Humane ways to minimise pigeons in my garden?

[SpainToday]

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

That’s all great if you’re a deep sleeper and don’t have to work - meanwhile in the real world they are cucuu cucuuuu-ing on the roof from 5am waking the whole house up…..

Why pigeons are horrible but not other birds - ? I think you need some counselling ! - have you got a phobia of them ? - personally I love pigeons its their space as well !

So you would rather live in a world without birds in gardens?

Thankfully we don’t 😅 I get this close 🤏🏻 to getting my licence to shoot the bloody pigeons but I think my neighbour might be one step ahead his been heard muttering away more than normal.

Though funny not funny story about gulls. Bastards. We did that rookie chips at the beach. Not even nice weather out of season one year so should have been fine. Finished eating our chips and the left overs where in a box the very take away box little toddler being helpful carrying the clearly pants box as it started dropping chips. The gulls were dive bombing. I was shouting run and drop the chips DROP THE CHIPS. 😅

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

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

🤣 yeah let's stop talking about seagulls before people have a heart attack with the anger. Where I am I think its blackbirds that are up early singing away. Much more clear cut sound than the gentle cooing of a pigeon. I do sometimes lie there on a weekend morning thinking 'would you just be quiet!' But no way would I want rid of them from my garden.

I absolutely understood this. CACOOOOOOO CACOOOOOOOOOOOO

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

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

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.

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

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.

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

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.

Are you talking about wood pigeons, OP?

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

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?

Off to Google where I can buy some peregrine falcons.

Not of naughty Norman though.

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.

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

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.

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

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.

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.

Borrow this horse for a bit?

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.