually reach in and grab them. At least with birds, no heavy gloves are needed. Sometimes you just have to let them fly out through the fireplace. It seems every fireplace is different, big, small, tight.
I've taken sparrows, starlings, grackles, doves, flickers, 8 or 9 wood ducks, 1 dead black vulture, and a seagull out of chimneys of all sizes. Probably a couple other varieties too. Not to mention the flyers, bats, grays and raccoons. No owl yet. Follow up with a chimney cap.

Today I had a flicker, it was about 12-13 feet down a 6 inch metal chimney, of course it had a bend at the bottom so the bird could disappear on me. I tried a snare on a long pole no luck for well over an hour. If the bird went down out of sight it would come back if we rattled the flap from inside.

Ended up fastening a glue rat pad to a couple 1x2’s screwed together. Dropped it down and had it stuck pretty fast. Pulled it up and out, used some Pan cooking spray to help release. It flew off so hope all is well. We did screen off the opening with a cap.

Customer was amazed that I could figure out a plan, and it worked so fast. You just never know when you get a call what it’s going to look like. By the way it was about 30 feet off the ground too.

wws

My experiences are about the same as Brian's.

One interesting , difficult call I had was with a squirrel in a fireplace with a prefab insert that was installed improperly with the provided metal flue terminated just above the masonry firebox. This gave the squirrel a place to hide in-between the conventional fireplace and the metal insert. Tried a bunch of traps , but no luck. Removing the insert was a very difficult job that would have taken hours.

Finally I went ballistic. Put a net over the top of the chimney while standing on the roof. I took a small firecracker and dropped it in from above like a depth charge. Squirrel came out of there at light speed right into my net.

Removed the squirrel and capped the chimney. Referred the homeowner to a fire place / insert installer to have the insert pulled out to check for nesting material behind it and get the metal flue properly extended to the top of the masonry chimney.

this summer have had a lot of bird calls in dryer and bathroom vents the ones that come out the side of the house

We do about 240 houses a year with this type of issue

I pass….I won’t do birds in a firebox.
except for Swifts, then a constructed cap that allows them to vacate.

I've done a bunch too. I keep dryer vent covers on the truck always.

Pro tip -
Sell covers and the install on every job. Even non related calls like moles , groundhogs or a skunk call.
Great add on , very easy to sell , adds real value to the customer.