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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:
AfricanGreen · 14/04/2025 13:34

Pigeons are hideous vermin OP, I agree.
It's tricky to scare them away and encourage other cool endangered birds.

BarnacleBeasley · 14/04/2025 13:32

I've seen Hey Duggee The Scarecrow Badge, so I know that what you need is to build a giant birdscaring robot like this one. https://img2.rtve.es/v/5670972?w=800&preview=1601052585451.jpg

The only thing that gets rid of pigeons in my garden is crows.

https://img2.rtve.es/v/5670972?preview=1601052585451.jpg&w=800

Riapia · 14/04/2025 13:32

Sit on the harbour side in Padstow with some fish and chips, that’ll alter you bird lovers opinion on the feathered fuckers.
😉😁😁.

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.

Sallysinnermum · 14/04/2025 13:30

Not helpful but reading about the carrier pigeons during war really opened my eyes to how amazing these little creatures are...

Emoleno · 14/04/2025 13:29

Absolutely ridiculous.

OP, I bet you're the sort of person to lay green plastic instead of grass, aren't you?

Actually wanting to deter birds from a garden is utterly dystopian.

I really do despair sometimes.

PyrannosaurusRex · 14/04/2025 13:29

We've swopped two of our bird feeders for squirrel proof ones; the perches are weighted so that anything bigger than a blackbird pulls down the perch, shutting off access to the seed. It's deterred the magpies from raiding the feeders, as well as the squirrels, and encouraged more of the smaller birds into the garden. Maybe suggest it to your neighbour, under the guise of helping the garden birds to get enough food prior to nesting instead of letting the pigeons dominate?

dogcatkitten · 14/04/2025 13:27

Pigeons are a pest, we try to discourage them by using feeders rather than bird tables, they can't use the hanging feeders although they patrol underneath for 'left overs'. If the neighbour is using feeders that the pigeons can get to perhaps you could suggest less accessible feeders, leaving bird food within easy access attracts rats too. You can chase the pigeons, but they don't stay gone long, a younger cat friend for your aged one might be the best solution.

Edit: We've had to net over our veg garden or the pigeons eat everything.

Firenzeflower · 14/04/2025 13:26

Run around flapping your arms and scream?

We need birds. How can you not know this?!

ExtraOnions · 14/04/2025 13:25

Wood Pigeons are vermin ??? Very much mistaken?

or, are you talking about Feral Pigeons? They aren’t the that common in gardens.

There are several different types of Pigeon / Dove around.

Reallybadidea · 14/04/2025 13:23

But anything that deters pigeons is likely to deter all birds.

Redpeach · 14/04/2025 13:18

Are pigeons classed as garden birds? Could you get one of those plastic big bird things to scare pigeons off

JackieDaytonaLuckyBrews · 14/04/2025 13:18

Flossflower · 14/04/2025 13:01

OP, I love birds but I count pigeons as vermin.
You could get a fake raptor bird on a string, a bit like a ballon. Someone in our street does this just after they have planted seed.

Next doors tried that and the pigeons couldn't give a shit. One of the was perched on the pole the kite was attached to yesterday 😂. My garden is full of birds, including pigeons, and also we have birds of prey circling constantly -they even kill pigeons in our garden occasionally as I have to dispose of the carcass. Hasn't decreased the pigeon population at all. They are at an all time high this year, farmers around here are constantly shooting them in the fields.

Motherknowsrest · 14/04/2025 13:18

You don't do anything. It's their environment.
We have a couple of pigeons, but also two blackbirds, coal tits and the odd starling.

Original poster
SpainToday · 14/04/2025 13:17

Small garden birds would not be a problem, but pigeons are horrible.

I did state this in my original post.

OP posts:
HoppingPavlova · 14/04/2025 13:14

I was thinking OP was reasonable on reading the title. However, then I read they were pigeons. Seriously, they are the rats of the sky. We get lots of birds here, including some outrageously noisy ones, but I don’t mind at all. However, if I was inundated with pigeons I might not have the same thoughts.

Mauro711 · 14/04/2025 13:14

BurntBroccoli · 14/04/2025 12:46

We are one of the most nature deprived countries in the planet! You should be encouraging birds as they have been in massive decline since the 1970s 😞.

Agreed! A meagre 13% of the UK is woodland. That is a tiny, tiny habitat for all those birds.

SpringIsSpringing25 · 14/04/2025 13:12

OccasionalHope · 14/04/2025 12:54

Garden birds would be different, but OP is getting pigeons. No shortage of those, unfortunately.

Pidgeons are lovely too. I have an upstairs balcony and a row of trees near it, it's lovely to watch them nesting and feeding their young, then the young learning to fly.

Justchillinhere · 14/04/2025 13:06

Get a house with no garden, the sound of chirping birds is so lovely to hear

Lascivious · 14/04/2025 13:02

How sad.

Stay inside.

Flossflower · 14/04/2025 13:01

OP, I love birds but I count pigeons as vermin.
You could get a fake raptor bird on a string, a bit like a ballon. Someone in our street does this just after they have planted seed.

OccasionalHope · 14/04/2025 12:54

Garden birds would be different, but OP is getting pigeons. No shortage of those, unfortunately.

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.

Rainydaysandwellybobs · 14/04/2025 12:50

Reallybadidea · 14/04/2025 12:43

I would say the best thing you could do would be to stay inside with a sun lamp and leave the garden to the birds.

I honestly despair of the human race sometimes.

This!
Do you realise bird populations are falling dramatically? We should be feeding them (especially through the winter)
Same story with bees and other insects.

Ihateslugs · 14/04/2025 12:48

I’d be more worried about the rats that a bird feeder can attract! My next door neighbour had a couple of bird feeders and was very generous with the food, quite a lot got spilt on the ground. After she noticed a couple of rats in her garden, she called in pest control who told her to stop feeding the birds as the rats love bird food and as well as hoovering up stuff on the ground, they will climb up the feeder to get to the food on the top.

Luckily for her neighbours, she did stop feeding the birds!

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