The Absolute Guide to Keeping Pigeons Away

We're going to make things as super simple as possible here — there is only one way to effectively remove pigeons from your property, whether that's a commercial or a residential one, and that's to have a plan that involves multiple efforts at the same time. This is actually a very wise plan — multiple efforts and approaches — for all wild animal/pest problems. The more you have in place to make life ‘uncomfortable' for the pests in question, the less they'll want to stay there.

With pigeons, you're going to want to look at methods that use bird spike strips, bird netting, or perhaps even food removal, all at the same time. In fact, let's scrap the ‘perhaps' bit; you're definitely going to want to get rid of ALL sources of food.

Bird feeders.

Chicken feed.

Grass seed.

Garbage bags.

These are all sources of food for pigeons, and they're actually pretty dependent on us for everything. With deforestation, they're having a hard time finding a place to roost and nest in the ‘wild' world, but human habitats give them everything they could hope for. Church steeples, large factories and warehouses, agricultural buildings, and even residential homes have all become prime hotspots for these flying little monsters, and roofs, windowsills, fence and wall tops, and other building voids and spaces are all places that you should definitely check from time to time.

Bird spike strips are great for areas such as window ledges, fence/wall tops, and on the roof, and you can even use them on the chimney, TV aerial, etc. For the places where a straight-line approach isn't going to work, such as weirdly-spaced voids and older, intricate buildings, bird netting can work just as well, but only when you use the right size of netting for a large bird like a pigeon.

Repellents and deterrents, as we have mentioned, simply do not work. If you were to use predatory decoys, such as owls, hawks, snakes, balloons, etc., you'd need to move them around so regularly that the birds didn't get comfortable with them, you'd seldom have time left to do anything else. Anything that relies on power is going to add an unnecessary extra to your energy bills, and there are always going to be problems when you rely on using water-based gadgets. They don't just waste water, but the water could cause problems with the land or buildings on that land. You definitely can't rely on traps, either. Even if you were to successfully trap a pigeon, you'd still have the rest of the flock to contend with, along with nests, potentially viable eggs, and even pigeon squabs.

If pigeons have already entered your home, you will need to start by excluding the birds — allowing them to leave your property, but unable to then come back afterwards. This is an exercise and approach best attempted by a professional, as the wrong kind of exclusion device could result in a number of dead or injured birds. You will also need to ensure that all nests and eggs have been disposed of in the correct manner, and that it's just pigeon nests/birds you have on the property. Most other birds found in the United States are covered by an act that prevents disturbing the nest of flock in any way. Pigeons, starlings, and sparrows are three non-native, pest birds that are not covered by the act.

Once all birds have been removed from the space, the cleanup and repair mission can then start. All shred of pigeon evidence must be removed — nests, nesting material, any food leftovers, eggs, hatched eggs, dead bird carcasses, feces, and anything else that might have become contaminated. Anything that has been left behind (accidentally or otherwise) is just going to become a breeding ground for disease. Once all material has been removed, though, you can then go ahead and seal up the building. You will want to pick the right materials for this job, however. Mesh wire is a great place to start, but everything that you do use will need to be securely fastened into place. Avoiding this will end to the pigeons being able to get inside again in the future.