stopping woodpeckers

[gwolf001]

what does other utilitys do to stop woodpeckers from tearing up poles, we wrap the poles, set steels poles where we have big problems with woodpeckers. i had an old lienman tell me he has been nailing a small piece of alumnum tirewire to the crossarms, he said he has been doing this for the last 20+ years and the woodpeckers will not touch that poles. has anyone else heard of this. does anyone else know what will stop them? besides driving around with a gun. that kinda tears up the pole if you miss.

[reppy007]

what does other utilitys do to stop woodpeckers from tearing up poles, we wrap the poles, set steels poles where we have big problems with woodpeckers. i had an old lienman tell me he has been nailing a small piece of alumnum tirewire to the crossarms, he said he has been doing this for the last 20+ years and the woodpeckers will not touch that poles. has anyone else heard of this. does anyone else know what will stop them? besides driving around with a gun. that kinda tears up the pole if you miss.

you do know what that old lineman was doing .............dont you?

[gwolf001]

he told me that if you nail it to the pole and let lt dangle when the woodpecker pecks the vibraction will cause the bird to fly off, sounds like a load of crap but he swears by it

[birdog37]

Never heard of such a thing......But always willing to try.We would hard ware cloth the poles top to about 5ft off ground.{Chicken wire}If you go much lower the cows really like it for a back scratcher.Tear it off.Climbing these poles is really hard on the sleeves of your clothes.Be sure to go to top some people don't think woodpeckers fly very high but Ill tell you the static wires can't hold much when they bore threw @ the top.

[Swamprat]

Never heard of such a thing......But always willing to try.We would hard ware cloth the poles top to about 5ft off ground.{Chicken wire}If you go much lower the cows really like it for a back scratcher.Tear it off.Climbing these poles is really hard on the sleeves of your clothes.Be sure to go to top some people don't think woodpeckers fly very high but Ill tell you the static wires can't hold much when they bore threw @ the top.

That sounds interesting...but expensive.

Actually the Utilitys and Corps I've worked for, it had much more to do with the INSPECTORS, and how much they inspected and paid attention their systems. Ya need to know where's there a problem, to Fix it.

I'm not sure, what they're doin Nowdays to prevent woodpecker "assaults" on Powerpoles, aside from the "New Treatments" of the Wood poles, which supposidly make the poles "Nasty" to woodpeckers.

It use to break my heart to get a "Job" to go fill a "Woodpecker hole in a pole", with that hard "Foam ****" back in the day.
3 times out of 5...that **** hole had babys in the hole....Every time, I said, "No. I ain't doin that ****".

[Pootnaigle]

Hardware cloth does very little good if the existing holes aint filled with sumpin first.It also will literally eat a safety or skid as some call em.WE used roofing cement( tar) and wooden paddles to fill em in, and then wrapped the hardware cloth down to about 10 feet from the base. I was told wayyyyyyyyyy back there that if a feller wanted to get rich all he needed to do was find a better way to deter them pekkerwoods.I was also told that the wind caused a slight vibration on the conductors and that was transferred to the pole and made the wood peckers think there were worms or sumpin crawlin around in the pole.But the holes they make are definately a safety hazard. I have seen flying squirrels, and snakes hanging out innem.Just imagine placing your unexpecting lil hand over a pekkerwood hole thats fulla sumpin tryin to get out as ya free climb.Its un nerving to say the least.

[Swamprat]

I was told wayyyyyyyyyy back there that if a feller wanted to get rich all he needed to do was find a better way to deter them pekkerwoods.I was also told that the wind caused a slight vibration on the conductors and that was transferred to the pole and made the wood peckers think there were worms or sumpin crawlin around in the pole.

That's interesting as he$l poot.

Had a pole, that was actually too shot to even, with the woodpecker hole... to try and "Fill".' The pole was Trash.

Told em "No, this pole ain't happenin, it's 75% gone...fill, ain't gonna do it." We were told to "Replace the pole".
Hatched babies in the nest and all ...

We replaced the pole.

Cut off the 5' section of the old pole that held the woodpecker nest, and strapped it to the New pole. It was a straight, 3 Phase, run pole.
No, it was not "approved". Fu$k em. Never even asked...

Did manage to stay on that contract to see the Birds, actualy leave their relocated nest.

Don't know what happened to the 5' section of that pole, with the nest we attatched to the new pole. For all I know...It's still there.
:cool:

[Lineman North Florida]

We use a slick black plastic that comes in rolls about 30' long, start about 10' to 15' off the ground and go to the top, they seem to have a hard time getting a grip on it to peck, as stated earlier we have had success cutting the old pole piece out with the nest in it and either banding it or bolting it to the new pole, seems like with most if you leave their home intact they won't try to hard to blast a new hole, have seen the hardware cloth in Louisiana it's rough on your arms and as others have said rough on your safety.

[gwolf001]

thanks guys for the information. in our area we have what they call wood hens, they are about the size of a chicken. they will peck a 6' hole in a class 3 pole in about half a day we had a job one time to go out and fill hole and wrap with wire. came back the next day and the damm thing pecked thru the wire and made a new hole. need someone to train the to peck off the limbs that grow into our right of way:)

[bren guzzi]

Woodpeckers caused our job today in lochness Scotland.

They seem to be a GLOBAL problem. :(

Pictures of they woodpecker effect.

[reppy007]

Woodpeckers caused our job today in lochness Scotland.

They seem to be a GLOBAL problem. :(

Pictures of they woodpecker effect.

Bren,i have a hole inside my out-house,those woodpeckers must have made it,care to build me a new one?

[rob8210]

I have changed out quite a few woodpecker poles when I was on projects with Hydro One. They tried that black plastic wrap, pecker wrap we called it. We had some success. If they can't find something to stand on they can't bore any holes. One day we tried bolting the piece with the pecker hole to the new pole, that was 4 or 5 years ago and since its close to home I go by that way once in a while. Well it seems to have kept the buggers from doing damage to the new pole.

[bluestreak]

Back in the fifty's in Conn. they started to put 1/2 in. hardware cloth (chickenwire) from top to eight or ten feet off the ground on the 69 and 115 pole lines it kept the pecker's from building nesting holes. Then in the mid sixty's on 345 lines only they started using that black slippery plastic wrap. That stuff was a real pain to climb over, most of it blew off in the wind after a few years. In the eighty's we started using a sand mix epoxy to fill the nesting holes and we topped that and the smaller holes with a different epoxy that had bits of chewed up tires so if you happened to put your gaff into the hole it would support your weight without cutting out nowadays they tend to replace poles a little more often instead of repairing them.

[reppy007]

Back in the fifty's in Conn. they started to put 1/2 in. hardware cloth (chickenwire) from top to eight or ten feet off the ground on the 69 and 115 pole lines it kept the pecker's from building nesting holes. Then in the mid sixty's on 345 lines only they started using that black slippery plastic wrap. That stuff was a real pain to climb over, most of it blew off in the wind after a few years. In the eighty's we started using a sand mix epoxy to fill the nesting holes and we topped that and the smaller holes with a different epoxy that had bits of chewed up tires so if you happened to put your gaff into the hole it would support your weight without cutting out nowadays they tend to replace poles a little more often instead of repairing them.

bluestreak,thats been quite awhile huh.........before I was born............good title for a song(BACK IN THE FIFTYS).......we also use hardware cloth......not on every pole just some in the country.........looks like the bird is here to stay,reminds me of that roadrunner cartoon,I always wanted that coyote to catch him,just to see a fight,for all i know he never did catch him.But maybe somebody can make a few bucks off the old poles,I still have one in my backyard that is about 3 1/2 feet high,sitting right buy the birdbath.........holes and all.......I could collect a few and varnish them,and Id bet I could sell the jokers.

[BigClive]

I've always found copper nails to be very effective in stopping woodpeckers. The only hard bit is holding the woodpecker still while you nail it to the pole. :rolleyes:

[reppy007]

I've always found copper nails to be very effective in stopping woodpeckers. The only hard bit is holding the woodpecker still while you nail it to the pole. :rolleyes:

Clive,that still wont work in some places,the woodpeckers have friends in low places these days.......the theives will steal the cooper nails.

[rob8210]

Yeah, not to mention the department of natural resources. The dang things are protected here. We have the pileated ones here too. I just call them Woody

[reppy007]

Yeah, not to mention the department of natural resources. The dang things are protected here. We have the pileated ones here too. I just call them Woody

They might be here too,we need to ask Poot........I do believe a Mockingbird is a protected bird here,its the State bird........now flipping the bird is another story.:D