Animals Hissing In the Chimney?

Question

I live in Grapevine Texas, and every since I moved into this old house, there had been small animals making sounds inside of my Chimney.

The Animal's activity insides the Chimney most prodominately in the Morning and the afternoon, but their schedule is constantly on the change. There are several Animals too judging from the sounds they make, most likely a group or a family with a mother and it's youngsters.

I've first noticed the noises during the summer, and now it's getting progressingly louder and louder, with more hissing and yippings, and Chirping in between. The sound it makes sounds like a small bird, or a small rodent. The thing which scares me the most is when I approaches the Chimney with a hand light (The Chimney is very dark and gloomy, rarely used), it hisses like a snake, louder and louder...then suddently it stops.

So my question is, what kind of animal (If by any possibility) lives inside a house's Chimney, adapted into the harsh climate of Texas, and hisses?

Answer 1

maybe a raccoon?

Answer 2

They are chimney swifts.  I've had them before.  Once they are gone, place a grate or hardware cloth over your chimney to prevent their re-entry.

Answer 3

We call them chimney sweeps in Alabama. They are small birds that live in chimneys.

Answer 4

I agree that the animals in the chimney will be birds, most likely a nest of Chimney Swifts. When you hear the noise get louder and louder and then suddenly stop, that would be when the parent bird arrives with food. The babies beg loudly for food, and then they'll go quiet once they've been fed. This will happen every time the parents bring food back to the nest.

It probably won't be too long until they leave the nest. The fact that they are getting progressively louder is a sign of them getting bigger and stronger.

I don't think there is any real harm in having birds nesting in your chimney. The only possible problem would be if they brought in parasites, but if that happened you would notice, and I don't think it's very likely. I'm no expert though, as I live in Australia and we hardly have any chimneys over here, so I don't have any first hand experience with them.

If you go outside and watch the chimney for a while, you will most likely see the parents coming and going.

Here's a page with some info. about them.

http://www.pathcom.com/~wgbz/birds.htm