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.

I'd wager though that the average pigeon is preferable to a Canada goose for eating plants and shit size.
I should learn to count my blessings!
I shall endeavour to remember this aphorism every time our stupid pigeons are being their usual stupid, annoying selves.

You're another one who missed the joke. Scroll back up for the MN classic thread which has been publicised for the 25th anniversary and when you've read it come back and apologise to me.

I feel your pain. I have ended up with dozens of pigeons living and breeding under the solar panels on my roof and they are awful. Shit everywhere, guttering constantly full and downpipes blocking. everywhere a mess, very noisy. They are utter pests.

We are worried that they could eventually do some damage so are having to fork out a lot of money for a pest controller to come and get rid of them (and bird proof around the panels properly too so they don't come back). Apparently they aren't wood pigeons as I had originally thought, they are racing pigeons, sometimes called homing pigeons. Only these never went home and decided that my solar panels were the perfect place for them. 😠😠

We had lots of pigeons until a red kite dropped a half dead one in the garden. They all seem to avoid us now.

A lite shaped like a bird of prey, on a stick, is often used to scare nesting birds away.

I have heard that dotting around a few plastic snakes will scare them off. You need to wait until they've finished nesting now though.

I read somewhere that the demise of small birds was due to an extent to feeders in gardens, i.e. they attract pigeons, etc which carry disease that the smaller birds have no immunity to. Makes sense in a way as these birds wouldn't be mixing so closely in the wild.

Is that your view of birds in general? Clearly not a wildlife lover.

it’s the law - there’s no discussion!

It’s the fact that humans are evasive and damaging that pigeons and rats are problematic.

If you leave your garden alone it doesn’t become some stunning wild garden. It becomes just becomes full of brambles, nettles and weeds because they’re the toughest in an unnatural environment.

If you actually want to support the insects ,small mammals and birds you need to manage the garden.

You can’t expect places where humans have disrupted everything to behave naturally. Help is needed.

Fake hawks and ultrasonic devices didn’t work for us. The silver holographic tape worked quite well though (loads of it) especially when windy - it made our place look a bit tatty, but at that point we were desperate: the pigeons had brought all their mates to roost and there were 100 waking us up every morning 😫 Ours also don’t like black bin liners - the ‘crack’ noise or the dark shape when you wave it.
We don’t have much of an issue these days - we now have quite a few magpies and parakeets around and the pigeons seem a bit unsure about them so it keeps them at bay!

It's not a bit of poo, it's a lot several times a day. I wouldn't mind so much if I didn't have a dog. I like to leave the patio doors open for her so she can come in and out whilst I'm wfh.

I don't want her treading shit in.

Pigeons can spread disease, and they are messy - even though I would not be nasty to them, I know this is true and I feel your pain, no one wants to be trading in poo.

I would suggest a plastic owl or a hawk. You can also get someone to come with an actual hawk to scare them away, I've seen it done before in large places like warehouses and train stations. Seem to work.

How are pigeons, that are birds and in your garden, not garden birds?

Put the food into hanging feeders if you don’t want the pigeons to eat everything.

Pigeons and rats only take advantage of the mess that humans leave everywhere.

Not suggesting that at all. Just counting the pest argument.

The pigeons that spread disease are the feral pigeons that hang around town centres and nest on ledges up tall buildings. They are descended from rock doves, and are a right nuisance.

I suspect the ones the OP has will be wood pigeons, which nest in trees and bushes.

All I can do is echo what others are saying, which is that it is illegal to disturb nesting birds in any way, so there's nothing the OP can do about it at the moment.

We were so desperate at one point that we looked into the live hawk option - they use them at Kings Cross station. I think the quote covered 3-4 visits to sort the issue… cost was about £14k 😮 We persisted with our holographic tape… 😂

We don’t have an issue with them as the kestrels scare them off- now kestrels nesting are a nightmare- they swoop and attack (not in our garden but in certain wooded areas in the village) - however, I just see it as part of country life and if I want safety when I go out I just take my dogs as the kestrels avoid us then

Could you book a bird of prey experience in your garden which could put them off?

I suspect the ones the OP has will be wood pigeons, which nest in trees and bushes.

I think they are but shit is still shit.

it is illegal to disturb nesting birds in any way

I wouldn't but I'd like to deter them from nesting here again. I'm in the countryside - there's plenty of other places they can set up home.

You could eat them. Pigeon breast is very tasty.

https://www.robertdyas.co.uk/the-big-cheese-hawk-kite-bird-deterrent?cq_src=google_ads&cq_cmp=20998781679&cq_term=&cq_plac=&cq_net=x&cq_plt=gp&gad_source=1&gclid=CjwKCAjw-qi_BhBxEiwAkxvbkB64quY9HdA691H9lnb0VaPIM0MZQ6gsIxpG4cZ8BptwKl2U5lA7JRoCB0sQAvD_BwE
Once they've finished their current breeding cycle, how about this to put them off taking up resilience again?