Pigeons can be pesky little birds and always seem to find their way to your bird feeder which prevents you from welcoming some new delightful birds to your yard.
Not only this but pigeons also leave their droppings everywhere which can cause your lawn or your patio to be an eyesore unless you constantly wash away the mess.
Whilst we’re not against pigeons, we’d rather not have them dominating our bird feeder until there’s nothing left and preventing other birds from being enticed into our yard.
So if you’re like us and you want to keep the pigeons away from your bird feeder then keep on reading.
Remove The Bird Feeder From Your Yard
Unfortunately, one of the easiest and effective ways to deter pigeons from coming to your bird feeder is to remove the bird feeder from your yard completely.
If there’s no food available for them, then they won’t come in and therefore you won’t have to deal with the mess they make.
However, this will also minimize the number of other birds that come into your yard as there won’t be any food available for them.
We guess you’ll need to decide whether you’re willing to put up with the pigeons in the hopes you’ll still have visitors from other birds or get rid of the bird feeder entirely.
Don’t Use Ground Feeders
If you’ve currently got a ground feeder in your yard then you’ll need to swap it out for one that isn’t positioned on the ground such as a hanging bird feeder that attaches to your tree or one that is placed on a pole.
This is because pigeons love to eat off the ground which is why you’ll often see them pecking at the ground trying to look for food.
They don’t bode well at hovering and trying to eat at the same time, so to prevent them from coming into your yard you’ll want to use a feeder that requires birds to fly or hover whilst eating.
Sometimes bird feed and seeds will drop from hanging and pole feeders and inevitably end up on the ground which will attract one pigeon and eventually a flock of them and then also discourage other birds from coming into your yard.
You could try to stay on top of seeds that have fallen to the floor but there will always be fall out from feeders that are not on the ground.
Place Pigeon Deterrents In Your Yard
Another great method to deter pigeons from coming near your bird feeder is by placing pigeon decoys in your yard which will scare them away.
Decoys are just fake birds of prey that you can strategically place around your feeder to drive away the pigeons.
Large replica birds such as owls or falcons will prevent them from entering but you’ll have to frequently move them into different positions as the pigeons will figure out that they’re not real and then come to the bird feeder once again.
Don’t place them directly in front of the feeder, but dot them around your yard, placing them on fences, shed roofs, and even on yard furniture so they’re easily spotted by the pigeons.
Use A Smaller Bird Feeder
Try to find a bird feeder that has a smaller opening so the pigeons won’t be able to access the food but other little birds will.
If you don’t want to buy a new feeder, then you could always buy a small cage to place around your feeder that the pigeons won’t be able to fit through.
However, this may deter other birds from coming to your feeder if they are also too big.
You’ll also want to make sure the feeder doesn’t have a perch or a ledge attached to it where the pigeon will be able to sit whilst feeding.
Use Pigeon Repellent
You can try to use metal or plastic spikes on your fencing or surfaces where the pigeons usually perch to discourage them from entering and coming to your feeder, whilst this may not be considered humane, it will definitely be effective.
If you don’t want to use spikes, then you can try using bird repellent gel and spray it across perches or around your feeder.
Making your yard noisier and having shiny objects sitting around will also not be a welcoming environment for a pigeon.
Use A Feeder That Is Pigeon Proof
Whilst pigeons are motivated little birds when it comes to food, they don’t have much ability in holding on to surfaces that aren’t flat.
Therefore, to prevent them from coming to your feeder you should have the feeder placed on a surface that is on an incline or that’s hanging vertically.
As we briefly mentioned, they don’t like to hover whilst feeding so a vertical/hanging feeder is recommended.
You can hang a feeder on a tree branch but just ensure they can’t reach the food with their beak from the branch (i.e it’s on a long piece of material).
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