To have a bird feeder that attracts pigeons?

[NoHolidaysforyou]

We have put up a bird feeder in the garden, as well as added a few apple trees recently. The bird feeder has only had pigeons and ravens visiting it. The pigeons are wood pigeons and my DH calls them rats with wings. Now I'm kind of worried that the neighbours might get upset about us attracting pigeons? I don't mind which birds visit and I did it to try to be helpful to the environment. I don't want to upset anyone either though so just wanted to check here if this would bother others.

AIBU to have a bird feeder in the garden that only has pigeons and ravens visiting?

Worse.

I have pigeons and parakeets. Nothing worse than a flock of bloody parakeets on your birdfeeeder.

No, no, YANBU. Relax and keep topping up the peanuts.

Pigeons deserve to eat as much as any other bird. Leave the feeder up!

Ravens? That would be ace, but sadly unless you live in certain areas (cliffs, mountains etc) more likely to be jackdaws or rooks.
Pigeons (especially wood) are opportunistic fat fuckers. And whilst it's nice that you have such a welcoming attitude, it's small woodland birds that need human help. Id get feeders with small holes or in a squirrel proof cage that pigeons and Corvids can't get to as easily. The greedy twats will Hoover up underneath. But watch out for rats.

I don’t like pigeons, but I’m not in the least bit offended by the bird feeders in both my neighbours’ gardens that for some reason seem to exclusively attract them. Leave it up. Like a pp said, pigeons need to eat too (even if they are rats with wings )

We get a few smaller birds at our feeder but also a pair of, quite frankly, beautiful pigeons. I’m always happy to see them and they look very healthy and happy. YANBU.

We have pigeons, magpies and the occasional crow.

A neighbour insists on slinging out slices of bread in her garden and it attracts fucking seagulls. They wait for her to come out . So a few pigeons they have to put up with.

My DP has been moving the feeders around so the pigeons can't get at them but one pigeon outsmarts him every time and after working out the best position to perch he can be seen happily pecking away.

I think they all need to live and all need feeding and watering. Pigeons are far less commonplace than they once were. I have a mix of visitors to my garden from small birds,some that have moved into a nesting box, upto the odd pigeon ,starlings,etc. Last week i had to look after a very young pigeon who had probably just recently flown the nest. He wasnt a good flier. I sheltered him for three days and his parent came and fed him every morning. Eventually he got away.

I have squirrels, pigeons, magpies, rooks and starlings. One of the pigeons is really beautiful.

But these have all been attracted over time. The starlings only arrived in the last week or so. So if you keep putting food out you might find you get more variety soon.

Wood pigeons are lovely birds and quite harmless. They're not the same as feral pigeons and they are well worth feeding and enjoying!

I put up with the pigeons as well. They are exceedingly plump however so I do feel peeved. They keep the cat entertained at least as she spends hours sat in the window salivating over them

What are you feeding them? The birds here get sunflower hearts and absolutely love them. The pigeons try but they can't balance on the feeders so they just peck about underneath. They fight one another which is quite funny to watch. We get blue tits, great tits, coal tits and long-tailed tits, greenfinches, goldfinches, chaffinches and bullfinches as well as siskins, robins and blackbirds. Also green and greater spotted woodpeckers on the feeders with pheasants and our neighbour's Houdini chickens underneath them.

This is what I'm feeding them now.

www.dobbies.com/peckish-complete-all-seasons-seed-mix-feeder-400g-466030011

They have already eaten all the fat balls. I will look in to other bird feeders as well.

I accept the pigeons because we do get other nice wee birds too!

I like to watch pigeons in my garden - they have a lot of character.
I've found that they don't like dried fruit - the magpies love it though, as do thrushes and blackbirds. I have feeders that the pigeons can't access for the smaller birds.

I love the pigeons in my garden. They nest here every year. I especially love watching their funny mating rituals on the fence outside my kitchen window. They entertain me and I’m always happy to feed them. The bigger one can’t get into the table but the slightly less plump one knocks the seed around a bit and then they feed off the floor.

The pigeons here drive me bonkers, they can easily clear the whole table before the smaller birds even get a look in. I ended up fastening chicken wire around my table sides with holes cut out so the blackbirds etc can get in. The pigeons still get fed as plenty gets dropped on the ground, so they hoover all the dropped stuff up.

I take it you haven't got a hanging bird feeder then, just a bird table? Wood pigeons can't feed from hanging feeders. (nor can robins or blackbirds as it happens).

I can't recommend enough a hanging bird feeder with a mixture of flutter butter, a hanging half coconut shell with seeds in fat and most importantly a hanging fillable mesh feeder with sunflower hearts (shelled sunflower seeds, they are beige not the black stripy sunflower seeds). I guarantee you'll have lots of smaller birds coming for the sunflower hearts, they love them more than any other seed or nut I've tried. Having said that the suet pellets were popular(ash) but not as popular as the sunflower hearts. You can buy huge bags that last for months, online.

If you put peanuts out, please put them through the blender to crunch them up a bit first (I do this then put them in a large sealable plastic bag). Whole peanuts I believe can pose a choking risk to fledglings.

Also check that the seeds slide easily through the mesh bird feeder you choose. Small birds like to be quick in and out, which is why I think they prefer the sunflower hearts to suet pellets because they slide out so easily.

Also remember to wash your bird feeder implements out regularly and leave to air dry before refilling. This is because bird feeders bring together lots of species that ordinarily wouldn't mix, so it helps prevent disease to keep the bird feeder clean of any infection, also illness caused by moulding food and also bird droppings. Wear gloves yourself when washing bird feeders and don't wash them in the kitchen sink (ie where you do your own washing up and food prep!!)

Small birds like the bird feeder to not be too close to any movement or activity (not next to a busy room or path) and not too far from a bush in which to hide. About a metre or so away from a bush is great - but if you have squirrels, not so close that they can leap from the bush to the feeder! I'd also recommend a squirrel baffle to go on the hanging feeder pole- it's a clear plastic dome that you screw on (easily) half way up the pole. Squirrels can't get past it to the food.

Hope this helps!

I looked out of the window recently to see a sparrowhawk on our lawn tucking into a wood pigeon while the poor traumatised mate of the murdered wood pigeon looked on, frozen and fluffed up with shock. Maybe I’m anthropomorphising but I feel much more kindly towards wood pigeons now having seen that bereaved pigeon’s reaction.

I’m surprised, though, that they use your bird feeder. Ours just hoover up underneath, and are therefore quite useful. They don’t seem to be able to balance on the feeder.

I can't do links but if you look up "Bird Table Feeding Station Hanging Wooden Metal Garden" it'll show you what I mean - a pole with various hooks at the top to attach hanging bird feeders, and various small trays that attach to the pole. Just make sure you don't position the trays close enough to the hanging stuff so pigeons can't perch on the trays to eat from the hanging feeders! (Actually I ditched the tray things as they got soggy and birds pooed in the food from above/as they were sat in it, so it wasn't hygenic for them).

MotherofGod Wood pigeons are not actually plump, exceedingly or otherwise! The are just shaped like that. From Gardenbird: "The other interesting feature about Wood pigeons is their size. They often come across as slightly overweight, and one consequence of their size is the manner in which they walk. It isn’t straight, but a waddle, which gives the impression that they possess over-sized bottoms. This isn’t the case, of course, and it is a fact that the total weight of all the feathers combined is greater in weight than the entire skeleton."

Also, wood pigeons are a different breed to urban pigeons - wood pigeons are not "rats with wings" (a term used to describe urban pigeons, which I'm actually fond of too - they can't help that they were born pigeons, despised by many - they're just trying to survive - ain't we all!)

We have a huge fat pigeon that dd adores (and refuses to eat all her breakfast so she can feed him )

I like them, they’re birds after all!

This is what we have in the garden:

www.dobbies.com/tom-chambers-classic-bird-station-445693011

The pigeons and rooks stand on the seed tray as well as the water dish to feast on the rest of it.

A bird is a bird.

I get blue tits, great tits, robins and some small gold brown red bird, not sure what species.
In the beginning it was only magpies and starlings.

I don’t tend to get wood pigeons as I have small feeders that need to be perched on and the pigeons are too fat.
Sometimes I see them pecking around the spilt seed at the bottom.

Starlings are a bit of a nightmare.
They clear out the suet coconut halves in a day!
Costs me a fortune trying to keep them fed!

Pigeons spread disease, they are rats with wings. Change your feed to black sunflower seeds and you will get all varieties of winged tits and finches.

Neighbours will be annoyed as pigeons shit everywhere.