Pigeon Spiking & Wires
Pigeon Spiking & Wires:
Twenty years ago the most common way of preventing pigeons perching, nest building and roosting on ledges and gutters was pigeon wires. Unfortunately pigeons started to ignore the wires in areas of ‘high pressure’. What this means is that if there is a ledge available for them to roost at night without wires they will choose that ledge but if the only ledge available then they will use the one with wires and just ‘push’ the wire to one side. This can happen with spikes but to a much lesser extent. Anyway because pigeons were ignoring wires Pigeon Spikes became the favoured option. These are not foolproof. A suitable night roosting and nesting sites are vital for pigeons. The population of feral pigeons in towns is governed by the amount of these site, not food or water which not a problem for feral pigeons in towns. It may not be easy for a pigeon to find a night roosting place if theirs has been lost to spiking. Not any ledge will do. There are complicated issues of position, air movement and location that is not fully understood. The pigeon usually attempts to over come the wire or spike and if not successful in finding another spot may roost nearby. If the roosting spot is not suitable the bird will become stressed, not breed and may die.
Here is an example of how persistent feral pigeons can be in There was a Yellow Page building in Reading Berkshire that had pigeons nesting in about 20 large window boxes. PEST UK got the job to sort this out. We removed the plants and boarded over the top and fixed pigeon spikes to the board so there was a mass of spikes. We thought that that would be it. Pigeons kept attempting to build nests on this board full of spikes. We were getting calls every few days to come and remove dead or injured pigeons. Nesting materials were being placed on the spikes and eggs laid on the boards. This carried on for 3 months and then nothing. I assume that the pigeons either moved on or died. I expect most of them died as if they had other roosting and nesting sites available they would not have attempted to perch, roost or nest on a bed of spikes.
PEST UK have years of experience in installing pigeon deterrents in the form s of nest, spikes & wires. Pigeon culling (shooting) can be used as part or all of the solution.
To book a pest control treatment or free advice then please call us at PEST UK: 0330 100 2811 (local rate) or 0800 026 0308 (free from land lines & some mobiles).
