Dealing with Pigeon Colonization in Small Balcony (1 Viewer)

[Pink Figs]

Note No 2: Please be mindful that I am not in the UK or US so the rules of removing nests do not apply to me. Kindly do not lecture me about that.


Tha situation at hand:

I have a small balcony that I wanted to plant something in but while I was away for about a month, a pigeon moved in and installed a nest on top of a wooden shade I built there. It was too late to move because I already found 2 eggs inside the nest. I waited until the eggs hatched, the babies grew, and now they're fledglings almost the same size as their parents.

I removed the nest, did a complete thorough cleaning, disinfected the entire area and I felt happy to finally have my garden back and got ready to start planting.
Pigeon family had more plans.

Few days after that, one of the babies showed up. Few days after that and he won't go away. He uses my lantern as a swing. He hops around the small balcony taking a stroll. He's not very scared of me because I used to put a ladder and stick my face in front of his checking the nest when it was up there. So I think he got used to me.

He's very very very cute and I'm starting to grow affections for him but I really really really want my garden back.

I noticed he flies but he doesn't fly as strong as his parents despite being almost the size of his mom already. If and when he gets super scared from me, he flies in circles and comes back to the balcony. I realize now that he's probably safer here than on the streets where a cat might eat him.

Because there's no nest, he sits in one corner of the garden on the floor or in the corner of the fence. even if there's no nest everyday he finds a new way to sit, explore... he looks bored and trying to be inventive.

I noticed his mom and dad throwing twigs in my balcony and to my horror two days ago I noticed they're building a new nest. Yesterday I found him sitting in the new nest.

I really don't want them to build a nest here. That shade is supposed to be holding a crawling shrub that was growing BEAUTIFULLY but I had to cut it down and now it looks so miserable and ugly but it was the only way to remove all remnants of the nest and dirt.

i'm OCD-ish. I'm scared of bird mites. I can't stand dirt. I scrub poop, I have been sweeping nonstop. I like birds but I really don't want them to camp here.
what should I do with this stubborn family?!

I wanted to ask if I put a bird feeder hanging from the wooden shade, will that somehow act as reverse psychology and deter them from opting to camp here? I figured maybe they're like mammals and find food near nesting as a threat?! If I do that, will they nest somewhere else?

Please help. Our building is under attack from these birds Sometimes their babies fall down and get injured too (another situation I'm dealing with).

 

[Andy Adcock]

Just remove the nest before they lay eggs.

 

[Pink Figs]

It's not always easy to notice.

How many days does it take them to build a nest, do you have an idea?

And what do I do about this fledgling. He sits always in a corner in the balcony. If I shoo him away, will he be able to survive? Will his parents find him to feed him?

 

[etudiant]

It's not always easy to notice.

How many days does it take them to build a nest, do you have an idea?

And what do I do about this fledgling. He sits always in a corner in the balcony. If I shoo him away, will he be able to survive? Will his parents find him to feed him?

Pigeons are very opportunistic nesters, they will call two sticks a nest and start brooding, so there is very little advance notice before you have a family burgeoning on your balcony.
If possible, maybe try to lure your unwanted fledgling with food to some better location. Otherwise, consider it part of the landscape. This bird is less likely to be diseased if it is mostly on your balcony. Eventually, I'd expect the hormones to start jumping and it will move, just watch out for an unwanted return.

 

[Pink Figs]

Etudiant, that's exactly the case! In less than a day I've noticed one sitting on a couple of twigs.

The fledgling is honestly harmless (except for the pooping), he's very cute and i'm growing very fond of him but my biggest issue are the mites. A close relative of ours had a very horrible experience with them. Over the years they have overpopulated in her house to the point where they started noticing small insects creeping inside their house. Her children's beds are littered with them. They scratch nonstop. They got bitten on their scalp and whole bodies.

Today I saw one sitting on the nest but I wasn't aware that there was an egg in there. A very small one almost invisible. I did something so drastic and cut out the entire shrub which I was very very fond of that took forever to grow over the shade I built which they've insisting is their new home.

I feel horrible I took her egg. I feel a sting in my heart every time I remember it, but I think most pigeons lay 2 eggs and if there's one then she should have another one soon.

My immune system is not great and my body can't handle medications well so I'm always afraid of having a big number of them living on my balcony like this especially when I wanted to use the balcony in the first place to destress during this pandemic and we're mostly in lockdown.

Instead, I don't go out because I don't want to bother them when the eggs hatched. But now I'm trying to put my foot down and take back my balcony. I really really feel colonized in my own home. They're very persistent creatures. Very cute but stubborn and aggressive.

I wish there's a humane harmless way to scare them off. I was thinking of installing a flag or a wind mill over the shade but they'll probably grow used to it, won't they?

 

[Andy Adcock]

Etudiant, that's exactly the case! In less than a day I've noticed one sitting on a couple of twigs.

The fledgling is honestly harmless (except for the pooping), he's very cute and i'm growing very fond of him but my biggest issue are the mites. A close relative of ours had a very horrible experience with them. Over the years they have overpopulated in her house to the point where they started noticing small insects creeping inside their house. Her children's beds are littered with them. They scratch nonstop. They got bitten on their scalp and whole bodies.

Today I saw one sitting on the nest but I wasn't aware that there was an egg in there. A very small one almost invisible. I did something so drastic and cut out the entire shrub which I was very very fond of that took forever to grow over the shade I built which they've insisting is their new home.

I feel horrible I took her egg. I feel a sting in my heart every time I remember it, but I think most pigeons lay 2 eggs and if there's one then she should have another one soon.

My immune system is not great and my body can't handle medications well so I'm always afraid of having a big number of them living on my balcony like this especially when I wanted to use the balcony in the first place to destress during this pandemic and we're mostly in lockdown.

Instead, I don't go out because I don't want to bother them when the eggs hatched. But now I'm trying to put my foot down and take back my balcony. I really really feel colonized in my own home. They're very persistent creatures. Very cute but stubborn and aggressive.

I wish there's a humane harmless way to scare them off. I was thinking of installing a flag or a wind mill over the shade but they'll probably grow used to it, won't they?

Remove the eggs as soon as you see them and then the nest, you may have to consider some netting to keep them out.

 

[Pink Figs]

Andy, I feel so horrible removing the eggs. I only remove them when they first lay them to make sure they're not alive. I literally feel like I'm stealing someone's child

I will think about the netting, thank you. I don't know if I can do that with the type of crawling shrub I have but it's an idea!