What About Homing Pigeons?
Homing pigeons or “Carrier Pigeons” have the ability to be taken far away from their nest or home, then find their way back. In fact, they can be taking very, very far away, hundreds of miles and still find their way back home. In fact, some have been known to be taken as far away as 1,100 miles and still find their way back!
These pigeons are domestic pigeons bred specifically from the wild rock dove. This was done when it was observed that these wild rock doves seemed to have an inherent homing ability. When people discovered that these birds could find their way home from very long distances relatively quickly, they selectively bred them for this purpose.
Something to understand however, carrier pigeons are selectively bred to be superior and homing in on their nest and getting back home. This means that the typical domestic pigeon that you might find on your roof or windowsill is not one of these pigeons.
All domestic pigeons do have an innate homing ability and are very good at finding the nest after they leave for any period of time. This does not however make a standard pigeon a “homing” or “carrier” pigeon.
What this means to you if you have a pigeon infestation that you want to be rid of is simply this: If you want to get rid of your pigeon problem, simply removing them will not work.
You can capture them and take them far very away, but if they have a nest on your property, the first priority of those birds will be to get back home.
The way to get rid of them permanently is to remove their nest and clean up any mess they left behind. Even then, they will still recognize the location as their home and will likely attempt to “rebuild”.
The best way to handle a pigeon problem and beat their natural homing ability is to do 3 things in this exact order:
- Get rid of the nest(s) and clean up everything the pigeons left behind. All the poop, feathers, and any debris they brought in needs to go. You also need to be sure to wash it as well.
- Install hardware that makes it impossible for them to gain the access they need to use your home as a safe place for them to nest. If they can’t use your home as a nest or good vantage point to see predators, they will typically move on.
- Remove them from the property. Most of the time after cleaning up and installing anti bird hardware, the pigeons will realize your home is no longer good for them and will make a new nest elsewhere. If they don’t leave, you will need to remove them or have them removed and taken elsewhere.
These are the steps we perform at GotPigeons on a daily basis for our customers and it works perfectly.
Summary
The bottom line is this: You can scare pigeons away from your property or even catch them and take them far away. They will find their way back. The only way to get the pigeons off your property and keep them off is to clean up their mess and install anti bird hardware on your property.