Possibly OT - pigeon deterrent

[petek]

My father-in-law lives in a 3rd floor apartment with a small balcony, in a city suburb. Unfortunately the balcony suffers from the visits of numerous pigeons which leave their droppings everywhere.

He has tried shiny tape along the balustrade and various arrangments of coloured string tied from the top of the sliding windows to the balustrade. All of which are not very good at deterring the pigeons, and also unsightly in themselves.

Has anyone got any better ideas (other than buying him an air rifle, which given the infinite number of birds would be impractical and attract comments from the RSPB etc)?

Pete

[A.Lee]

.......

Those six inch long wires on blocks - a bit like an upturned brush head, with fewer bristles.

worked great at a shopping centre where I used to service machines. Alan.

[George]

Chicken wire covering the balconies opening.

[dave]

Can confirm the stick-up wire things work. I fitted one above the guttering at the corner of our house. No birds of any kind land there now :-)

[Anne Jackson]

The message from petek contains these words:

You can get hawk-shaped stick-on-the-window clingy things, which are supposed to scare other birds away...

[Clive George]

train, and did wonder a bit - I'd come to the conclusion they were for vandals, but birds makes more sense.

cheers, clive

[RW]

Fine mesh net. Not only does it stop the birds but you occasionally get a few stuck on it........Pigeon Pie....

;-)

[Paul D.Smith]

...snip...

If you go this route, move them around and have a few different patterns to swap occasionally. A neighbourhood tower block has fake owls on top - worked for a week or so but now the pigeons perch on top of them! Pigeons learn fast so changing the surroundings is required to keep them at bay.

Paul DS.

[wattie]

At Carlisle railway station they had a plastic owl sitting in the beams, seemed to work. WM

[<me9]

We used to use them for deterring starlings. They worked for a short time, until they were crapped on.

[ARWadworth]

I have just noticed that all the lamp posts on the St Georges Bridge in Doncater have these on top of them. I need one for my chimney.

Adam

[Anne Jackson]

The message from "wattie" contains these words:

I'll have to take your word for it. I haven't been in Carlisle station for nigh-on 45 years!