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Original poster

Humane ways to minimise pigeons in my garden?

157 replies

SpainToday · 14/04/2025 12:37

Next door have a bird feeder in their garden, their choice, but obviously we get more birds (particularly pigeons) in our garden as a result, and I hate them. They leave such a mess and spoil my enjoyment of the garden. We have a cat who is too elderly to provide much help!

Any suggestions? Short of hiring a sniper I’m not sure what we can do?

Posting here for traffic

Thread title edited by MNHQ on OP's request, to make it clear she was referring to pigeons specifically

OP posts:
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AnglerWrangler · 16/04/2025 16:06

JoanIsNotAwful · 16/04/2025 09:19

Borrow this horse for a bit?

Or just the rider's coat might do the trick....

fleetoriginal · 16/04/2025 10:12

My neighbour feeds the birds but over excessively, slices of bread all over the ground every day. She also feeds the ‘foxes’ at night with a bowl out the front - sometimes full of raw chicken 🤢
As a result there a rats everywhere. I spent last summer trying to block them out of our garden (v difficult) and now I’ve just contacted environmental health. Her house is COVERED in bird poo and rats are all in the garden. She listens to no one when we ask politely to stop putting food out.
I think I have an extreme case, but it does completely suck. I love the birds but to have a garden COVERED in poo and to have rats is really difficult to put up with. I fully sympathise!!

Jc2001 · 16/04/2025 10:05

HoskinsChoice · 14/04/2025 12:54

I can't ever imagine living such a sanitised life where garden birds are seen as a problem. It's so sad.

I agree about birds in general but pigeons are a pest and you can get bird feeders that favour smaller birds

towelonfloor · 16/04/2025 09:56

thank you

ErrolTheDragon · 16/04/2025 09:51

towelonfloor · 16/04/2025 09:42

I would like to get more little birds tbh

Get a pole type thing with appropriate feeders that big birds can’t use. The ‘squirrel proof’ cage type won’t allow birds from starling size up into them IME.

towelonfloor · 16/04/2025 09:45

www.the-shard.com/news-events/news-events/2024/shard-hawk/

you need to get the big birds in

towelonfloor · 16/04/2025 09:42

I would like to get more little birds tbh

BeaAndBen · 16/04/2025 09:32

Saltedcarameltiramisucheesecake · 14/04/2025 13:30

Attach a couple of cds to the washing line with string so they move about in the wind. Most birds will stay away.

My neighbour did this. The pigeons perched on the washing line and pecked at the CDs 😂

It’s not likely to be feral pigeons, much more likely to be wood pigeons. They are greedy buggers but they don’t do any harm. Bird poo is just one of the things we got tolerate when we have gardens.

Better that than a world without birds.

JoanIsNotAwful · 16/04/2025 09:19

Borrow this horse for a bit?

Humane ways to minimise pigeons in my garden?
Blinkyy · 16/04/2025 09:15

I’ve seen occasional scarecrows round here and they do seem to be dressed in that fluorescent orange and yellow gear so maybe it’s the colour not the fluorescence.

Idontknowhatnametochoose · 15/04/2025 08:51

Springley · 14/04/2025 18:03

I love pigeons and any type of bird and feed them. I also feed the badgers and foxes. They're all welcome in my garden. Even slugs and spiders.

You sound like my late mum. She was very much the same and it was what I loved most about her- her compassion for all creatures.

AnglerWrangler · 15/04/2025 07:56

Just read in an article that pigeons really dislike red and orange so you could perhaps use planting colour schemes to deter them...

HelpMeGetThrough · 15/04/2025 05:59

I’d rather pigeons than the endless bloody seagulls around here.

its shagging season at the moment and the neighbours roof has been chosen as this years sex club.

EmeraldShamrock000 · 14/04/2025 23:33

@gamerchick Me too, we've destroyed their habitat. Racing pigeons are loyal and committed pets, the beautiful colours too.

softlyfallsthesnow · 14/04/2025 23:21

I was just pondering today how I could get hold of contraceptive laced seed for the sex mad pigeons in my garden. They never stop harassing the poor females so they definitely don't need any encouragement. They breed all the year round, unsurprisingly, so there are far too many.
I gave up feeding birds mainly because of rats but also it was pigeons, magpies and squirrels gobbling most of it, despite my best preventative efforts. Fewer pigeons now but still too many around.

UndermyShoeJoe · 14/04/2025 22:28

AnglerWrangler · 14/04/2025 22:03

I used to work next door to Hampshire Police HQ in Winchester. They dealt with a pigeon problem by keeping a nesting pair of peregrine falcons which hunted them.

Is it less 'anti bird' if other birds are the solution?

Show quote history

Off to Google where I can buy some peregrine falcons.

Not of naughty Norman though.

AnglerWrangler · 14/04/2025 22:03

BarbaricYawp · 14/04/2025 21:43

Hire a bird of prey handler for an hour @SpainToday. The other garden birds will be scared in the moment but won't relocate, but pigeons are bullies that will shit themselves and find a new source of food. You might need to get them back a couple of times but the pigeons will learn and leave. This is the way pigeon populations are dispersed humanely in big developments in cities, e.g. Canary Wharf or the Barbican. A total lack of birdsong doesn't seem to ensue.

I used to work next door to Hampshire Police HQ in Winchester. They dealt with a pigeon problem by keeping a nesting pair of peregrine falcons which hunted them.

Is it less 'anti bird' if other birds are the solution?

AllyCart · 14/04/2025 21:43

SpainToday · 14/04/2025 20:00

MN have kindly amended the title of my thread to say “pigeons”, hopefully some constructive advice will now follow

Are you talking about wood pigeons, OP?

(They're different to the ones pecking at rubbish in town and city centres.)

BarbaricYawp · 14/04/2025 21:43

Hire a bird of prey handler for an hour @SpainToday. The other garden birds will be scared in the moment but won't relocate, but pigeons are bullies that will shit themselves and find a new source of food. You might need to get them back a couple of times but the pigeons will learn and leave. This is the way pigeon populations are dispersed humanely in big developments in cities, e.g. Canary Wharf or the Barbican. A total lack of birdsong doesn't seem to ensue.

SlagPit · 14/04/2025 21:34

You live in their habitat. God forbid they should want to eat.

gamerchick · 14/04/2025 21:29

I feel sorry for pigeons me. how long did the human race use them for vital communications? It's biologically entrenched in them to rely on and trust humans. They're drawn to be around us and we just fucked them off and see them as a nuisance.

Poor buggers.

nomas · 14/04/2025 21:28

Can anyone recommend a pigeon pest control service in London? They are in our eaves.

Ineedascooter · 14/04/2025 21:26

Pigeons arent just birds......... they are great big flappy things. And because they tend to exist as a flock and move as one........... when they move (and they do every few minutes, seemingly for no reason at all) its really not at all a relaxing experience. My neighbour feeds them too and they hang out on their roof (mostly not ours thankfully). I adore birds/wildlife but pigeons - meh! Annoying. I dont know a sensible solution though sorry op.

Winifredtabago · 14/04/2025 21:25

GraySILK · 14/04/2025 21:22

I would rather pigeons lived in someone else’s garden!

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Well I guess your lucky its just pigeon noise that annoys you in the mornings

GraySILK · 14/04/2025 21:25

UndermyShoeJoe · 14/04/2025 21:19

Comes right down my chimney like they are in the room.

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I absolutely understood this. CACOOOOOOO CACOOOOOOOOOOOO

I’ve shouted fuck off back up the chimney to them! 😳😂 They are so loud