How to prevent Pigeons coming to my garden?

They are a bloomin' nuisance, aren't they? I hate them!

Netting is a good deterrent, you could try laying some of that down.

What is it that the pigeons are eating? If you can eradicate that, they may be discouraged. Hth?

Hi Craftnutter, thanks for your response!

We've got a ground-based squirrel-proof feeder that we put food in for the ground-feeding birids like robins, thrushes and dunnocks, and sometimes food comes out of that.

Also, we have a bird table with a fat block, and seeds hanging from for the smaller birds to feed from. When they're feeding, bits fall from the table onto the ground, so the pigeons are getting food from both these sources.

When you say to put netting down, will that deter all ground-feeding birds as well, or are they small enough that they won't get caught in it?

Thanks

Lily

Hi Lily! (luv the name!) Ah, I see where your prob's are now! If you can put the bird food higher up, that would be a huge help! Bits will still fall, but the ground feeder is the main culprit I'm afraid! That is what is so attracting the pigeons.

Birds are becoming more adaptable as it is getting harder for them to survive, so some ground feeding birds will learn to feed higher up. Thrushes are excellent at foraging snails, so a nearby rock would be good to help them smash the shells. Robins feed from high feeders no problem.

Dunnocks are ground feeders, but again, in our garden anyway, they love the mixed seed feeders.

Harrod Horticulture is the place to get specialist netting from. You could even try emailing them for the best netting. They may even have a tried and tested remedy for you? I got my fruit cage netting from them and they are safe for all types of birds.

Pigeons tend to be peckers, so if there are no seeds for them to peck at, they will not visit.

As a last resort, have you tried ask.com, there may be other garden sites like goy where members have the same problems, I've sometimes found answers that way too. Good luck, let us know what you do! xoxoxo

this is a hard one.perhaps as pidgeons are quite a large bird make it impossible for them to get at the food in the feeder ie hanging food ,low roof etc but buy a natural pond ,put i piller literaly the size of your ground feader in the pond and fill it up.it mite need cleaning out but the food will drop in the water so they wont get any purches.the added bonus is the pond will help all sorts of wild life including the odd pigeon.you could get a little dog.these are only ideas and the odd pidgeon will have a drink but nowear near as many.not an easy answer unless you want to be brutal

you could also feed the pidgeons somewear else wear you dont mind at the same time.

Look into the bird feed you are buying, the cheaper ones have a lot of corn in them to bulk them out.I changed mine and now only have one or two pigeons instead of a flock :)

thanx for that info easier than my idea and mine was simply an idea lol

Thanks for all the advice everyone!

Noseypotter, we've got a big dog and although he does his best at chasing the pigeons (and the squirrels), they just sit up on the roof waiting for him to go back inside!

All of the feeders are hanging from the birdtable but when the little birds feed they do spill a bit and this is what keeps the pigeons hanging about. The ground feeder is protected by a squirrel guard 'cos we have more than our fair share of them too, so the pigeons cannot get to that food.

Aster, I have tried a few different seed mixes but as our birds get thru' it very quickly I have tended to buy cheap. Can I ask which one you use?

Have sent you a PM Lilymac as not sure about advertising

Aster,
Have also sent you a PM 'cos you're probably right about the advertising thing.