Advice on Pigeons (1 Viewer)

:h?: Hi All

How do you all cope with pigeons trying to eat the bird food you put out for the birds?

I like to put a small amount of bird food on my bird table as a little robin who comes to my garden doesn't eat from feeders - no idea if this is for all robins.

but sometimes a find a hughe pigeon eating the food!

Thanks
Lozza

Hi Lozza
What you can do is:- have the type of bird table that has a roof and suspend short lengths of bamboo from this to stop larger birds landing on the table. Or you can cover it with 50mm square cage. The birds,then, can land on the cage and drop in.
But remember that pigeons dont have an easy time of things and would appreciate your help from time to time. especially in the winter.

Regards Roger.

roger hill said:

Hi Lozza
What you can do is:- have the type of bird table that has a roof and suspend short lengths of bamboo from this to stop larger birds landing on the table. Or you can cover it with 50mm square cage. The birds,then, can land on the cage and drop in.
But remember that pigeons dont have an easy time of things and would appreciate your help from time to time. especially in the winter.

Regards Roger.

Click to expand...

sometimes feel the pigeons stop the little birds getting to the table.

I do put some food on the floor for the blackbirds and hope they would eat some of that but they ignore it!!

Will try the bamboo idea.

Lozza

You can buy the hanging seed feeders,Lozza,which prevent large birds eating all the food.I have 2 of them.The sparrows and finches can feed happily,whils't the larger birds,eg Starlings have their fill of the fat balls etc.I try to keep the pigoens away,as local people do not take kindly to masses of pigeons descending around their homes.I also have the same problem with gulls.I can only feed bread on wet days,when no one has lines of washing hanging out to dry.Life is so complicated!!

I used to have a Pigeon problem so I stopped ground feeding and relied on hanging feeders and now no more pigeons but sadly I can't feed my Collar Doves either and they still visit and just look at me forlornly through the kitchen window, what to do?:-(((


Mick

lozza_9 said:

:h?: Hi All

How do you all cope with pigeons trying to eat the bird food you put out for the birds?

I like to put a small amount of bird food on my bird table as a little robin who comes to my garden doesn't eat from feeders - no idea if this is for all robins.

but sometimes a find a hughe pigeon eating the food!

Thanks
Lozza

Click to expand...

I put small trays out on the ground with bird food on, and around all bar two of them I put plastic coated wire garden fencing ( available from garden centres). This comes about 2 ft high, but you can cut it down. I make a short length into a circle and put netting on the top. I find the holes in the fencing are just large enough to allow collared doves in, but bar feral and woodpigeons. These don't go hungry, as they can go to the unprotected trays.

I find this quite satisfactory.

Eddie

Mickymouse said:

I used to have a Pigeon problem so I stopped ground feeding and relied on hanging feeders and now no more pigeons but sadly I can't feed my Collar Doves either and they still visit and just look at me forlornly through the kitchen window, what to do?:-(((


Mick

Click to expand...

Mickey,buy a childs cap pistol.When the pigeons arrive en masse,fire the pistol,all birds fly off.But they soon return except for the pigeons.They may return later,but in the meantime all other birds have had a good go at the feeders.I also have a couple of collared doves,and I really do feel very sorry for them,they are such gentle looking birds,but they will return to the feeders,even after you have dispersed the pigeons.

lozza_9 said:

:h?: Hi All

How do you all cope with pigeons trying to eat the bird food you put out for the birds?

I like to put a small amount of bird food on my bird table as a little robin who comes to my garden doesn't eat from feeders - no idea if this is for all robins.

but sometimes a find a hughe pigeon eating the food!

Thanks
Lozza

Click to expand...

Hi Lozza,

I'm sure you will get just as much pleasure out of watching woodpigeons and collared doves as you do the other birds. One possible solution to your problem might be to buy a bag of pigeon mixture, containing larger grains such as whole maize, maple peas, tic beans and wheat, in addition to your usual smaller wild bird seed. These larger grains should enable the pigeons to 'fill up' that much quicker and leave the small seed alone. If the larger seends run out, however, they'll go back to hoovering up the small stuff I'm afraid!

lozza_9 said:

:h?: Hi All

How do you all cope with pigeons trying to eat the bird food you put out for the birds?

I like to put a small amount of bird food on my bird table as a little robin who comes to my garden doesn't eat from feeders - no idea if this is for all robins.

but sometimes a find a hughe pigeon eating the food!

Thanks
Lozza

Click to expand...

Hi Lozza,

Living in London the pigeons are a problem and you are likely to get in trouble with your neighbours if you do start feeding them as you will soon attract large flocks (also if you ground feed you are likely to attract vermin which will defintatly upset the neighbours, this is why I no longer ground/table feed). I've settled for just using hanging feeders and letting the few pigeons and other ground feeders eat the spill. I have one niger feeder and two general seed feeders and get a reasonable variety of birds including ground feeders like robins (who occassionally manage to use the hanging feeders), dunnocks, wood pigeons and blackbirds. However it is worth cleaning up the spill frequently.

I found that peanuts simply aren't eaten in my london garden but fat "treats" are guaranteed to attract starlings.

My garden list is now upto 28 species (including flyovers) which I think is pretty good for suburban london and is mostly down to the feeding and some careful watching.

Paul