Totally O/T, but you might be able to help

crazy_horse_12002 · 2006-03-17T14:31:17+00:00

A bird has fallen down my chimney. I am not sure what it is but I thinkit must be much bigger than the occasional starling that appears in thehearth, because it seems to be stuck half way. I thought it had diedyesterday because everything went quiet, but my wife says she heard acouple of fluttering noises early this morning. We cant see it, and arenot quite sure how far down it is. All we have is a pile of soot in thegrate, so it will be a very dirty black bird by now. It could be acollared dove, crow or even a wood pigeon. I try not to imagine thestate of the living room if one of those suddenly bursts out from thefireplace and flies around the room.Is there anything we can do, short of paying a chimney sweep to try andforce it out?Please dont say light the fire and munch the barbecued remains, becauseI prefer to be humane, but it must be dying a slow death up there.And, please, no jokes about being a case of bird flue.

Mar 17, 2006 21 Replies

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DavidN 20 years ago

How DID you get it out in the end? Up or down? Smoke, torch, prodding bamboo? Secret RSPB/CA method you're not allowed to disclose?

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crazy_horse_12002 20 years ago

I rang the RSPCA as suggested further up the thread. By the time the chap arrived the bird must have been not too far from the fireplace, and when the chap tried to grab it by hand the bird panicked so much that after a frenzy of flapping, it came further down, within easy arms length. It was just a question of getting a hand as close as possible in the dark and then grabbing the bird as quickly as possible and pulling it out with the minimum of damage.

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