Don't wait for a wildlife removal bill. Browse our custom chimney caps → — custom fabricated to cover your entire chimney top. Ships anywhere in the USA.
If you've been hearing scratching, chirping, or rustling coming from your fireplace or chimney, you're not imagining it. Something moved in. And spring is peak season for exactly this problem.
What's Living in Your Chimney
The most common uninvited chimney guests in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic are:
Chimney Swifts — small birds that are federally protected under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act. Once they nest in your chimney you legally cannot disturb them until the young have fledged. That can mean 6–8 weeks of chirping, scratching, and waiting.
Raccoons — a mother raccoon will climb into an uncapped flue and give birth on the smoke shelf. Removal requires a wildlife professional and typically costs $300–$600 or more. Raccoon roundworm is a serious health hazard.
Squirrels — they fall in more often than they climb in intentionally, but once they're in they can't get out on their own. A squirrel trapped in a flue will eventually die there if not removed.
Starlings and sparrows — common nesters that build directly in the flue, blocking airflow and creating a fire hazard from accumulated nesting material.
All of them have one thing in common: they got in because the top of the flue was open. A chimney cap — also called a chimney topper, chimney rain cap, or chimney cover — is what closes it for good.
Why Spring Is Peak Season
Animals are looking for nesting sites from late March through May. A warm, dry, protected cavity that smells like it hasn't been used in months is exactly what they're looking for. An uncapped chimney flue is ideal — protected from rain, hidden from predators, and warm from residual heat rising from the house.
By the time you hear the scratching, they've already settled in.
The $500 Wildlife Removal Bill
Wildlife removal isn't cheap. A raccoon family runs $300–$600 minimum. If an animal dies in the flue, odor remediation adds to that. Chimney Swift situations — where you legally have to wait them out — can mean weeks of noise and the inability to use your fireplace.
A custom chimney cap with a stainless steel spark screen costs a fraction of one wildlife removal call — and it lasts decades.
What a Proper Cap Does
Every cap we build at Archaic Metal includes a stainless steel spark screen that completely encloses the flue opening. Animals can't get past it. Rain can't get in. And unlike the thin mesh on store-bought caps, ours is built to stay intact through decades of weather and temperature cycling.
The cap also covers the entire chimney crown — not just the flue tile — so water damage and freeze-thaw cracking are protected at the same time. One cap solves multiple problems at once.
Already Have Animals in There?
If something is already in your chimney, get them out first before installing a cap — you don't want to trap an animal inside. For chimney swifts, you'll need to wait until the young have left. For raccoons and squirrels, call a licensed wildlife removal service.
Once the flue is clear, get a cap on it immediately. They will come back next spring if the opening is still there.
Not sure how to measure for a cap? Check our measuring guide → or call or text Sean at (609)352-9840.
Browse our custom chimney caps → — custom fabricated to cover your entire chimney top. Ships anywhere in the USA.
Sean has 32 years of experience fabricating and installing sheet metal components, copper roofing, and custom architectural metalwork — including historic preservation projects on schools, churches, and government buildings. Every cap that ships from Archaic Metal is built by hand in New Jersey.