I agree with Whitewavemark2 - I don't think you should kill a bird just because you don't like it! IMO in some circumstances insects are fair game - but there are countless millions of those!
My DS had a nest building pidgeon high above the front door , maybe you can clean the excrement in 2 seconds , but they can poo at a rate of knots , we had to use the back door . I think the damn thing watched and waited till he had cleaned the front step before bombarding it again . Did you know young pigeons are called Squabs
Yep, mine do the same, it is a pain, but there we are. Out I go with water and brush, in 2 secs it’s gone. But like someone said they are very gentle birds unless they are fighting over seed and then it gets a bit fraught
Just for the record , like so much we hear these days pigeons do not spread disease, it is an urban myth.
With bio diversity under so much threat we can’t afford to lose one bit of the natural world , we must treasure everything.
There are pigeons and pigeons. I have the big fat pigeons which make an awful mess of one of my patios. Then there are the kind of pigeons mostly found in urban situations and generally blamed for spreading diseases. I have lots of collared doves and at the weekend, they were in and out of one of my trees, so I thought they might have fledglings learning to fly. Did you know that baby pigeons are fed with a kind of milk secretion on the mother's breast?
Just keep the window firmly closed. The coo-ing, hopefully, won't last long. You can't possibly disturb the nest. It would be cruel in the extreme.
Pigeons annoy me but they do seem to be very gentle birds. I did, however, totally freak out when I saw evidence that one had got into one of our bedroom windows, even though the thing was no longer there. [shudder]
Alima you question to me about being scared of pigeons takes me back 45 years when I was expecting my DS I suddenly became frightened of pigeons I had forgotten all about that. DH is another animal lover so I suspect we have to wait this out till after the nesting season and then cut back the branches that make a perfect nesting site.
I would never kill any living creature, other than flies, I just wish it had nested elsewhere as the cooing woke me up at 5.00 am which is not good as I already have very disrupted sleep.
We have had over the years some lovely broods, if that is the word, of blue tits.
I have to say that I have a large pine tree in my garden and pigeons roost in it's branches at certain times of the year. The amount of poo that covers my driveway [also front of house, windows, car etc] is unbelievable; my neighbour once put my dustbin back for me and, on returning home realised her had to take his shoes off as they were covered in the stuff [as was the dustbin]. I have no wish to harm any living creature but there is a health risk from those pigeons. I've had to move a potting table to another part of the garden because there is an old netball net fixed on the wall at the back of the house and they sit there also and take aim at my table. It really is gross...
I wish I could enjoy pigeons, Whitewave! Perhaps then I wouldn’t mind that they perch on the gutter above the patio doors and bombard the seat and the step. DH then treads same into house. Their other favourite place is in the tree above the hostas which they then proceed to decorate. They do the same to the seat in my DD’s garden but also enjoy the trampoline. Lawn has to be cleaned before children can play!
The reason baby pigeons are not usually seen is that the nests are high up, often in tall buildings etc., and the babies are almost the same size as the parents by the time they leave the nest
I am sorry, cannot answer your question. Have recently wondered why I never see baby pigeons, this thread may have the answer, it cannot be that your DH is UK pigeon exterminator can it? Could I ask, are you scared of them or just hate the blighters?
I think it might be illegal to disturb a nesting bird, even a pigeon. Leave it alone until the young fly the nest. I know that you are not allowed to cut down leylandii in the nesting season and have to wait until the young birds have flown the nest.
I am an animal and bird lover but have to admit an aversion to pigeons.
One has been trying to nest in a tree just below my bedroom window and I have been clapping my hands to frighten it away.
Since yesterday the nest has been built and mother pigeon is insitu ? I feel reluctant to knock the nest down whilst she is away but the thought of a bloomin big pigeon baby being feet from my window appals me.
DH returns tomorrow and I will hand over the task to him.
Any suggestions or does anyone know how long the pigeon could be here?