# Help them find another home



## lacamo (Aug 13, 2012)

Hi -

I've got an increasingly large flock (>20 right now) of feral pigeons in my barn. They poop on the hay, the grain feeders and mangers and in the water tanks. I'm very concerned about the health of sheep & goats (especially the lambs & kids). Everyone, including my veterinarian, recommends killing them off asap, but I'd rather find a more humane way of encouraging them to relocate. They perch all the way up in the loft which is inaccessible as I don't have a 30' ladder to install spikes or other deterrents. 

Thanks in advance for any suggestions!


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## Skyeking (Jan 17, 2003)

*Where are you located?

Thank you for looking for an alternative method to remove the birds. I'm not sure how you would go about this, as you are providing an ideal food source and nesting/perching areas, as that is usually first suggestion is removing the food source. Any rescue facility would need access to the area to trap and remove them and their babies, and if they did you would still need to make the area unaccesible for future feral flocks. 

Can you build them a safe place away from your grain feeders to house them? They really don't require that much food to survive, but when they get more then they need they are more inclined to nest and increase their numbers. *


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## lacamo (Aug 13, 2012)

I'm located in East Ryegate, Vermont, along the Connecticut River. I was thinking of blocking off the large doors at either end of the barn with light weight netting to allow air flow and leave room at the bottom for the animals to come & go; perhaps the birds would find this inconvenient and nest somewhere else. Or, I can install a row of vinyl strips that the animals could learn to walk through but the pigeons would not.


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## Charis (Feb 11, 2007)

I know of a horse bird with over 300 pigeons and 50 horse boarders. The pigeons are all over the place and the horses are fine. Not a one has gotten sick form the pigeons.
We have been programed, by exterminators, to believe that any living creature that comes in contact with pigeons or their droppings is at high risk of becoming ill...perhaps even fatally so, but it just isn't true.


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## lacamo (Aug 13, 2012)

The problem isn't mere contact; if poop lands in a grain feeder or water tank (where the pigeons also drink) the animal will consume it. That is not a good thing.


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## Charis (Feb 11, 2007)

lacamo said:


> *The problem isn't mere contact*; if poop lands in a grain feeder or water tank (where the pigeons also drink) the animal will consume it. That is not a good thing.



I understand. I've had people tell me that having pigeons in a barn can cause Pigeon Fever.
Please review the following article.

http://www.aaep.org/health_articles_view.php?id=358


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## horseart4u (Jun 16, 2011)

i know people who raise pigeons and have feral ones in their barns, up in the lofts and none of thier horses have got sick, and these are thoroughbred breeds, top priced horses, so you would think if there was any problem with pigeons they wouldn't have them around.


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