PIGEONS!!@*!!!

[altermetoday]

I have an old stone cottage on my farm that one day I’d like to finish…its basically just a storage building. Pigeons broke window panes in a window that is basically 3 stories up on the outside and 2 stories up on the inside… I didn’t notice this for awhile and when I finally did I had nine pigeons living in there!

My friend came out and replaced the window and we thought we had them all out. I’m pretty sure we did, but this morning I had 4 inside the cottage again. They must have come in through the chimney. There is a hole inside where the woodstove used to go so that is the only way i can think of they got in.

Managed to chase two out and stuffed a saddle pad in the hole for now hoping they won’t see light and won’t be tempted to come down again until I can figure out how to seal the hole.

Two pigeons are still inside and I can’t get them out… I closed up the door hoping they would come out of hiding and then maybe i can have more success flushing them out… I’m also semi closing up my barn with just enough open for air flow… my horses have dutch doors so they won’t die… am closing it at night too to prevent more invasions.

How do you get rid of these annoying birds???

[Guilherme]

The only good pigeon is a dead pigeon.

I saw one of our Wildlife Officers yesterday when I was working at the courthouse and asked him about pigeon elimination in TN. I have a good sized flock that has take up residence at one end of my riding arena. He said I could kill them any way I wanted to and I would likely have to do that because pigeons home as part of their normal instinctive behaviors. Running them off will work in the short term but they’ll be back.

He said I can shoot them at will (and I have 12ga. magnum Remington shotgun with a 32 in. barrel designed for bird hunting). I can trap them (and just bought a live trap that will hold a dozen or so birds; when the trap is full he said to immerse it in a tub of water as that will kill the birds but not soil the trap). When I asked about using D-Con or some other poison he hesitated and said that was not prohibited per se, but that if the poisoned birds caused problems in the food chain then The Authorities might be upset. In TN this is not a hard and fast issue, but is a potential one. He said if that was the ONLY way that effective control could be achieved then it’s not unlawful but frowned upon.

He again emphasized that “catch and release” won’t work as they will come back. They are PIGEONS. It’s what they do!!!

So we are going to go with the live trap as primary, the shotgun secondary. D-Con is on the list but in third place.

Good luck in your program. These birds are very difficult to eliminate and can cause real damage if they get out of control.

G.

[Bluey]

BB gun works very well.

Once some make themselves at home, you will have a problem forever and ever, as their offspring and friends will keep trying to homestead again, for years.

We have right now a resident couple of small owls that has kept pigeons moving on, the ones they don’t eat first.

[altermetoday]

@Bluey

BB gun works very well.

Once some make themselves at home, you will have a problem forever and ever, as their offspring and friends will keep trying to homestead again, for years.

We have right now a resident couple of small owls that has kept pigeons moving on, the ones they don’t eat first.

Lovely… they are sooo annoying. There is poop all over that cottage… so disgusting.

[JanM]

You need to have the chimney cleaned, and then have a real cap put on it. Anything could take up residency in the chimney, and then get into the house. Nothing gets rid of pigeons, except eliminating them.

[merrygoround]

Using a flash light and a salmon net at night will help snare them. Disposal is another problem.

[DiamondJubilee]

I agree with others. We just bought a BB gun and went shooting. They have all vanished…They were super messy in our loft and pooped all over our hay. There really isnt any other way to get rid of them but to kill them. The best time to shoot them is at night with a light. They don’t move at all.

[altermetoday]

Ok…well this sounds awful but I’m tempted to put my cats in the cottage. Without some water and them roosting at night my one cat would get them. I don’t have a gun.?now re reading this it sounds cruel. Not sure I can do that…ugh

[altermetoday]

But my cat has caught other birds in there without me knowing…

[CHT]

Death by cat is better than death by dehydration/starvation. Shooting them in an enclosed cottage sounds dangerous. Alternative would be a trap (if you could drown them… I couldn’t), although poison in a closed building if you dispose of them responsibly, might be the easiest.

[TMares]

Net them and drown them in a bucket. Done. Seal all entries.

[cloudyandcallie]

My Jamaican friend in Atlanta said pigeons are rats with feathers. I’m not talking about the racing homing pigeons who once got lost and came to our barn. Our barnowner called a local pigeon club and someone came out and collected the birds before Hawks and barn cats could collect them. My friend was talking about the pigeons who lived in filth in the city at our courthouse and next door in Underground Atlanta.

[cloudyandcallie]

Do not let your cat near a pigeon or near pigeon scat

Cryptococossis can kill. I spent over $20000.00 in the mid 80s to save one of my cats when I tracked disease home from downtown. Dominique survived and lived to be 18 as she was in the UGA experiment with ketaconazole
you do not want your cats to go thru daily iv treatment for a year plus a stomach tube etc. Cats and dogs and horses and humans can get crypto from pigeons.

[TMares]

Net them and drown them in a bucket. Done. Seal all entries.

[Unfforgettable]

Put an ad on craigslist or a Facebook group that you have pigeons free for the trapping. Gun dog trainers love to collect them for training birds.

[altermetoday]

@cloudyandcallie

Do not let your cat near a pigeon or near pigeon scat

Cryptococossis can kill. I spent over $20000.00 in the mid 80s to save one of my cats when I tracked disease home from downtown. Dominique survived and lived to be 18 as she was in the UGA experiment with ketaconazole
you do not want your cats to go thru daily iv treatment for a year plus a stomach tube etc. Cats and dogs and horses and humans can get crypto from pigeons.

I had never heard of this… how is it contracted? There is shit everywhere in that cottage. Omg

[Bluey]

@altermetoday

I had never heard of this… how is it contracted? There is shit everywhere in that cottage. Omg

Also histoplasmosis, people in cities where pigeons are a problem, yes, flying rats, can contract that and get very sick, go blind and some used to die.
Today it can be medicated for, if diagnosed properly.
Mostly people with compromised immune systems get very sick, most others infected just get flu type sickness.

Those pathologic organism are everywhere, but more in bird, especially pigeon droppings.

[altermetoday]

@Bluey

Also histoplasmosis, people in cities where pigeons are a problem, yes, flying rats, can contract that and get very sick, go blind and some used to die.
Today it can be medicated for, if diagnosed properly.
Mostly people with compromised immune systems get very sick, most others infected just get flu type sickness.

Those pathologic organism are everywhere, but more in bird, especially pigeon droppings.

My contractor friend just told me to use a mask… but I’ve got a couple people on point to help me with this issue… trying to figure out when they can come. I could probably do it, but my insurance sucks and I’d rather pay someone to do it for me than have huge doctor bills.

I found a bird company but they haven’t called me back yet… we will see what they say… then a contractor in the area said he could do it…so hopefully it won’t be a million dollars.

[cloudyandcallie]

@altermetoday

I had never heard of this… how is it contracted? There is shit everywhere in that cottage. Omg

In various ways like inhaling it or entering thru a scratch. You need to be careful with your animals and family.

[JanM]

If anyone gets sick, then the doctors need to know you have been exposed to bird guano, or that there are rodents around (hantavirus).