igobarefoot Posted July 19, 2010 Share Posted July 19, 2010 Does anyone else have trouble with pigeons creeping into the WIR when the door is open? I like to leave it open when the girls are out free ranging so they can wander in and out as they wish, but it seems every time my back is turned the sneaky little flying rats have crept in again! One of my girls has been really poorly laying softies of late and I'm starting to wonder if maybe it's related and she's got an infection from the pigeons. Emma Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chucky Mama Posted July 19, 2010 Share Posted July 19, 2010 Bloomin' wood pigeons drive me up the wall. How many clutches do they have in a year They seem to be breeding constantly. We are over run with them and they are so fat in my garden that they can activate my treadle feeder - the whole point of it was to stop the pigeons pitching the chicken food. Even the chickens have given up chasing them off now as there are so many of them ....and...breath.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sewitall Posted July 19, 2010 Share Posted July 19, 2010 We too are plagued by them. Some are so big and fat that they can just about take off for flight. They keep landing with an almighty thump on the roof of the run which worries the chooks and scares me half to death in case they break the roofing. Plus they constantly patrol around the run seeking any morsels which may have been kicked out by the chickens (I have one chicken that is a vigorous scratcher and kicks the aubiose right out of the run by a good foot or so). I have taken to using the hoselock water sprayer on jet setting on the flying rats which does help. But I do wish that their courtship rituals in the trees weren't so vigorous as they keep dislodging branches onto the run roof. I don't see the roof lasting the manufacturers 10 year guarantee at this rate. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beach chick Posted July 20, 2010 Share Posted July 20, 2010 its rooks for us.... hundreds of the great horrible black things! and they seem to have very little fear of ANYTHING. they have also taken to ganging up on one of our cats - fortunately he's quite thick so just ignores them! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
igobarefoot Posted July 20, 2010 Author Share Posted July 20, 2010 I'm glad I'm not the only one plagued by them! It does feel as though there are more about this year than ever - not sure if that is because I'm more conscious of them now I've got my little darlings, but then again the amount of pigeon sex I've seen this summer its no wonder there are so many of them!! We have them patrolling up and down the perimeter of the WIR and it makes my blood boil! Am routinely throwing my flip flops at them or squirting them with the hosepipe and have even considered buying a slingshot...... Emma Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mollie333 Posted July 21, 2010 Share Posted July 21, 2010 The ones near me, i swear, are covered in bugs.. I dont want it spreading to my chickens. I often run after them with a brush. sorry pigeon lovers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted July 29, 2010 Share Posted July 29, 2010 Dogs scare them off but they are annoying. They constantly sit on the WIR sending the girls crazy so I set the Doberman on them Also we have a french bull dog puppy 15 weeks old and he stalks them. Dogs are the way to stop them . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mercedes55 Posted July 29, 2010 Share Posted July 29, 2010 We've had a lot of them too and there are definitely more of them since we got our hens. One day a pair of them were making such a racket trying to mate on the lawn that it spooked our hens and they were all running around the lawn with their wings flapping and necks stretched out in a right panic poor things. We do have a dog and she loves to chase the pigeons away but I worry that in her eagerness to chase off the pigeons she might also spook the hens Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
