# Pigeon Nest inside house



## sfmatt (Apr 22, 2007)

We recently bought a new home - 1885 Victorian - and for the last week have been hearing scratching in our crawl space. We went up on the roof yesterday and found a hole in the side of the house. We were able to lean over and take a picture into the crawl space, and there are two baby pigeons that look to be about 2-3 weeks old set back about two feet inside. We also saw their parents flying around. I am an avowed animal lover and don't want to do anything to harm them, but am worried about termites, rain etc. getting into my house through the hole (especially since it is such an old house). Any suggestions?


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## Charis (Feb 11, 2007)

The best thing to do would be to wait until the babies have left the nest and then block the hole. The hen usually lays a second set of eggs while she has two in the nest so you need to look out for the second set of eggs and remove them prior to blocking the hole.


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## Skyeking (Jan 17, 2003)

sfmatt said:


> We recently bought a new home - 1885 Victorian - and for the last week have been hearing scratching in our crawl space. We went up on the roof yesterday and found a hole in the side of the house. We were able to lean over and take a picture into the crawl space, and there are two baby pigeons that look to be about 2-3 weeks old set back about two feet inside. We also saw their parents flying around. I am an avowed animal lover and don't want to do anything to harm them, but am worried about termites, rain etc. getting into my house through the hole (especially since it is such an old house). Any suggestions?


I appreciate your kindness and care shown to the little ones. I understand also, about closing up the hole, as it is a worry, but a few weeks to wait will be okay.

It would be best if you could replace the second set of eggs with dummy eggs, as soon as they are laid-either plastic or wood, so incubation will not have occured. The babies will get a chance to grow up and independent of mom and dad, and there will be no new babies on the way. The parents WILL give up the eggs as soon as they are removed out of the nest, so I wouldn't want there to be any developing babies inside.


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## Charis (Feb 11, 2007)

Very good point, Tressa.


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## feralpigeon (Feb 14, 2005)

sfmatt said:


> We recently bought a new home - 1885 Victorian - and for the last week have been hearing scratching in our crawl space. We went up on the roof yesterday and found a hole in the side of the house. We were able to lean over and take a picture into the crawl space, and there are two baby pigeons that look to be about 2-3 weeks old set back about two feet inside. We also saw their parents flying around. I am an avowed animal lover and don't want to do anything to harm them, but am worried about termites, rain etc. getting into my house through the hole (especially since it is such an old house). Any suggestions?



The older homes here are built w/redwood which is a natural deterrent to 
termites. In fact, redwood is the only other acceptable structural wood besides
pressure treated wood and of the two, I'd take the old first generation redwood in a heartbeat. So you really have no worries in that respect.
In terms of the rainy season, being that it's just about over you might want
to check inside the crawl space before closing it off anyway to make sure that it does not need to get dried out before closing off. If it does, you could
temporarily close it w/screening for the purpose of ventilating the area.

Treesa's suggestions regarding the birds and babies currently living there
seem to just about cover that part of the topic. 

fp


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## sfmatt (Apr 22, 2007)

*Thank you*

Thank you for the pigeon and house advice! Unfortunately we can not get inside the crawl space to absolutely make sure there are no eggs inside, but looking at the pictures we took I can't see any other nests. Also, the parents are not around all the time, so I would think that would mean they don't have a new nest inside? Anyway, thanks to all of you who care about the birds (and who know about redwood!)


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## Lovebirds (Sep 6, 2002)

sfmatt said:


> Thank you for the pigeon and house advice! Unfortunately we can not get inside the crawl space to absolutely make sure there are no eggs inside, but looking at the pictures we took I can't see any other nests. Also, the parents are not around all the time, so I would think that would mean they don't have a new nest inside? Anyway, thanks to all of you who care about the birds (and who know about redwood!)


They may not be on another set of eggs YET........but there's a VERY good chance that they will be before these two babies are ready to go out on their own. So, I would watch for more. If you absolutely can not get into the crawl space to remove the eggs, the only thing I can think of is to break them. (I hate saying that  ) but I don't know how else you would keep the eggs from hatching.


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## feralpigeon (Feb 14, 2005)

sfmatt said:


> Thank you for the pigeon and house advice! Unfortunately we can not get inside the crawl space to absolutely make sure there are no eggs inside, but looking at the pictures we took I can't see any other nests. Also, the parents are not around all the time, so I would think that would mean they don't have a new nest inside? Anyway, thanks to all of you who care about the birds (and who know about redwood!)



Hi sfmatt,

Check all of your closets for crawl space access, I can't believe there isn't one
somewhere in the house, that would be just so unusual in these old victorians.

fp


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## feralpigeon (Feb 14, 2005)

Maybe you could reach in from the hole that you have found w/one of those
"reach extenders" and pull the eggs out this way. If you can avoid breaking them when you do it would probably be better because of the potential for
bacterial problems from the broken eggs.

fp


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## Lovebirds (Sep 6, 2002)

feralpigeon said:


> Maybe you could reach in from the hole that you have found w/one of those
> "reach extenders" and pull the eggs out this way. If you can avoid breaking them when you do it would probably be better because of the potential for
> bacterial problems from the broken eggs.
> 
> fp


I thought about that, but, it depends on how big the opening is and it sounds like they can't even see inside........I also agree that there may be a space somewhere else in the house for access. I hope so.  Breaking the eggs is absolutely the last resort, but it's better than having more babies and more babies, if they don't want them up there. We all know, it's a never ending cycle!!


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## feralpigeon (Feb 14, 2005)

Lovebirds said:


> I thought about that, but, it depends on how big the opening is and it sounds like they can't even see inside........I also agree that there may be a space somewhere else in the house for access. I hope so.  Breaking the eggs is absolutely the last resort, but it's better than having more babies and more babies, if they don't want them up there. We all know, it's a never ending cycle!!


Renee, I think they can see inside the "hole", and I'm assuming it's big enough 
for the adults to get in, but this could still be too small for a "reach extender"
to fit through. Yes, breaking s/be the last resort, and to tell you the truth, there's 
no guarantee if a "reach extender" were used it wouldn't do just that
anyway.

I don't know, if there's no access, maybe it's time to go into one of those
closets and put an access door up in the ceiling anyway. Lot's of storage 
space going unused and it's also a great way to upgrade the wiring
in the house by accessing that area.

fp


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## sfmatt (Apr 22, 2007)

*Clarification...*

Sorry to engender so much confusion about our home...we do have access into the crawl space in general, but cannot get to the edge where the nest is located because of all the criss crossing boards (maybe someone smaller than us can, but they would have to be pretty little!) And we cannot see into the hole - I had to reach my arm down as far as possible, while lying flat on the roof and trying not to look down, in order to turn the camera toward the hole and take the picture. It is about 20 feet straight down onto the neighbor's roof, so we can't even use a ladder. We have to talk to our contractor about fixing the hole, anyway, so I can ask him about ways to access the space as well. Also, I have attached the two pictures I took. Any thoughts on how long until they are ready to vacate the premises? Thanks again!


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## Pidgey (May 20, 2005)

Roughly three weeks.

Pidgey


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## Maggie-NC (Jun 22, 2005)

It is so kind of you to want to take care of these babies. I would "guesstimate" about 3 weeks before they'll be leaving, maybe less because they mature so fast and they already have feathers.

You know, except for the immediate area where the babies are, they have been pretty good house guests by not pooping everywhere. I'm really surprised you don't have more than one family. We were involved in a rescue about a year ago where over 40 eggs, squabs, fledglings and adults were in an attic of a house (plus numerous starling nests) and it was a pretty awesome sight with all the poop.


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## Charis (Feb 11, 2007)

The pictures are quite amazing given what you had to go through to take them. 
It does look as though they've been tidy house guests.


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## feralpigeon (Feb 14, 2005)

sfmatt said:


> Sorry to engender so much confusion about our home...we do have access into the crawl space in general, but cannot get to the edge where the nest is located because of all the criss crossing boards (maybe someone smaller than us can, but they would have to be pretty little!) And we cannot see into the hole - I had to reach my arm down as far as possible, while lying flat on the roof and trying not to look down, in order to turn the camera toward the hole and take the picture. It is about 20 feet straight down onto the neighbor's roof, so we can't even use a ladder. We have to talk to our contractor about fixing the hole, anyway, so I can ask him about ways to access the space as well. Also, I have attached the two pictures I took. Any thoughts on how long until they are ready to vacate the premises? Thanks again!


I'd guess 2-3 weeks as well because they appear to be so isolated in there. If they were in a flock situation, perhaps the 'fast track' to independance, but these two are looking pretty cozy and comfy in there. Neat as a pin to boot.

Sometimes it helps in those old crawl spaces to leave a couple of managable
pieces of plywood that will overlapp the joists enabling secure footing or crawling or as a work station as need arises. 

Anyway, they look so innocent it's hard to believe that they are living there
illegally.

fp


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## roxtar (Aug 21, 2006)

Not a spot of bird poop anywhere.... I wish my birds kept themselves that clean.


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