My first Pigeon job...

So last summer I began speaking with a local company re their Pigeon issues. We finally developed a plan and as we speak that plan is being implemented.

Stage 1... Going on this week...

Trap as many as I can for herd reduction.

Stage 2- to come next week- installing about 2,400' of bird wire over a structure which sits out from the wall, as a sort of decoration/sign. and also add bird netting over 3 mechanical rooms with no roof. Very irregular shaped rooms so it will be interesting.

So about 9 days ago I started pre-baiting them on the roof with a wild bird feed. It is mostly cracked corn but also has some sorgum, millet, sunflower, and a bunch of other crap I was hoping they would like. They didn't take to it very fast but over a few days they were eating some up.

Last Thursday I placed one of WCS's large Pigeon traps over my pre-bait area, and held all the bobbins up with 2 pieces of lath.

Today I went to check and they are going in and out well, and when I showed up there was actually 1 inside but it didn't take him very long to exit when he seen me.

I counted 34 pigeons on site but there were more. At the most ive seen here was about 100-150 earlier in the fall when it was warmer out- this am was -10F but we are looking at high 30's-low 40's next week.

here are some pictures...

in the first couple pictures you can see all the poop and urine stains in the snow. this vent expels a bunch of warm air and its been -10/-30 lately so they have been surrounding in during the day for warmth. I figured it was a good place to try to trap them.

in the last 2 pictures you can see all the tracks inside from them.

hopefully tomorrow ill have some action pics!

I forgot to mention this roof is about 300'x650-700' so I was glad to see the sign near this vent.

i always prebait in the cages

And I don't like the looks of the design of that cage........ Never could understand the concept of door that are straight up and down

im curious about that bobbin design as well, but that said ive never trapped a pigeon before so what do I know. I prebaited the place where I was going to place the cage, then prebaited the cage for a total of 9 days. they never cleaned up the food like I assumed they would. maybe they don't eat much but around these parts there isn't a lot for them this time of year. I figured they would go bananas over the bait right away and clean it out daily. it didn't happen. we shall see tomorrow...

I make my own,, doors are slanted at maybe 20,25 degrees??? cold weather can make the birds move to areas were water is available..

i have had best luck next to puddles from a/c condensation.......I use straight cracked corn.

Might also be a factor that the vents are blowing cold air on them?

The best bait is a live pigeon. I always saved one and put him in his own cage with a plastic box, food, and water. This time of the

year, especially, pigeons are hungry. My first job I knew nothing about prebaiting. I used commercial pigeon food and water or snow

for moisture. In a couple of months I think I caught darn near a thousand. They're great for double dipping. I sold all of them to

dog trainers.

We use several homemade pigeon decoys on all our pre bait and leave them in the trap during the trapping program. Some are perched on a perch stick running across the span of the trap interior about a foot above the bottom of the trap.

Some decoys are suspended by string from the top wire to eye hooks on the pigeons head with just the bottom of the decoy touching the floor. Some are standing, some are made with them silhouetted as if they are feeding on the corn. We use a plywood base to attach and secure the trap and also to screw some of the decoys in place.

I have to agree with Paul, leave at least one live pigeon in trap more if possible.

You work to hard Bob!

Paul's suggestion of leaving one bird in the cage( if legal in your state) will make money......

He can compensate that by over baiting.......

Atta kid!
Kill

I've tried pigeon feed and cracked corn but prefer shelled/whole kernel corn for pigeons.

http://youtu.be/EgUT8WXEvSY

its been some weird weather here and im not sure if that's been my issue, but finally today we had some action. We are starting the exclusion on Monday and I was wondering if trying to trap these was even worth it, but I really thought reducing the numbers was a decent idea.

We started the week with this...

view after I popped the roof hatch...


and the trap was mostly drifted shut...



I swept the snow away from the doors and today I had 6. Now the interesting thing to me was just how brave the rest of the pigeons were that were around the cage. as I walked up to it I could see there were some in the cage jumping around so I snuck behing a mechanical building and peeked around the corner. there were between 20-30 around the cage so I watched them for a while thinking id see one or two go inside, but it didn't happen. I walked over to see how many were in the trap, then went back into the building to get the transfer cage from my truck. When I got back on the roof there was already a bunch more back bouncing around the outside of the cage.
it was -27 degrees this am and im thinking the extreme cold brought them back to the vent that expels the warm air. im not sure how warm it is, but at 30 below zero it keeps the snow melted away, so quire a difference.



hopefully tomorrow there will be more waiting for me. now I have to figure out what im going to do with a garage full of pigeons! lol

oh, with the 6 pigeons there was really only one door that wasn't drifted in on each end of the cage. I cleaned them all out again so hopefully that helps.

Put an add in craigslist, I sell all I can get and then some to birddog people.

Eat them is all else fails

Vinke could you share a picture of your slanted door?
I would like to try that in one of my cages to see if they will push through better.

Frank

I have built several pigeon traps using the pre-made doors with bobs from Foy's Pigeon Supply. Here's a link to their website:

http://www.foyspigeonsupplies.com/traps-and-bobs/1625-oriental-bob-trap

BTW.... we raised (and raced) homing pigeons for 20 years, so have "a little" experience with pigeons.

This is one of my traps on a gas station canopy. Removed 175 pigeons from this site.

Sweet....

Thanks Ron!

Frank

I make my door out of old refrigerator of freezer shelves








Converted Havatrap............

The duct tape keeps the grain in so the bird goes to the entrance that is trailed.....

Thanks Vinke, good idea with the duct tape!

Frank

Red Green would be so proud!

My buddy Steve is to cheap to by gorilla tape........lol

Love the guy........