I'm having pigeon issues.

[JC]

I heard that a large stuffed Yianni-Bellis on the roof does well for freaking the crap out of the pigeons.

He'd probably end up selling them 11 boxes of black on black tile.

[modernenthusiast]

Too funny JC-where do they sell these? At the costume shop? Forget stuffed ones- I want a Y.B mask! Do they have these too? Maybe we could all get Y.B. masks to scare the pigeons . I am actually not above jumping out from behind a tree to scare the crap out of those damn birds (or maybe a neighbor- no, I wouldn't!).

Masks would be spooky. Good idea on the stuffed tile pusher.

[modernenthusiast]

Um I still feel a little weird about this but it worked- A friend of mine put out stuff called "Gopher B Gone" to kill pigeons when I was at his house yesterday- for all of you sickos (like me) who will watch, you can actually witness their death. The pigeon eats it and dies in about 30 seconds (that's the average time we got- and I also feel weird about timing it yes) . I watched pigeons keel over and die all morning. Its kinda spooky. Its like they just put one foot up and fall back dead. It does work though if you want to kill them instead of just scaring them off.

I think I'm gonna stick to my snakes. Maybe it is more humane though for the hospice in my backyard to get it over for them quickly.

[modernlover]

That is a disgusting, truly inhumane thing to do. Stick to the snakes. Please.

[micrguy]

When I was a kid there was a guy that would pay a bounty on all dead pigeons in our neighborhood. This created small gangs of generally 8-11 year old boys roaming around with BB guns and garbage bags full of dead pigeons.

[moderndiyer]

Eek. It's hard for me to even throw the eggs away. Actually, my husband does it.

I read somewhere that if you kill them they breed even more to make up for the loss. (I don't mean emotional loss- flock loss or whatever)

I found a Bobble Head Owl this weekend when I was out of town. Even the dogs are afraid of it!
It's pretty creepy. It can be filled with sand so it makes it easy to place it on the roof without tipping over or having the pigeons carry it away.

[modernenthusiast]

I suppose it is as inhumane as using rat poison or Raid. I don't think any pigeons felt pain- but then again I am not quite sure I am familiar with pigeon facial expressions (although they do seem to have a certain look in their eyes sometimes).

[micrguy]

For some reason every cat in my neighborhood uses my front yard as a litterbox. While we are on the subject of household pests any ideas that will keep cats away. I don't mind cats if they belong to someone else and stay away from my yard. But as long as they keep leaving me "presents" to step in, I want a humane way of driving them out of my yard.

[meagen]

I'm with you Micrguy - all the neighborhood cats use our driveway and raised planters as litterboxes. It's wonderful when you enter our gate, the welcoming aroma of cat pee. I'm thinking about this: http://www.predatorpee.com/

[Mr. Natural]

The northeast corner of my property was the public restroom for all the neighborhood cats until I had it covered in river rock. Before that it was this large dirt covered mound. It was irresistable to them. I recommend covering the area in something they can't easily scratch.

I have no sympathy for pigeons. Modern-E, if you think of it, film the next backyard pigeon apocalypse. Then you could watch it in reverse -- it would be very eerie to see a bunch of pigeons rising from the dead.

Strange, too, how you mentioned that they just sort of lifted one leg and then fell over. That's just what Foghorn Leghorn would do when he got clocked real hard in the head...

[moderndiyer]

How about one of those motion sensor sprinkler jobbies?
http://www.critterridders.com/scarecrow.htm

You could trap the cats and loan them out to people who have pigeon issues!

[modernenthusiast]

I received a couple of emails regarding where to purchase gopher b gone. I am sorry I got the name wrong- gopher b gone is actually a sonic vibrating device (not to be confused with the gopher guillotine-which is really spooky so I won't describe it) to deter gophers and moles. The stuff my neighbor used is actually called Motomco mole and gopher poison and "Poisonpeanuts" (one word) for gophers. His friend who is a pest eliminator(?) gave him these samples so he was using a combination that day. I think it has strychnine in it- maybe they all do. I don't know. Sorry about the name confusion. I have become quite amused and fascinated by the gopher poisoning market. Its very creative and actually quite extensive.

[modernlover]

http://www.michigan.gov/dnr/0,1607,7-15 ... --,00.html

Simply put, it's torture.

[modernenthusiast]

Poor pigeons.....that's sad.

[Mr. Natural]

Sandy: Carl I want you to kill all the gophers on the golf course

Carl Spackler: Correct me if I'm wrong Sandy, but if I kill all the golfers they'll lock me up and throw away the key.

Sandy: Not golfers, you great fool. Gophers. The *little* *brown*, *furry* *rodents*.

Carl Spackler: We can do that. We don't even need a reason.