Resources - IFSQN

I have been subscribing to and taking part in disucssions around pest control issues at the International Food Safety and Quality Network for a couple for years (on and off!).  I can highly recommend all active pest controllers and those interested in pest control to check out this informative and useful resource.

www.ifsqn.com

Problems with songbirds?

So, you get a call from your customer and they tell you they have a Robin, or a Wagtail or Swallows in or around the factory. What are you going to do?

The problem is, of course, that these species are protected under the new amendments to the Countryside and Wildlife Act. It is difficult or impossible to get a license to destroy them and the emotive content to doing so could be so high that the customer may not want you to.

That leaves you with a problem.  You have site where birds are causing problems, possibly fouling products. What can you do?

Often, I'm afraid the answer is going to be - 'nothing'. The site is going to have to manage their way around the presence of the birds. But depending upon the species, and time of year, there are a few things you should think about.

Easiest of all is the winter/spring Robin. This birds (irrespective of sex) poses a problem when it gets into a site (often a warehouse) and effectively sets up residence there. The Robin is especially territorial and will defned its space against all comers. We can use this. You may feel a bit funny, but I promise it works!

Download a version of the Robin's territorial call. Get it into a form you can replay it over a speaker (from a laptop, or a boombox). Get a ball of red wool or a tennis ball covered in red cloth and stick it onto a small stand (vertical dowling on a stand - about 9 inches high) with a string attached to the base to allow it to be dragged to a new position. Place the red lure (our pretend robin) close to the doors and play the call. The resident robin should investigate and will probably attack the lure. Once that happens slowly move the lure outside the open door. Once the resident bird is outside get the door closed. Now KEEP IT CLOSED at least overnight, and preferably for 2 days. 

I have done this, and others to whom I have suggested the method have been successful.

Let me know if it works for you.

More next blog on other species,

Training and more training.

It's currently a very interesting time for me with training in both directions going on! I have just completed a new short module on Pest Awareness and Rodent Control for delivery to our clients. This will assist them with BRC v6, and helps them to help us as well.

I have also just completed some on-line Hygiene training, my SPA renewal, and have a BPCA exam coming up. I seem to spend most of my time either delievering or receiving some form of training.

Training is absolutely crucial to any business, but is especially important for a  pest control business. We are essentially Lone Workers, and that makes supervision difficult and sometimes more ad-hoc than we'd like. So having formal training courses and revision sessions is essential to meet our responsibilities to our staff and to our clients.

The delivery of training can take anything from an hour to a week at a time, but preparing for it takes so much longer. I remember being told to allow a day prep time for an hours speaking - I guess that's about right.

So off now to do some studying, and to start preparing two more courses!

 

It's Tuesday so it must be Holland.

Just completed an audit at a site in Holland. Four days of inspecting machines and building fabric. Everything went really well for most of the inspection. Machinery and general fabric was cleaner than I've seen it, and levels of insect pest activity were minor, with no product risks at all.

Then I started looking in wall spaces and under floors and found a number of locations with mouse activity. Droppings in large numbers under the floors especially. Many of these Dutch factories have a floated concrete floor, or a concrete slab floor set on a sand base. Mice burrow underneath, and can get into wall spaces and follow cable runs into the factory.

What makes this particular situation unusual is that the area of the Netherlands concerned is, like much of England, suffering from low rainfall. This means that a sub-floor normally damp, and not liked by mice has suddenly become an ideal and very dry environment with lots of burrowing space. Hence, very large numbers of droppings present!

Fortunately, I have spotted this before the mice could get access to the wall cavities, but I am worried about what will happen if the weather changes and water table levels start to rise. This could push mice into the building quite rapidly. 

Pest controllers on site have been advised to get plenty (recoverable) bait in place. Let's hope they do so.

This is a classic case of changing environmental conditions allowing mice to exploit a location they have not really used before.

End of an era

Funny when a contract finishes - especially one that has lasted a long time.

I've just finished working at a large factory I've serviced for nearly twelve years. Lots of good friends there and loads of memories - some good, some not so.

Like the time we did some Thermokil work there are the plastic band end warped. Panic all round. Once it cooled down everything was OK, but it was a very tense few hours. Loads of pest issues associated with plant, hygiene and managing systems. I've learned a lot on how equipment works, and developed some theoretical and practical methods and systems based on that acquired knowledge.

The strangest part is knowing I'll be driving past the plant quite frequently, but will no longer be responsible for the pest control there. Not sure how that will feel. Mind you, it's not like I don't have plenty of other work to keep me occupied!!

Fly Killers

Just spent the day servicing fly killers - changing tubes, boards and counting flies. 130 stairs up to the highest unit in the factory!!

Anybody know how to get the smell of fly dust off your hands??

Euorpean pest control

So here I am in the Netherlands doing an audit on a site with a history of pest problems.

What do I find, but exactly what I blogged about yesterday. Evidence of mice all over the high levels, wall heads, roof voids, and roofs. Some signs that the incumbent pest control company (a big one!) has at least looked in a few of these locations, but many places with droppings, smear marks and urine trails that have not been checked.

I must admit to being surprised by the sheer number of lick-marks I'm finding on the floors of roof voids. Mice have clearly been exploiting dust spillages in these places. Possibly because the rest of the factory is wonderfully clean. This would be a really easy site to keep clear and show that it was clear, if the PCOs concerned just thought about where mice live!

Lick Marks along a roof beam.