Pigeons from my neighbors arena have started hanging out in my barn. How do I keep them away? All feed is closed up in a room and I soak my feed, so there aren’t crumbs laying around. No insulation. I don’t know what’s attracting them. Will a fake owl work?
Good luck. Pigeons are the curse of barns, covered arenas, and the like.
I have them and am about to start the Remington 1100 Solution (“termination with extreme prejudice”) as not much else has worked. I did get a professional out to talk about alternatives. His solution was several thousand dollars worth of “bird spikes.” No.
One thing I might try is trapping and then terminating. There are “Hotel California” cages (you enter and check out; but you can’t leave). You start by putting down a piece of plywood and baiting with with some corn or feed of some sort. Then you put the cage there and just leave it. Then you put the bait in the cage. Then you deal with what you’ve caught.
These things are really prolific and dirty. Killing is not too good for them. Some may find this offensive; for those that do you are welcome to come to my house and try your luck with non-lethal methods. Oh, and clean up a LOT of pigeon shit.
G.
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Airgun practice.
Some here hire high school kids that love to practice their shooting skills.
You have to set clear rules, or you will have pinholes in your walls.
Grain elevators have serious problems with pigeons, that can contaminate whole grain bins.
Every spring we have some try to come live here.
Just saw my first one today, sigh …
Shooting at them sends most away unharmed.
Those that insist to stay, they are shot.
We have some owls that help thin them down fine.
They are no match for flying rats reproduction rates.
A couple pigeon families seems ok, but when their friends come over and it becomes a pigeon city in your barn, that is not ok, the mess and pigeon dust is incredible and not good for horses or humans.
Now, I like birds, even pigeons, neat birds.
We used to have messenger pigeons we raised and raced out of our pigeon coop.
BUT, like any other critter, pigeons have their place and some times they become a pest.
Pigeons in large numbers and in unwelcome places become a health hazard.
In cities they have pigeon control programs just as they have rat control programs.
Just as we would not want to have mice in our pantries, you don’t want pigeons in your barn.
We do have traps, but it is even worse to have to dispose of them in a trap than just shoot them off wherever they perch and you don’t get them all.
I vote airgun patrol to discourage and kill the ones that don’t heed the warnings to move on, please.
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I am fortunate enough to have a farrier and his wife that are very good shots as they bird hunt all the time.
No pigeons here anymore.
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Not much Pigeon population here.
Guess I dodged a bullet on that & will complain less about my resident Starlings.
Well, just a little less… they are equally noisy & pretty messy themselves :mad:
You could try the Fake Owl scare tactic.
Or something like this:
https://www.homedepot.com/p/Bird-X-Bird-Proof-Bird-Repellent-Gel-12-Case-BP-CART/202753546?MERCH=REC--PIPHorizontal2_rr--207004383--202753546--N
We have one of those big fake owls swinging up there.
Pigeons made a big nest right by it.
I think they consider him their protector, have even named him, I bet.
Those owls work best if you move them to different places every day, but eventually quit working.
That sticky stuff is interesting, easier than the spikes, we tried those too.
Any such would take tons of it to cover all the places birds use in a barn.
We have some chicken wire hanging down several feet, helps some, but birds learn to fly under it, most of the time.
When they miss, they flap around it for a while, scaring the horses, that eventually get somewhat bombing bird broke.
Around here there are regular ads on the local craigslist from folks who will trap and remove the pigeons for free. They want the birds to use to train their hunting dogs.
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This. I’m a gun dog trainer and am always looking for pigeons to trap.
Years ago I worked at a government building with large outside window ledges, and we had a huge pigeon problems. They tried owl statues, hot wire on the ledges, metal spikes, and various other methods, and nothing worked. One day someone bombed the building, and that scared the pigeons away for a week, but they came back.
Nothing works but permanent removal. Their pigeon poo is also a severe health hazard too. If anyone gets sick with respiratory symptoms, make sure to mention exposure to the pigeons too.
That going back to their home place is how homing pigeon races work.
You turn your pigeons loose somewhere else, at determined distances for each race and then you write down when they get back home.
That same instinct tends to make permanent removal the only real solution to a pigeon problem.
Thanks everyone. I think I made it uncomfortable enough the first few days that they have decided not to return. Fingers crossed!
Agree about dog trainers; if you have more issues in the future see if you can find a local field dog club. I tried to keep pigeons for my dogs and the hawks decimated them. Maybe I just needed to build an arena… lol.
