The common urban pest birds are identified as the Feral Pigeons. These pigeons damage and create a mess in and around your house when they decide to roost to a certain place, mostly are located under the roof. Flapping disturbances, insanitary droppings and even noise are just some of these problems you may encounter when your establishment is roosted or nested by these pigeons. These pigeons are likely to roost or nest in man-made structures as they please because they are descendants of the domesticated European homing pigeons.
Why We Need to Control Pigeons?
Aside from mess, their droppings also are a threat to building structures and car hoods because these droppings are highly corrosive and can cause major damages to structures where the droppings sit for long periods of time. Aside from structure damages these pigeons may give us, it is also a big threat to our health as these droppings contain fungi and bacteria that can potentially harm us. In just one week, a single pigeon may stack up to a pound of dropping. There are three known human diseases that are found associated with their droppings, namely, histoplasmosis, cryptococcosis, and psittacosis.
Histoplasmosis is a known fungus and disease that can be found in pigeon droppings which is also found in soils throughout the entire planet. When cleaning a pigeon dropping, a person may have the possibility to take in some of these funguses when they breathe, high exposure to this fungus may cause infections. Symptoms of having these funguses mostly appear 10 days since the day of exposure. Chest pains, fevers, and fatigues are common signs to be found since infection. People who have HIV/AIDS or even cancer patients are at risk of containing and developing the said disease, though histoplasmosis is not contagious.
Cryptococcosis is another disease that can be found in pigeon droppings. This fungus may not be a threat to people who have high immune system but according to US Centers for Disease and Control (CDC), 85 percent of cryptococcosis patients are HIV positive.
Psittacosis is more dreadful to parrot and parrot-like birds such as cockatiels and parakeets. It is also known as ornithosis or parrot fever. Though this disease are likely to be found from parrot and the like, when pigeon droppings dry up and become airborne, we may inhale them and get sick.
Like histoplasmosis, after 10 days since the day of infection, you will likely to develop this bacterial disease though psittacosis can be treated with antibiotics.
These diseases may be a fatal respiratory disease when not treated right away but it’s better to prevent these diseases from happening by controlling pigeons in and around your property.
Aside from these diseases, pigeons are also a good carrier of ticks, flea, lice and mice that may potentially harm your pets. These pigeons also like to nest and/or roost in chimneys and fire vents which is a potential cause of fire hazards. This is a fair reason why we need to control pigeons to ensure the safety of one’s family and health status.
How to control Pigeons?
The following are some of the methods that are effective against controlling pigeons and getting rid of them before they get rid of you. Since roosting or nesting is a good reason why these pigeons stay in your house or property, getting rid of small openings for them not to get in is a good thing to do first. Doing this is a great way to tell them that you are not hospitable to them.
Covering all access points and preventing landing or perching areas will give them a hint to just move and search for another place to roost and nest. Plastic birds such as falcons and owls will give them a warning sign to keep away from your house property or your building. But this will not work for pigeons that see the plastic falcon or plastic owl day in and day out since these birds are intelligent enough to distinguish a fake from a live falcon or owl. Snakes will also work but still not for long term.
Since these pigeons are attracted to places where there are food sources, it is best to secure their food sources in the proper place as this may invite them to roost or nest near the source. Make sure to close all opening garbage lids at all times and avoid feeding them near or around your place at all costs. Pigeons have long memories in places where food is abundant.
By installing pigeon spikes, you can control the pigeons by providing zero percent chance to perch on the said area. This will give the pigeons a hint to look for a safer place to perch. This is also advisable than using poison or sticky chemicals as these is a potential killer to their kind.
Bird audio deterrents are also effective to control pigeons. There are devices available in the pest market place today that you can purchase.
Owning a pet cat or pet dog can be helpful, but owning a pet cat is more effective as these cats are capable of hunting and scaring down these pigeons in your property.
In case the pigeons have already nested or roosted in your property, throwing their roosting place will be a good idea but only do this when they are out looking for food, doing this will give the pigeons the impression of a lesser security and an unsafe place to roost in. If the roosting place is on a ledge, going back can be discouraged when you change the ledge angle to not less than 45?. You can use metal sheets, woods, stack of stones, and other materials that can be used to deform the structure where the pigeons are roosting or nesting.
You can also use wires and tie one end to another end on the location where pigeons are usually situated or where they usually perch on. This will give them the uncomfortable balancing which will give them discomfort.
There are also shock-emitting devices available in the market. This will definitely repel almost all type of birds. Mounting this on a surface consisting of a cable that is durably embedded in plastic with two electrical conductors is a common setup for these types of repellent. Though it may sound deadly because this device will give off electricity to birds the moment they are attached to it, this electricity are will just scare them off and not kill them.
Using reflectors to keep them away are also effective. Try installing mirrors or other reflective devices such as an old CD, a tape reflector and the like will scare off the pigeons. These pigeons are easily distracted by the light emitted from these reflective devices.
Whatever method you use to control pigeons, it is best to know the cause and survey the entire area first before doing any action to control these pigeons. Narrowing down the option to use to effectively scare them off is a great move to do rather than doing or applying methods without studying the cause and area first. After the survey and knowing the cause of their presence, deciding which method to use comes right after.
In the event you are to use poisons or toxicants against these pigeons, you will need to acquire special permits issued by various agencies such as state departments of agriculture, health, or wildlife before doing the action. You may end up in jail if you do so without acquiring special permits from these agencies protecting the birds.
When controlling pigeons make sure not to hurt them or kill them or you may end up spending thousands of dollars and even jail. This law also includes unintentional killing, this may still fall under the said law.