How to rid my garden of nesting and pooing pigeons

[DastardlyPigeon]

I'm posting this here and in Chat as I'm desperate for a solution!"

A couple of years ago a pair of pigeons built a nest in the bush next to my patio. I thought the "babies" were quite cute until the whole family started shitting all over my patio.
They're back again, eyeing up the bush for this year's nest. I'm constantly sweeping up poo and worried about the dog treading it in.
Oh and when the patio doors are open, they sometimes make a flying visit into the kitchen - nearly giving me a heart attack.
Any ideas how I can discourage them from my garden? Please don't suggest anything cruel like getting a cat.

Cut the bush down

Get a cat or a fake hawk.

You have to keep shooing the away and they will leave. It won't take long. We had this in a flat we lived in. They roosted outside a back window ledge before we moved in and no one did anything apart from complain. We scared them and threw water over the nest for a short while and they disappeared never to return.

Could you put a net over the bush temporarily?

Edited - posted on wrong thread!

Spray paint them

With a user name like yours, you know that disturbing a nest whilst it's being built or used is illegal, right?

@DastardlyPigeon You have left it too late this season I'm afraid. Any action you take, should be in Autumn or Winter, otherwise you will be breaking the law. https://www.gov.uk/guidance/wild-birds-protection-surveys-and-licences

Please don’t discourage them. Animals are being pressured from every angle. A few weeks of hosing down poo is not a disaster.
learn to enjoy their coos and admire their iridescence. Pigeons are much maligned gentle birds

If they are nesting from building a nest to fledging disturbing them is illegal under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981

If they are not yet building or using a nest you can remove food and water sources, put up predator decoys etc. Very little works if they are so determined though.

I had a pigeon pair nesting in my tree for around 18 months then they just suddenly stopped building ridiculous nests and are now nesting somewhere else. I didn't mind them, out of the around six nests they built, they only managed two pigeon babies in total.

The pair still come to the garden, they sit on the fence necking and kissing and I put a few peanuts out for them in the mornings. I'm quite fond of them now.

Oh go away. They are bloody filthy flying rats.

They're back again, eyeing up the bush for this year's nest.
You need a permanent solution because pigeons don't have a breeding season. They are most active now, but they can mate at any time of the year - see above post detailing six nests in 18 months!

You know that pigeons we have on the streets are descendants of the pets people threw out at some point? They were domesticated by people and then abandoned. The least we can do is not treat them with cruelty.

No they aren't that long held view is and always has been erroneous, there is now published research on it. They are no better or worse than any other bird.

You are right most bird species breed year round if the conditions are right.

You can't do anything right now if they are currently nesting.
After nesting season, you could try and discourage by removing the nests or cutting the tree down i guess, but nesting birds are protected by law

They are no better or worse than any other bird.
I disagree. They mostly eat my garden plants but not so much the pests thereon. The negatives outweigh the positives. And they do bigger-than-the-norm poo, usually on the path.

They do eat plants, then again I had a whole bed of lettuce seedlings removed in front of my eyes by a flock of sparrows which are mainly seed eaters.

I'd wager though that the average pigeon is preferable to a Canada goose for eating plants and shit size.

Everything has the ability to be a pest.

What the fuck is the matter with you?

I’ve got wood pigeons. Rats with wings.
They eat all the food I put out for garden birds.
I hate the parasitic nature of them.

I think that's a reference to a classic MN thread. It's a joke anyway.

😀😀😀

Yes it was a joke. You got the reference with Paul the pigeon.

To the other person...chill the fuck out x

The joke

Calm down dear xx

curious79 · Today 09:19
**
Please don’t discourage them. Animals are being pressured from every angle. A few weeks of hosing down poo is not a disaster.
learn to enjoy their coos and admire their iridescence. Pigeons are much maligned gentle birds

Hear, hear.

All of this flying rats nonsense (there’s nothing wrong with rats, either). Human beings are the most damaging animals on the planet.

ThisUniqueDreamer · Today 09:13
Spray paint them

You’re sick.