# Flying rats



## Andy (May 16, 2010)

I have lived in this apartment for awhile and have never had pigeons. This year I have two lovebirds (har har) who have decided that my deck would be a great hangout. I'm hoping there won't be mini rats to follow. At first I thought it was cool as I don't mind them much. I looked at my balcony floor today and I have a fair sized balcony, and all over there is elephant dung sized pigeon poop! mg:I was thinking "ah, no biggy how bad could it possibly get..." 

Ok. Aside from getting a big fake owl does anyone have any tips on how I can get rid of them? No killing. My cat is a mouser/bird muncher, but I think they are a little big. lol 
I think I heard once that you could put cayan pepper or something...I don't know. Any suggestions?


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## Cat Dancer (May 16, 2010)

OH my goodness. mg: I think the big owl is a good idea. Is that against the regulations where you live?


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## Andy (May 16, 2010)

It's against my regulations. lol I don't want a big owl on my railing. lol


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## Cat Dancer (May 16, 2010)

LOL. Well, I can't blame you for that. Hmm, I'm not sure.


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## Cat Dancer (May 16, 2010)

How to Scare Away Pigeons | eHow.com


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## Andy (May 16, 2010)

Thanks CD, there are a couple there that I may try. The fake snakes wouldn't be bad either.  I guess if all else fails I am home all the time so I could just walk over and "BOO" every 20 minutes or so. lol My neighbours suspicions that I'm a little :crazy: will finally be confirmed.


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## Banned (May 16, 2010)

Personally I think you should train them.  Skinner trained pigeons to do some cool stuff.  Maybe if you make them work they won't want to hang out with you anymore.

YouTube - Operant conditioning


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## Andy (May 16, 2010)

lol I could try that but if they asked for a pay cheque they will soon figure out that apartments on this side of the street pay squat.
I did that in high school psych. I had mice though and a friend and I used a maze to train them.


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## Cat Dancer (May 16, 2010)

Ohh, I like the making them work idea.


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## Cat Dancer (May 16, 2010)

Or could you litter box train them or maybe put diapers on them? LOL.


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## Andy (May 16, 2010)

I could give them little brooms to clean up their mess on my deck. lol

I could do that too. These pigeons are starting to get to high maintenance.


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## David Baxter PhD (May 16, 2010)

Cat Dancer said:


> Or could you litter box train them or maybe put diapers on them? LOL.


 
YouTube - Pigeon Diaper


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## Cat Dancer (May 16, 2010)

Oh wow. I had no idea there was such a thing. LOL. How weird is that? :lol:  I'm a little freaked out.


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## Andy (May 16, 2010)

lol Nothing surprises me anymore. At the beginning of that video it looked like the bird was corked...lol I was going to say "That's a little drastic!"


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## Banned (May 16, 2010)

Oh ya...I can barely keep them in stock in my store (ok, just kidding).

But...there really is something for everything these days, isn't there?

I still say make them work.  They'll be gone in no time.


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## Andy (May 16, 2010)

lol I think I should just yell Boo at them every 20 minutes. I have nothing better to do, it will give my life some purpose. lol


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## David Baxter PhD (May 16, 2010)

When my sons were young, I was living in an apartment and had pigeons. I just bought them water guns and told them it was their job to hang out and squirt the pigeons whenever they tried to alight on the balcony.


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## Banned (May 16, 2010)

Or spray them with a water bottle...you'll be multi-tasking - keeping the pigeons away and cleaning your balcony.


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## Andy (May 16, 2010)

That's what I need to do then. Hire the pigeons to sweep there mess up and then hire some kids to squirt them (after the pigeons have swept up of course).
Or I could get a BB gun. lol J/K


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## Banned (May 16, 2010)

I was going to recommend little shock collars for them, but then I decided that was just wrong.


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## Andy (May 16, 2010)

That would be twice as wrong if I had kids spraying them with water. lol


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## Andy (May 25, 2010)

Doh! Old hotlink-sorry. 

I thought I had finally rid my balcony of these pigeons. I was told to try to put cat urine out there. Now I tried to get my cat to go on my deck but he wouldn't listen, I think he thinks he is to dignified for such a thing, whatever, that's his issue I wasn't about to argue. Anyway, I put scooped/used litter out there in containers and didn't see any pigeons for about a week, I think.  
I think they were casing the place though, seeing if there really was a cat roaming their new found home. 
This morning they were huddled in the corner of my deck behind my bike and some other deck stuff. I checked later on in the morning and they were still there. Isn't it normal for pigeons to get up and go hang with other pigeons, search for food, get some lovin', poop on humans? That is normal pigeon behaviour (I know because a little birdie told me). I think they may have made a nest, I don't want to disturb it if they did. Unless they just want some "privacy" to fill said nest, they aren't like other exhibitionist pigeons... 
Maybe I should call up a pigeon farmer. Pigeon is actually considered tasty in some parts of the world, actually in Canada too, I think in that wacky city Toronto their is a chef that serves it. I doubt they would want my measly two. That's hardly a meal.

Deck stuff=junk


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