Wednesday, December 3, 2008

The Pigeon Battle

Several years ago, a wonderful man in the neighboring town decided to raise pigeons. For whatever reason he was no longer able to take care of them and so let them go free! Pigeons are great at multiplying and taking over. Soon the town was filled with pigeons. They needed more space, so they came to my town. Lovely!




I love my new house. I love my new neighborhood. I do not love the pigeons that live on nearly every rooftop. I do not love the poops they leave on the sides of my house, on my roof, and on my sidewalks. Gross! I do not love the other various items they bring to my yard, which I won't describe because it's too yucky. I also do not love that they are building a nest on the pillar of my front walk. I have a tree they could use. Sheesh! Talk about bad location pickers.


Pigeons are not easily scared and will keep coming back. One neighbor suggested getting a net to block the pigeons access to my pillars. Whatever! They have a net, but when they're at work...the pigeons sneak into the pillar by going behind the net. Another neighbor suggested spikes. But then told me to be careful because pigeons are so dumb/determined that they will skewer themselves on the spikes. Yuck! Another neighbor paid a pest-control company to get rid of their pigeons. Ummm. He's got ten pigeons sitting on his roof right now.


Yesterday a neighbor with no pigeons told me her secret. She didn't use spikes or pest control or nets. She just used a water hose with a fireman's nozzle.



Anytime she heard the pigeons land on her house, she would go hose them down. Morning, noon, evening, and even at night...especially at night. She would hose them down. I had thought about using the hose, but with the other neighbors using gadgets I figured a plain old hose wouldn't work. With my neighbor's testament, I went to the hardware store, purchased the necessary equipment, and tried it out. IT WORKS!!


I've only done it one day, but already the pigeons are starting to be wary of me. I also took it out last night and sprayed them a few times. Totally took them by surprise. At ten o'clock they were gone. I knew it wouldn't be that easy, so I looked at the other eave of the front walk. There they were! Haha! They thought they could fool me by moving to another side. Nope! I sprayed them and they quickly retreated.


The battle has begun! But will only be won if I am consistent in my efforts. Wish me luck! :)

2 comments:

Laurie said...

Hahaha!!! The Battle of the Pigeons. Classic. :D

Sabra said...

Ask Bobby about his history with pigeons and the law! He's quite a legend in this neighborhood.