Pigeon Damage Control

How to Stop Pigeons from living/roosting under dormer

Pigeon Biology

You have essentially two options, although you may need to use both. The first is to install 1/4 inch hardware cloth/wire mesh (not chicken wire) over the gaps caused by dormers and eaves. Pigeons, as you well know love to roost under the protection on an eave. By screening it off, they will no longer be able to loaf there.

Now of course you may be worried about how these wire mesh boxes will look. Although I can't say they will disappear. Painting the mesh, the black or a color similar to the house will go a long way to help them disappear. Mesh certainly looks better than the white/gray pigeon droppings.

For other ledges, installing a ledge product will prevent their roosting. Bird Spikes or Porcupine Wire (this link has been fixed 9/6/02) use spikes to prevent pigeons from roosting on ledges, you cannot use these products on ledges where people's hands can reach. Cost of these products range from around 8 dollars per linear foot plus installation. They are permanent solutions so the cost must be seen against their long term value.

Click for a training manual on Bird Control

Pigeon Control Quackery

Short Term Pigeon Control Solutions and We mean Short Term

Gooey products like Hot foot® and Birds away® are effective in stopping roosting for the short term, ie. less than a year. They also attract dirt and melt in hot weather making potentially quite a mess. Look at the photo to the right. Notice the snake like curve which attracted all that dirt and grime. Animal rights activists also consider them inhumane if that means anything to you. We don't think these products are inhumane per se, however failure to use them properly and failure to monitor them properly can cause some birds to suffer unnecessarily.

Owls , scary-eye balloons and snakes only work for a few days at a time. You can lengthen the time of their effectiveness if you move them around. However the birds soon learn that they are not alive.

Distress Calls and/or predator calls can also work for the short term. However, pigeons can become quickly become habituated to these techiques. Harassment techniques work better when used together. So owl effigies and distress calls should work better together than alone.

Laser Light Harassment:

This is still new technology but it appears that it works at least on geese. As issues of safety, health, and property damage associated with wildlife populations increase, so too does public demand for non-lethal, non-injurious, and environmentally benign solutions to such problems. Recent research conducted bt the U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA) Wildlife Services' (WS) National Wildlife Research Center (NWRC) indicates that relatively low-power, long wavelength lasers (630-650nm "red beam) provide an effective means of dispersing some problem bird species under low-light conditions, while presenting no threat to the animal or environment.

Birds on a Wire

Long Term Pigeon Control

Non-Lethal Pigeon Control

Daddy Longlegs: This device prevents pigeons from loafing or roosting on small areas like lamps, poles etc. Order On-Line

Netting: Netting is the gold standard of bird control including, pigeons. Although the initial cost seems high, quality work and materials will last many years. Plus netting, when done correctly will stop bird access to areas where you don't want them. The downside of netting is that it can only be done on structures and isn't practical for open area situations. Order Netting On-line Scroll down and select the size you need. If this is new to you, we would recommend purchasing a booklet on bird exclusion.

Lethal Pigeon Control

• Shooting can be highly effective. Aim for the head or breast area. Using a flat head pellet shot from a pellet gun can be humane and efficient. Just be sure to follow the gun laws and safe gun practices.
• Trapping is more time consuming but can be effectively done to reduce bird populations. To purchase a pigeon trap click Pigeon Trap Trapping is effective at reducing pigeon populations but one will need to have great patience. Think about trapping for weeks instead of days. One advantage is that you can sell the birds to hunters in some states.
• Chemiosterilants are chemicals that interfere with the pigeon's ability to reproduce. Ornitrol is the name of the only product registered for this use. It sterlized male pigeons for three months and females for six months. Presently, they are not available as they were taken off the market by the manufacturer in 1994. It is still available in Canada. The problem with this technique lies in the several years it can take to see tangible results. Cost may be another downside.
• Use of Trained Hawks: Trained hawks can be a very effective method of controlling pigeons. You probably won't get many killed but you should get flock dispersement through fear. One downside to the plan is sometimes the hawks attack dogs like a Chihuahua. Source "Trained NYC Hawks Attack Chihuahua" by LARRY McSHANE Associated Press, NEW YORK - Trained hawks employed to keep pigeons from making a mess on visitors in a midtown park have been grounded because one of the birds mistook a Chihuahua as its lunch.An 18-inch hawk swooped down and gouged the diminutive pooch with one of its talons while the dog was nosing around in the bushes of Bryant Park, located behind the landmark New York Public Library.ON THE NET Bryant Park: http://www.bryantpark.org/

Lost Pigeons  or Injured Pigeons

click helpingwildlife.php

Diseases

visit http://www.wildlifedamagecontrol.net/animaldiseases.php

Bird Droppings

Bird Spikes	Porcupine Wire
General Bird Control Manual	Pigeon Trap	Bird Control Installation Guide

 

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2/13/04