For a while now we have had two birds making a nest in the space between our roof and our kitchen ceiling, right above the sink. We have been meaning to go out and seal up the screen that they broke to get in, but we just hadn't got around to it. Now I am really wishing we would have done it!
Yesterday morning I heard the usual scratching above the sink, but then I heard a new sound...coming from above the microwave. From what it sounded like, something was stuck in the fan vent above the microwave. I figured it had to be one of the birds, although I have no idea how it managed to get into the vent (its covered from the outside). I decided to call around to try to find someone who could come remove it, but the only place I found that dealt with birds wanted $300!!! Since I wasn't about to pay that much for someone else to do the dirty work, I started thinking of how I could get the bird out. I figured I would go through the attic, and went to ask the neighbors to borrow their flashlight since our batteries were dead in ours. The husband came over and climbed into the attic with me and we quickly determined that it would be next to impossible to get to the bird through there. So we came back downstairs and started fiddling with the microwave. His wife came over to give us a hand and we decided that the only thing to do was remove the built in microwave. So we undid the two screws that held it into the cabinet and the microwave tilted forward and the bird fell out of the vent! Unfortunately, he landed right behind the microwave. And we quickly realized that the microwave wasn't going anywhere. Apparently there is a back panel that is screwed to the wall, and it has a lip on it that holds the bottom of the microwave on. There was no way to get the microwave out unless we pushed it back against the wall and then lifted up...which we couldn't do without squishing the bird. So, we decided to give him some breathing room, and hopefully he would be able to wiggle out. He had managed to get back up to the top, but couldn't or wouldn't crawl through. I took this picture:
And opened the back door (so he could fly out of the house if he unstuck himself) and we all left the house. I checked about 15 minutes later, and the bird was still in the kitchen...and so were these guys:
I shooed them out, and gave the bird some more time, until it became apparent that he was totally stuck. For the next 4 hours I tried everything I could think of to get the little guy out. Problem was that the space between the top of the microwave and the bottom of the cupboard was only about 1 inch tall, not much space to maneuver. The poor bird was getting quieter and quieter, and not trying nearly as hard as he had been to get out. By the time Matthew got home at 6:30, he wasn't making any noises at all. The neighbors came back over and we decided to have the guys try to lift the microwave out, knowing that the bird might be squished, but we couldn't figure out any other way. They tried, and sure enough....that was the last we heard of the bird. That's about when we noticed that we were up against an impossible task - looking closely at the dimensions of the cupboards and the microwave it became obvious that the microwave had been installed before the cupboards and there was no wiggle room to lift the thing out of its slot. DAMN! So now we had a dead bird trapped behind a microwave that wasn't going anywhere. Our last option? Going through the cupboard above. We were all sad to do it, but with the neighbors giving us a hand, we drilled, hammered and sawed through the top left part of the cupboard. Contorting myself, I peered down the hole with a flashlight only to realize...the bird wasn't on that side. Seriously? What else could go wrong?! With no other choice, we drilled, hammered and sawed through the cupboard on the right side. Finally, the bird was found. Now, how to get it out? We tried a wire coat hanger, we tried (don't laugh!) a vacuum, we tried skewers (at this point, we didn't care how it got out). After 45 minutes or so of trying to get it out, and having no luck I finally realized that we were going to have to make the hole bigger and ask Killian to reach down and get the bird. He was a little unsure and had to get gloves on both hands but he finally reached down and came up with a wing!! I gave him a hand, jimmied the bird through the hole and our ordeal was over. I was going to post a picture of the poor little creature, but decided that might be a little over the top. So instead, here is a picture of our newly ventilated cupboard!
The holes aren't really that bad, and we just keep cookbooks and measuring cups up there anyways, so nothing is affected by them. It was just a very sad, frustrating day. I know I couldn't have done anything else than what I did to try to get him out, but I really wish that the outcome had been different. We closed up the hole that they used to go into the attic, so hopefully we wont have the same problem ever again. But if we do, now we have handy access holes to behind the microwave ;)
Yesterday morning I heard the usual scratching above the sink, but then I heard a new sound...coming from above the microwave. From what it sounded like, something was stuck in the fan vent above the microwave. I figured it had to be one of the birds, although I have no idea how it managed to get into the vent (its covered from the outside). I decided to call around to try to find someone who could come remove it, but the only place I found that dealt with birds wanted $300!!! Since I wasn't about to pay that much for someone else to do the dirty work, I started thinking of how I could get the bird out. I figured I would go through the attic, and went to ask the neighbors to borrow their flashlight since our batteries were dead in ours. The husband came over and climbed into the attic with me and we quickly determined that it would be next to impossible to get to the bird through there. So we came back downstairs and started fiddling with the microwave. His wife came over to give us a hand and we decided that the only thing to do was remove the built in microwave. So we undid the two screws that held it into the cabinet and the microwave tilted forward and the bird fell out of the vent! Unfortunately, he landed right behind the microwave. And we quickly realized that the microwave wasn't going anywhere. Apparently there is a back panel that is screwed to the wall, and it has a lip on it that holds the bottom of the microwave on. There was no way to get the microwave out unless we pushed it back against the wall and then lifted up...which we couldn't do without squishing the bird. So, we decided to give him some breathing room, and hopefully he would be able to wiggle out. He had managed to get back up to the top, but couldn't or wouldn't crawl through. I took this picture:
And opened the back door (so he could fly out of the house if he unstuck himself) and we all left the house. I checked about 15 minutes later, and the bird was still in the kitchen...and so were these guys:
I shooed them out, and gave the bird some more time, until it became apparent that he was totally stuck. For the next 4 hours I tried everything I could think of to get the little guy out. Problem was that the space between the top of the microwave and the bottom of the cupboard was only about 1 inch tall, not much space to maneuver. The poor bird was getting quieter and quieter, and not trying nearly as hard as he had been to get out. By the time Matthew got home at 6:30, he wasn't making any noises at all. The neighbors came back over and we decided to have the guys try to lift the microwave out, knowing that the bird might be squished, but we couldn't figure out any other way. They tried, and sure enough....that was the last we heard of the bird. That's about when we noticed that we were up against an impossible task - looking closely at the dimensions of the cupboards and the microwave it became obvious that the microwave had been installed before the cupboards and there was no wiggle room to lift the thing out of its slot. DAMN! So now we had a dead bird trapped behind a microwave that wasn't going anywhere. Our last option? Going through the cupboard above. We were all sad to do it, but with the neighbors giving us a hand, we drilled, hammered and sawed through the top left part of the cupboard. Contorting myself, I peered down the hole with a flashlight only to realize...the bird wasn't on that side. Seriously? What else could go wrong?! With no other choice, we drilled, hammered and sawed through the cupboard on the right side. Finally, the bird was found. Now, how to get it out? We tried a wire coat hanger, we tried (don't laugh!) a vacuum, we tried skewers (at this point, we didn't care how it got out). After 45 minutes or so of trying to get it out, and having no luck I finally realized that we were going to have to make the hole bigger and ask Killian to reach down and get the bird. He was a little unsure and had to get gloves on both hands but he finally reached down and came up with a wing!! I gave him a hand, jimmied the bird through the hole and our ordeal was over. I was going to post a picture of the poor little creature, but decided that might be a little over the top. So instead, here is a picture of our newly ventilated cupboard!
The holes aren't really that bad, and we just keep cookbooks and measuring cups up there anyways, so nothing is affected by them. It was just a very sad, frustrating day. I know I couldn't have done anything else than what I did to try to get him out, but I really wish that the outcome had been different. We closed up the hole that they used to go into the attic, so hopefully we wont have the same problem ever again. But if we do, now we have handy access holes to behind the microwave ;)