Chimney + Dead bird = Flies

[GingerNinja]

I suffered from this a few months ago, some poor bird mustve got trapped in my chimney and died or fell down there somehow, this ultimately resulted in 100's of flies all over the downstairs of my house..... pretty disgusting I have to say.

I have no idea how rare this is but I want to prevent this happening in the future. I've heard that you can put a big wire mesh ball in the chimney pot to prevent this from happening... is this a good solution, what else should I consider doing about this?

 

[kevin34]

you need to put a cowl in, this depends on which type of fire you have im assuming you have a gas fire ?. there are 2 diffrent types so depends on which type yopu have a local builders merchants will be able to tell you.

though gathering your getting flies in im thinking you either have a open fire or a disused one, if its disused then its simple a matter of capping it off, if open flame then a wire mesh can be positioned over the pot.

 

[GingerNinja]

I have a disused fire place that now has a gas fire in front of it, so I would still need the ventialtion.

I assume based on this capping it wouldnt be such a good idea?