Since owning chickens Iām less scared a of birds but still donāt like low flying sorts. After overheating in the garden Iām in the cool tub cooling off but being stressed out by a pidgein flying off one way and back the other with a stick in its mouth. I just went to look and the damn thing is building a nest, right over my outside cooking area at the back door. Thinking should get rid of it now before it lays eggs, or will it just rebuild it???
1 Like
Oh and just thought, will they get aggressive if we leave them and they have young? They really are right next to our back door which is in use constantly. 
1 Like
Pigeons arenāt aggressive, and youāve nothing to fear. You could ādisassembleā the nest with a long stick quite safely.
2 Likes
take the sticks away quickley before they lay eggs. We had a nest in our front garden wisteria, for weeks the squabs (baby pigeon) were shitting on all the plants below, missing the seating area by not very much.
I am not letting them built another nest in the wisteria, plenty of trees around they can occupyā¦. and drop fertiliser.
1 Like
Hi Tory. We have pigeon nests every year, and have never had any problems with the birds. I love to keep an eye on the (very slow) progress of the young birds. Pigeons are not fierce birds, but they are large and rather noisy especially when they take off. We have had three nests this year, in different areas. One in each tall fir tree, and one up on the pergola. But the nests are fragile and the pergola nest did not succeed. It was constructed with very loosely stacked up twigs and simply collapsed. The adult birds spend ages here wandering around on the grass in the evening looking for good sticks.
The whole business is long !
Pigeons mate for life and rear their broods together. Once the simple nest is built, the female lays an egg and then another a day or so later. The incubation period for common pigeons is long, 17 to 19 days. The female sits on the egg from late afternoon through the night. The parents both feed them regularly. By the time the squabs are ready to fly, at about 4 weeks, the father is doing most of the feeding. Then the squabs are fed for another week to 10 days after they are free-flying.
The nest you have may well be rather rickety, especially if it is new, in which case you could probably delodge it as Dr Mark suggests, if the young birds are not inside it.
3 Likes
I couldnāt imagine interfering with a birdās nest - the work that goes into them - but thatās me.
If youāre bothered, Iād just do a lot of activity in the area where itās building its nest, in order to put it off. Have a look in the nest, for example, while itās building it.
2 Likes
Loving all wildlife as I do and would love to watch progress in a nest, the region for my soon to be hide, I nevertheless recognise how inconvenient this might be for you. Is it really not possible to co-habit? If not then. as long as eggs arenāt there yet, perhaps smother the nest with twigs yourself to persuade them to start again elsewhere, otherwise they might simply begin again in the same spot.
I once had a wrenās nest just above my exit to the garden at the back. I put up with it and only was encouraged to find out more about them and their habits. No wrens this year, but the nest is still intact.
You may find this article helpful
Pigeon Nesting: How to Spot, Support and Deter Nesting Birds.
1 Like
Iām for āLive and let liveā.
2 Likes
Live and let live needs to be respected on both sides. 
If Tory finds birds scary, especially ones that fly low and are big, then I would suggest it is appropriate to encourage the pigeon to make a nest elsewhere.
It also seems to be above the space where her outdoor kitchen is situated and quite frankly having parent and baby birds crapping in that area - and boy can they crap - I would suggest she has every right to ask the pigeon to find a nesting place elsewhere. Especially as the article I linked above implies that pigeons are birds of habit and they will continue to nest in the same place each year.
1 Like
Are the Chi seagulls as civilised and middle class as the human residents? Youāre a few miles inland but I bet youād still have to deal with them and being dive-bombed by a furious mother trying to protect her babies and having to run inside as sheās trying to attack you is a right of passage for new residents!
2 Likes
The trouble with pigeons is they are destructive birds. They shred new growth in the spring. You should see the damage they did to my plum tree. They seem capable of getting nourishment from anything green, so all plants, shrubs, trees etc are fair game. I couldnāt kill them but I do everything I can to deter them from sojourning in my garden!
1 Like
I drive them away by replying to them, I was trying to enter the conversation but all that happened was their replies steadily got further away. Perhaps learn to coo like a pigeon @toryroo . 
1 Like
I wouldnāt be happy with them that close to my house and as already said, the amount of s*** they fire out is horrendous. Getting rid of the nest at this stage is a good idea, they may try again but after a couple of attempts give up and move.
2 Likes
They wonāt be aggressive. Be nice to them, too few people are 
6 Likes
I think the consensus seems to be to ensure they pick a different spot now while it will cause less disturbance to them and then Tory can be nice to them from a bit further away
Iād certainly take the opportunity to ensure prime pigeon crap fell elsewhere than my outdoor cooking area.
4 Likes
Are you sure they are common or garden āpigeonsā. I think they just live in town and are pretty dirty scavengers. Weāve a pair of pigeon like birds, quite small with pale breasts that adopted us a few years ago. Lovely to see flying around our house. I wouldnāt want town pigeons anywhere near us.
Speaking of wildlife, weāve a geko inundation. They are all over the place. I even had one in the kitchen sink last week. I guess the sides were too slippery for him to escape. Poor little thing dropped its tail when it saw me. I had to construct an escape routeā¦ 
Here he is sussing out the escape route. I buggered off and twenty minutes later heād transferred to the kitchen wall
5 Likes
Brilliant. Weāre having to rely on one of those electric fly killers, and Madame jumps every time it operates; a lizard would be far better.
From the photo, it looks like a collared dove rather than a (wood) pigeon. I think feral pigeons, the sort of feathered rats you see in towns, are rare in the French countryside.
2 Likes
They look and sound lovely but are terrorists! My parents had a couple in their small garden one year - lovely. By the end there were about 16 of them and they drove off other small birds.
Makes me even more convinced that @toryroo needs to get rid of the nest before they settle in. Thereās plenty of space elsewhere for them to nest.
2 Likes