New Wild Pigeon Friend

[Angelika]

Hello,
I'm Angelika, a foreign resident in Chicago. About 4 years ago I bought a city condo with a balcony. It started a year later that pigeons began nesting above my kitchen sealing, right on top of an unclosed soffit vent in a tiny attic space.
So far so good, but soon baby pigeons started to drop down from up there between the drywalls of my living space. The first time I heard the screaming of a small bird from between my walls,I thought I couldn't do anything, and hoped that the crying would soon stop. But when, after two full days the sreaming continued, I located the "scream center" right behind the wall underneath my sink, and, pretty desparate, I made a fair-sized hole just there, underneat my sink. That's when I pulled out my first baby pigeon.
I then placed that baby on my balcony. And wonder enough, I observed that the parents came and continued to feed it. I think this first pigeon chick survived. It simply was gone after about a week.
But the process continued, and, at times, I was definetely not succesfull in my rescuing attempts. Often the litlle ones simply fell down from my balcony on to the ground below--and there are quite a few pretty stray cats in my neighborhood.... One little pigeon died from some terrible disease, another one fell down and apparently was run over by a car ... It was all pretty terrible!
So I tried to keeep the grown up pigeons away from the unfortunate nesting place by bumping a broom against my kitchen ceiling as often as I only could. It all didn't help. The pigeons wanted to stay, and their little ones continued to drop in between my apartment walls.
This summer, I pulled out three of the babies to put them on my balcony, and again, wonder and surprise, two of them survived and grew up to become fine young pigeons.
Now, I did a little bit to feed those baby pidjies, and, as a result, I very quickly began to attract quite a few of the younger pigeons in my neighborhood.
I also began to like and enjoy the pretty birds more and more. I realized that these little crittures are very smart. I gave them names, one after the other. Now they all seem to know my voice and, I guess, above all the provisions I put out for them on my balcony. Some of them, in the meantime, have become used to eat from my hands! Many of them seem to respond when I call their names! They have their schedule, to be sure. Between seven and eight in the morning they all congregate on the neighbor's roof right opposit my balcony . The same I observe in the afternoon around four.
The thing is that I have become very much enamored of these pretty feathered friends, but most of my neighbors in the house --and most likely those in the adjacent house, which is just being renovated, do not approve at all of my newly found love of "winged rats." In the last meeting of our condo association there was talk about feeding the pigeons rice, because that would make their entrails to "pop" so that they would die. Another suggestion was to feed them Alka Seltzer to the same effect.
I have been discreet about my growing love and care for the little ones, but I don't know how long I will be able to conceal my sympathy. I am nonetheless decided to continue to protect the little friends--by now my morning flock counts over thirty pigeons. Can you give me some information about what I should do? Can you tell me if uncooked rice (not to mention Alka Seltzer) would do to my little birds? And could you tell me what I have to do to become even better friends with them? How does one keep pigeons wild simply on a city balcony? How can I o that without aggravating my human neighbors?
The litte friends have given me so much unexpected joy, especially during the last year. I would so much appreciete your response on how I should go own caring about themin the best way.

Angelika

[TAWhatley]

Hi Angelika and Welcome to pigeons.com! It's very nice to have yet another pigeon loving person join us!

Just a few questions for you in the hope we can come up with some good ideas to help you and your feathered friends ..

Could you possibly close off that vent to assure that no more babies fall down between the walls?

Can your neighbors see what is in/on your balcony?

As to the Alka Seltzer, I can't even believe that someone would show their terrible cruelty by publicly suggesting feeding it to birds. You definitely have to nip this idiotic idea in the bud (but as tactfully as possible). Perhaps mention that there is no guarantee that a state and federally protected bird might eat the Alka Seltzer also. Killing a protected species of bird in such a way could result in a stiff fine and jail time.

The rice is definitely the lesser of the "two evils" but could also harm or kill the pigeons if they ingested enough and if the rice had been processed to the point that it would greatly swell up after being eaten.

Let us get our "thinking caps" on regarding your situation and see what we can come up with.

Terry Whatley

[Charmily]

Angelika,
You have come to the right place! Thank you for helping the wee ones. There are lots of people here who keep Pigeons on their balconies. Maryco & Fred would have some good suggestions for you. Is there a way you could "block" their entrance from the outside? I wish I could you some advice, however I only have 1 "indoor" pij. Hang in there & some one will come with some great advice, this is the place to go for advice,encouragement & support..

[maryco]

Welcome to pigeons.com

Hmm... This is pretty hard..
Have you noticed the pigeons nesting more after you started feeding them?
I used to feed about 140 pigeons on my balcony and have 4-5 couples nesting on my tiny balcony all at the same times, many babies died of disease and many grew up but the flock just kept nesting and nesting, after one clutch and when the babies are about 14-16 days old the mom starts a new nest... After the manager noticed me feeding the pigeons and I had to put a stop to it and to my own surprise the pigeons stoped nesting!

Infact they won't even go to an other balcony to nest but I see them here and they pretty much stoped for along time(I'm glad).
I too had and still have so much joy watching them, I still watch them now and every night about 30 pigeons come to sleep here including the babies that grew up here and I just love them all like my family.
I do feed them when I see a sick pigeon or when I need to catch one pigeon either by trap or just by hand.

As for your problem with the nesting area ..Well..I know how you feel!
I have starlings nesting in our stove vent that goes out onto the balcony, the starlings make a nest inside every spring and I can hear them go in.
Baby starlings came falling out the other side afew years ago so I stoped using the fan when I noticed they are nesting but what a price I had to pay, Our whole apt smelled HORRIBLE..Like rotting garbage 24/7 .. I wake up in the morning and the apt smells terrible, I couldn't even eat because I felt so sick from the smell and I also found a baby meaty starling who fell out of the vent, He died though and was too small to survive

I can't get into the vent at all to remove the nesting material, in the summer I notice flies going in from outside and the next day early in the morning large maggots falling from the vent then crawling to the end of the balcony and falling off onto the grass below (YUK!!!).. Thank God though those maggots really helped, they ate up all the garbage as the flies nested and soon all the smell was gone..

Anyway you don't have the smell problems but like you said I also had the problem because I could not get into the vent to remove anything and your area seems to be closed off too..
Is there any way you can call some people to stuff the ceiling?

I hope this problem will be solved... Also do you know where the pigeons are coming in from? Maybe you could put up some hardware cloth and close the area they are getting in from, That's what I'm going to do to my oven vent next year so the starlings will stop nesting inside.

Mary

[maryco]

OH! Sorry about the long post

[bigbird]

Angelika,
Welcome to pigeons.com
Your story is interesting.
Pigeons can get under your skin and the next thing you know, they are in your heart.
I appreciate so much your concern and love for the balcony pigeons, your pigeons, and you concern for them.
If we take a look at the future, it might go something like this.
"You continue to feed and care for the pigeons, you cover the holes so the little ones will not die, and you learn to love them more and more. And all the while, the problem with your neighbors gets bigger.
Eventually something must be done, and I am afraid of what that might be."
I made this story up as I went along but I wanted to show you that your care and concern coupled with your feeding the birds will eventually make for a problem, for you and for the birds.
I think there is a time and a place for everything.
The time for you to have many many pigeons would not seem to be now. Your balcony is definitely not the place. If you encourage the birds, they will come. When they come, they will stay. This is not a safe thing to do, encourage more and more pigeons to come and stay.
My suggestion would be for you’re to stop feeding them, cover all holes and entrances, discourage them from making nests, and try to make them go somewhere else that will be safer. This will be hard for them in the short run, but in the long run it will be the best thing for them.
As for you, I know this will be difficult, not having your “flock” to look after, but perhaps when things settle down, you could get yourself two or three pet pigeons.
Many members here have done this. I have one very special pet pigeons that goes everywhere I go, lives on my porch, Luck is my best friend.
Perhaps at another time and another place, it will be right for you to look after a large flock. If you want to look after one now, just go to any city park. Birds you find at the city park need your help.
I hope you take my advice in the right spirit.
I am trying to think what is best for the birds and what is best for you.
Good luck,
Carl