Pigeons in barns need to be run off.
They are a serious health hazard to all, cats, horses and humans and so very messy.
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flying rats
Love your update on Silo! That is so sweet that he trusts you now. Warms my heart. Good job!
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I am so happy to hear this! Purrs to Silo!
I know that. How do you suppose I do it??
Thankfully my horses are in a different barn.
Good, glad that kitten is getting so mellow and sweet. 
Yes - normally Iām a live and let live person, but having gone through histoplasmosis with two cats, I take bird populations very seriously.
Yes, I am in 100% agreement but how do you get rid of them?
My sons could easily shoot them but you risk putting holes in the barn roof.
Maybe this arctic cold will stop their little heartsā¦
My ex husband was a facilities manager. He used to kill pigeons by setting out bowls of uncooked white rice. The uncooked rice when ingested expands inside the bird and kills it. He put the bowls out on rooftops of buildings where nobody could see them and never told anyone how he got rid of the campus pigeons. This method will also kill mourning doves or any pretty much any other birds that eat the same foods as doves. Alka Seltzer tablets are also supposed to work. But he did a test run of that in our backyard and no pigeons would eat the tablets.
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@TC3200 If I can get up the courage ( that sounds awful and I am a big softy at heart) I think I will try that up in my barn loft. I have a couple pigeons who are eating the cats food at an alarming rate .
I had mild success by moving the feeding spot, putting the kibble in a cage and blocking the opening, somewhat but they are so unafraid they just walk all around until the figure it out.
No threats to a cat having uncooked rice out?
My cats have kibble round the clock and get wet food AM/PM , so I doubt they would do more than sniff it.
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Every source I can find says that any danger of uncooked rice to birds is a myth. Has he really found dead pigeons lying around after feeding it?
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It might be a myth . I put some out in the loft last night in the same type of 2 bowl feeder the cats have kibble in. All I saw was a wet spot in it and some scooped onto the floor. I think one of the cats tried to use it as a litter box 
Pigeons were up on top of the big tractor cab looking into the loft so I switched tactics and mixed the rice with a minuscule amount of the goat feed ( they are fond of) and just put it on top of the cab ( in a small pile no feeder) and will see what happens.
If they just left the kibble alone I wouldnāt be doing this.
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Didnāt we all have to stop throwing rice at weddings because birds would eat it and as the rice exploded, it killed the birds?
Does rice work on rodents? After the rats chewed a hole in my oat bin I found a couple of dead mice nearby. We donāt poison anymore. I wondered if they ate themselves to death.
Because urban legend or no, people believed it!
That is what I was thinking too.
Anyways, with our gale force South winds all the rice on top of the tractor cab blew off yesterday. I could see the rice grains all over the ground around the tractor this morning( sigh) but I did see pigeons up there pecking away at what was left up there when I was feeding the cats.
I put a heaping pile in a plastic cat food dish and stuck it back up there and we will see what happens. If they eat it and remain happy and carefree we can at least know if it is true or mythā¦
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My campus hired a raptor person who came very early in the morning and/or on weekends but some PETA type saw him and raised a fuss. Meanwhile they put out poison for the rats/mice. I think they may have gone to sneaking out poison for the birds as well after the raptor fuss.
I ride at a barn that puts a cage trap on top of a barn roof and lures pigeons in there somehow. Someone comes and takes them away to God knows where. But there are people that climb up there and release them before he gets there.
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Pigeon update.
They donāt seem particularly fond of the rice, although some was gone. I used some Uncle Bens that I had left this morning and filled the 2 bowl dish full. I had 10 of them up there eating(it looked like) so I will see what happens. If it works how long does it take.
I really have mixed feelings about the rice working. I hope it does but then I hope it doesnāt? My pigeons seem so happy to be living here 
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Pigeons are nothing more than flying rats who cr@p everywhere and destroy insulation. Iād gladly take a BB gun to their @sses if I could shoot.
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They wonāt eat the rice so I think a pellet gun is in their future. They are so unafraid of me I about got flown into this morning!
They are surprisingly clean and thankfully not roosting above and pooping on my square bales, but yes they have got to go.
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