I've just purchased a dilapidated house which has been vacant for over ten years, during this time there have been no windows. Pigeons have taken up occupancy and as such they have left their mess everywhere.
Is it true that pigeon poo has an acid/chemical in it that attacks and destroys wood? If so after cleaning it off can it be treated, or is it best consigned to the skip.
Thanks.
Chris
Pidgeon poo is a dangerous substance. In business terms it comes under COSHH legislation and a risk assessment and method statement would have to be done to dispose clean and dispose of the debrisalong with the use of personal protective equipment. It cannot just be shovelled into a skip as you put it.
do you mind- I'm eating my lunch!
The very fit and spritely near 80 year old woman next door to us has just installed a "continous" bird feeder. Very nice to see the small birds landing on it and scattering the seed everywhere. Of course the pidgeons have now arrived too and a right mess they make! Oh - and the past few weeks has seen the appearance of a a few mice in the vicinity. She spends about 1 hour in the morning looking at this wonderful bird feeder - and spends the rest of the day at the other end of the house (how do I know..... shouts at the TV). Sigh - what can one do (ans. bug*er all).
.22 air rifle. Aim for the wing, they will then walk away before the local cats get em.
The major headache is that pigeon poo is a source of several diseases, with tuberculosis being one of them. It's dangerous by inhalation and if it has dried out, it's difficult to scrape up without causing dust.
I suggest having a word with the local bastards^W council, the Environmental Health lot. They should be able to advise you about how to get rid of it.
Do you remember one of the programmes about Fred Dibnah where he was quite seriously ill? He had a habit of using his flat cap to wipe the sweat from his face and it turned out that his illness was caused by the pigeon crap on it.
The cat will do the clean kill.
This is making sure the cats get em.
"We don't want blood all over the lawn and the hounds are fagged out from yesterdays Jehovah's witnesses"
Or have a word with a pigeon hawk owner:
That's disgraceful, you should be ashamed of yourself. You have recommended cruelty to animals. Shoot to kill them outright, if you wing one pull its neck immediately. Do not cause unnecessary suffering, as this is an offence. Make sure you casserole, fry, roast, or even barbecue the pigeon breasts as fresh as you can. If there's a cat nearby, you might discourage that, too - but I don't know whether they taste nice. Pigeons certainly do.
Never mind, get a copy of 'Sir Henry at Rawlinson End" and you can laugh your socks off anyway.
I gave uop on that years ago. I'll leave that to you.
No I haven't. I am merely being sesnitive to his neighbours feelings. They are in HIS garden after all.
That means climbing over the fence. I hate animal lovers. They are the ones that leave a blind dying rabbit to shuffle about. I am the one who put my wellie on his neck and held him in a full ditch till he stopped kicking. Lacking anything more lethal at the time.
If its on my property, and I do wing one, its another .22 through teh head immediately. OTOH the countryside is littered with teh remains of animals got buy other animals, or just dead from cold, old age or sheer heart attack. I don't think a broken wing hurts half as much as being ripped to pieces by a fox or owl. A disabled animals life is measured in minutes really. Pigeons that can't fly are any cats dinner.
Pissibly, but so is lighting a barbecue in a smokeless zone
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Pigeons are 'all right' tastewise - a cross between chicken and lamb hearts really. Sometimes I use em in casseroles.
Sometimes it just saves on catfood.
Erm.... you torkin' about myxomatosis?
That wasn't actually very nice. You have something more lethal, in fact. You can either hold them up by their back legs and after a second or two (when they've stopped wriggling) karate chop them at about 45 degrees just behind the neck, following the heavy blow through, which will break their necks instantly, or you can sort of pin them down and feel with your thumbs and push to do the same thing, or..... Anyway, the point is to kill them as quickly as possible. I suppose you could always stamp on their necks, 'though that lacks finesse.
The point is that a winged bird can survive for a long time in distress. It may be more distressed by being torn to pieces by a fox, or dog (cf. foxhunting), but that is a very short period of time indeed.
Yes, but you need a cat in the area that will take notice. Even then, cats tend to torture their victims before killing them, another good reason not to keep cats.
A winged bird that is not dispatched can keep going for days, as I say, in distress. This is not nice.
Is it really? No, it isn't. Neither is having a bonfire.
I think pigeons are very nice, rather than just "all right". You could always save on cat food by disposing of your cat!
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Yup.
Its about time to see em starting up right now. The usual shmabling dying bunnies.
I tried stamping on its neck first, but the mud gave way and it fell into teh ditch.
I never considered the karate chop. It was covered in fleas and flies anyway, eating its eyes as they do. I'll do that next time.
Round here a winged bird would be dead meat - on fact anywhere where there are cats.
Which was the point. I don';t normally now shoot when I can't reasonably kill, but in this case it was in teh neighbours garden as teh OP stated.
S'all right. Plenty of people torture me all the time. Look at reading IMM's posts for one thing. Someone should put him out of his misery before they start on about dumb animals...
I don't think they can tho. Usually a wing shot on a bird that is on the ground (and I would applaud ANYONE who can hit a flying pigeon with a .22 air rifle) breaks wing and ribs, so the muscles that do the flying are rendered usesless. Ive done that to a few - they can flap, they can walk, but thet can't fly. Dispatch ASAP by favorite method.
IME you either disable them compeletly or flick a feather off. Shotgun is different, on flying birds. I have seen the odd bird go down pwounded but never recovered, tho the dogs do their best.
With a rifle, the chance of a bird dying in days is very small.
Pigeon = flying rat who cares?
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