Pigeons
Allthough Pigeons are classed as pests and can be killed in a variety of ways such as Shooting, Poisons and Trapping. There is a lot of legislation that governs when, why and how pigeons may be controled.
Also there are a lot of people out there that do not consider that pigeons are a pest and are against any form of control. This can result in bad feeling between neighbours. I also know of pest controlers that have had traps damaged and stolen by the pigeon loving public
Trapping can be time consuming, the traps need to be pre baited for about a week before the traps are set to get the birds used to feeding from them. This pre baiting means that there is going to be more food about than usual, and can result in birds from neighbouring areas coming in to feed as well.
Once the traps have been set it then means the operative has to visit at least daily by law to remove and humanely dispatch any pigeons that are caught. Depending on the size of the infestation, this can go on for weeks which all adds to the cost of the operation.
Shooting obviously has its limitations, There is also a lot of legislation covering the shooting of pigeons, but in breif :- No pest controler would be allowed to wander around a busy town centre on a Saturday afternoon with a high powered air rifle. Bona Fide pest controlers have a general license that allow them to cull pigeons in the middle of the night in public places using lamps and air rifles, providing that it can be proven that the pigeons are cuasing a risk to the health and safety of the general public, and that the police are informed and they have no objection to the cull being carried out by trained marksmen.
Poisoning may only be carried out by trained licensed operatives. As with trapping this method requires a period of pre baiting before the poison is added, and again can only be used when the criteria for control conforms to that covered by various legislation.
Another downside to poisoning is the fact that because of the need to pre bait pigeons from other areas will come in to feed swelling the number of birds. At best poisoning will only account for 75% of any colony. If you have a flock of fifty birds and the flock doubles because of the extra food source, after treatment you could still be left with 25 birds.
Whatever method is used for killing the pigeons, if steps are not taken to remove any food source and prevent them from roosting, other pigeons may well take up residence in a very short space of time.
PROOFING
We always recommend proofing when we get calls about pigeons, any other method of control can only be a short term quick fix solution.
Above are some pictures of us proofing the Eagle Star building in Cheltenham using netting, but smaller areas can be proofed using spikes, wires or a combination of all three
