mercredi, janvier 14, 2009

Shitting Pigeons

2 of the PRs in my arcade

I hate hate hate these birds. They are just impossible to get rid of. And it's amazing how all they do is eat, shit and coo. When you see them in Pixar cartoons, they looked so cute. In reality, they suck.

When my babies were born, MIL said she didn't fancy them because they were just digestive tubes, one way in and the other way out. But seriously none of them ever shitted as much as these pigeons. They've shitted on our cars, on our outdoor tables/chairs/BBQ, on the ground, on my plants, you name it they've shitted on it. I think they've shitted on me too.

All in a week's shit (just from those 2)

And at least my Babies' shit is never corrosive. Nor impossible to remove.

The Geometra of the house said that when they were renovating it a decade ago, they had to kill more than 400 pigeons. Pity the pigeoncide hadn't been as thorough as I would have liked it to be.

I didn't want to get a rifle (not even an air one) to kill them as I worry about leaving such dangerous things around for the kids to get their hands on. Plus I would freak out if I see carcasses. I hate the birds dead as much as I hate having them alive. And I've lost my appetite for roast pigeon ever since I've moved to Italy.

If you have good (non-dangerous nor costly) methods in getting rid of them, I'm interested.

12 commentaires:

Anonyme a dit…

Sorry to hear about this problem.
Ken Livingston the ex-mayor of London sent hawks to scare and hunt the pigeons in Trafalgar Square. He also banned the sales of pigeon food. Maybe if you can control their food supply? Do they have Rentokil for pigeons?

bellatigre a dit…

pigeon poison pellets? putting nails on where they normally perch? (this is what I notice many Italian churches and monuments have)

Anonyme a dit…

Yeah they could really be annoying...I have had that problem when we were living in Holland.

I cannot remember though if we did anything about it...

BibouMummy a dit…

Oh dear. I feel your pain. We've been fortunate to not have that problem, so don't know the answer. However, here's some goggle advise :

Place mothballs around your balcony and in your eaves. Pigeons hate the smell and will not linger.

Knock down any pigeon nests you find.
Place "scare devices" out to scare pigeons. These can include plastic owls or snakes.
Block eaves, ledges and other places pigeons nest by placing wire over these areas. Pigeons are looking for a place to roost and nest. If they cannot gain access to these areas they will not hang around too long.
You can purchase liquids and gels that you can apply to your roof and balcony. These products are sticky and pigeons do not like to stand and walk on them.Another alternative to keep pigeons away is to install bird spikes. These spikes are made of plastic and they deter pigeons from roosting over your building.
good luck!

Anonyme a dit…

We used the garden hose with a pressure nozzle on our two resident pigeons. I only had to blast them with the hose 5 or 6 times before they got the message and moved on.

Anonyme a dit…

Get a cat.

Beau Lotus 涟 a dit…

I thank all of you for your advice.

We have put rubber and metal pikes where they usually perch but they somehow always find new places to perch (and shit) on.

I like the idea of mothballs, watering them sounds like fun, I've checked out the gels they can be very expensive, and I'm not too keen on poison as I really hate the idea of seeing dead pigeons.

If only we could close up the arcade like in many other restored farmhouses.

Anyway I'll continue to work on the subject, they are real pests.

petersteel a dit…

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Darwin a dit…

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Shiela a dit…

its discusting!!!