Paloma, the word varies depending on who you’re talking to. For some, they are ‘athletes’ who compete during pigeon racing season, for others, they are friends at the pond or train station who come when you throw away pieces of stale bread.
Pigeons were even used as a method of communication during the two world wars. Send encrypted messages across Europe with important information and save lives.
But for most of us, these days, pigeons are generally unwanted, dirty, and noisy. And to add insult to injury, it’s usually not just one or two you’re fighting, it’s a group of them.
So what is the best way to determine the pigeons on your property, humanely?
In the past 20 years, scarecrows have gone from homegrown, word-of-mouth techniques to high-tech, scientific-like commercialized products with a sales pipeline to boot.
Unfortunately, during those 20 years, people have become suspicious due to broken promises.
So here are some tips that I have found.
- Pigeons love grass seeds, if you have a problem and want to dislodge them, you can throw some grass seeds in an area where you don’t mind them being. This can work as a short-term measure until you find something more permanent.
- Some houses, but mostly stores and commercial buildings, use spikes that are installed on top of buildings and where pigeons often frequent. The spikes displace the pigeons, the only problem is that you can go through many of them to achieve your goal.
- Some buildings try to reduce the amount of spikes by using a cable that runs from a point in the middle of the area to all the outside sections, this as spikes can get quite expensive.
- There are some plastic models, snakes, hawks, and owls that are designed to keep birds away, but since pigeons have nothing else to do except determine if your plastic owl is real or not, they’ll probably figure it out. , or hungry enough to take a chance.
- Some scarecrows are bold, but being so noisy, chances are one or two neighbors will get mad.
Unfortunately, we can’t be chasing pigeons all day, and scarecrows aren’t always going to work. The pigeons will test the limits. With plastic inanimate scarecrows, you’ll need to move them every once in a while to give them an effect, once every few days, a week is usually too long.
I’d also consider using two or more, either two of the same thing or two methods that complement each other.