Does Alka Seltzer Kill Pigeons?

The tablet cannot do such a thing. Alka-Seltzer is mainly used to address acidity problems among humans. When the tablet mixes with water, it forms carbon dioxide gas. Many people believe that when you feed the tablets to a pigeon, the gas formed will stretch the bird’s bowels. Then, the pigeon will burst from the inside. But that there is an uninformed point of view. This is because birds cannot pass gas. So, their bodies will not comply, and the pigeons will just remain pigeons, well, with Alka-Seltzer tablets in their bowel.

Since that is solved, why don’t we look at the pigeon issue at length? If Alka-Seltzer tablets do not kill pigeons, what can eliminate them? What are the ways one can use to get rid of the birds? In the following section, you will meet many humane ways you can apply and deal with a pigeon issue fast. Read on and see what’s in store.

Humane Ways Of Getting Rid Of Pigeons

Sincerely speaking, pigeons are a nuisance. If they are not dropping their acidic waste, they are either bullying other birds or carrying diseases around with them. They cannot spare any open space in the garden; they will just fly in and roost with carefree attitudes. But that – that was then, and this is now – it is time to bring an end to the pigeon injustice. All is not lost.

If you are looking at mitigating a pigeon problem that has rocked your place, this is your read. The options presented here are the most effective in controlling pigeons. Be advised to go through all of them before you make your choice.

1. Anti-Roosting Spikes

If you want to prevent pigeons from roosting in your ledges, a good option would be going for anti-roosting spikes. If you reduce the foothold’s surface area, you will make your place a no-go zone, and the pigeons will not select it as a hangout spot. Get popular spikes, especially the ones that have protrusions. Those will make it extremely challenging for large birds to roost.

The item you get should be of durable polycarbonate material that requires little or no maintenance and is long-lasting. Also, look at getting something clear-colored and does not affect your home’s aesthetics.

Most of the spikes come with adhesive glue, and so you will be able to attach them using tie-downs, screws, or nails. This is an effective way of keeping the birds from the various horizontal surfaces. However, they may not be sufficient for long since the birds are intelligent and will avoid those places with the installed spikes. The best place to install the pigeon spikes is on ledges in the open.

2. Repellent Gel For Pigeons

When you make your home less attractive to the birds, they will most likely stay away. The roosting areas can be made untenable by using a repellent gel made for keeping pigeons away. The most popular products in the market come with caulk tubes and caulk guns. Some of the repellents can cover up to 12 feet. The repellent is often gelatinous, and the pigeons will not roost for long before leaving.

Get yourself a nontoxic product to ensure that you don’t face any hazards while making the repellent applications. Also, the smear of the product should remain sticky for several weeks and should withstand different weather conditions. If you get the ideal product, you can apply it to places that pets and humans do not frequent.

While you may be moved to apply the repellent on places like window sills, the landings touched by people, and the railings, avoid those areas. When you have dealt with the problem, the gel will be challenging to remove as it will have stuck to the surfaces.

Whichever product you go for, you should know that the most important thing is to follow the given instructions. Do not smear heavily on a single extended area as the birds can get too stuck and hurt their legs or wings while trying to free themselves.

3. A Scare Item

The natural predators of pigeons are raptors such as hawks and falcons. Unfortunately, you cannot hire these birds of prey to keep the pigeons away. However, you can still get something that is sort of a substitute – a scare item.

Getting a scare item (sometimes referred to as a scare-pigeon) will address the issue immensely. You can get an item that is as life-like as it can get. I’m talking about something life-size, 3D, emits the sounds of a raptor and moves erratically.

However, this one will not stand for too long because pigeons, as I said before, are smart. They will eventually understand that you are playing them. To make it look, seem, and feel like a real thing, you can move the scare item from place to place.

You can go online and get realistic owl figurines. Since you want something that will be moving, a solar-powered figurine will work best. Solar energy helps the scare item to move a part or the whole of its body. Some of the figures on Amazon will act like real owls and will scare the pigeons away.

Ensure that you get a heavyweight item, that is, something that can withstand the harsh blows of the wind. If you get a lightweight one, add some sand inside the figurine and seal it well. You can also choose to secure it on something heavy, such as a wooden board.

4. An Ultrasound Repellent For Pigeons

If you didn’t know, birds are among the few creatures in the world that have an excellent hearing sense. Actually, they can pick out sounds that our ears cannot. This is a feature that enables them to hear communication from other birds. Also, the sharp hearing makes it very easy for them to pick out danger, a prospective mate, and food. You should get an ultrasound repellent and use it to get rid of the nuisance that is the pigeons.

Many of the sound repellents emit bird distress sounds and calls, especially the ones made by predators. Others come with several unique settings, allowing you to improve the naturalness of the appeal by mixing some pre-recorded sounds.

The item you should get should be powerful. The birds should be able to hear it within a wide radius. To maximize the sounds produced, you can get the device installed in a high area. The birds will get the impression that the area is a danger zone, and thus, they will stay away.

You should note that this method may not start working as soon as you turn the device on. It would be best if you remained consistent about it. Ensure that the device is left on for a couple of hours each day that passes. This will increase the chances of the pigeons hearing it. Then, the birds will ultimately associate your house with danger.

5. Weatherproof String

This is another unique way of stopping pigeons from getting comfortable near your house. The strings are usually invisible. All you need to do is to stretch them taught over the pigeons’ favorite perching spots.

When the pigeons decide to swoop in and roost in your house, they will meet the ledge, which they will gladly grab onto with their claws. Then, they will find themselves in a very tricky position. The birds will then lose their balance and be very wary of roosting in that same spot.

The principle behind this ‘weatherproof’ method is that the wire works with any thread or rope. The reason why this option specifies that the string should be weatherproof is to save you from the inconveniences of replacing it all the time. Also, as the name suggests, the item will withstand all weather conditions. Also, it is strong and tough enough to resist the pigeon’s force.

If you choose to take up this option, you should ensure that the tying of the string has been done well on both ends. Also, keep checking the step every couple of weeks that pass. This will ensure that the item still stands.

6. Reflective Surfaces

Are you desperate and want to stop pigeons from roosting on your balcony? Are you finding it annoying that pigeons are nesting on your roof and pooping everywhere? If you’re going to rid your house of pigeons without digging too deep into your pockets, you should get anything reflective and set it to face the sun.

Generally speaking, birds do not like flashes of bright light. The prism effect highly affects Avian eyes, making the bird feel disoriented. The best thing about this option is you can apply this principle using a couple of things found around your house. Some popular choices would be small mirrors, foil balloons, old CDs, and aluminum foil strips.

Use a strong rope and hang them in positions where you see the troublesome birds. When reflective items move with the wind, they will start catching the light and push the pigeons away.

If you choose to go for a low-maintenance, convenient item, try any reflective scare tape you can find online or in hardware stores. Pick a popular bird deflector that will catch light impressively and make loud crackles when a breeze is blowing. Once you get the tape, get it tucked in the vertical surfaces where pigeons are likely to roost. The other alternative is that you hang them from strings and let the wind flap them. Pick a tape that will last for a long time.

7. Bird Shock Tape

You can choose to deliver a painful but harmless shock to the birds and make them fly off using a shock tape. This method is relatively inexpensive and safe to execute.

There are tapes, the clear kind, that can let electricity flow through them. They can do so because of the metal leads that run through the length of the tapes. You only require to peel off the tape from its roll, get it stuck on the surface of interest, and ensure that it runs smoothly.

These kinds of tapes can get charged by solar energy or a standard volt charger. Once they are fully energized, they become pigeon control devices that are formidable to the core. Because the tape is transparent in color, the pigeon flock will not realize that there is tape all over the ledge’s surface.

When they rest on the ledges, their feet and claws will touch the electrified strip. This will immediately give them a short and small electric shot and make them get jolted from their positions since the current is considerably powerful.

8. Food Source Elimination

Even when you use all the options given up to this point, the pigeon infestation may be too big to contain.  You will have wasted valuable resources, and the pigeons will remain with you. If you use multiple methods and still can’t get the job done, it is only smart that you start paying attention to the exact reason why the birds keep coming back to your house.

When food is present, the pigeons get a stronger motivation to keep coming back. They will go against all the repellent sprays and deterrent devices. The birds are immensely attracted and attached to fruits, berries, grains, seeds, fruits, and beans. Others that are occasional snacks are snails and earthworms. In the urban setting, pigeons turn and become scavengers. So, you will find term gathering around trash bins to pick out human foods.

To cement this idea well, you need to do a keen observation of the pigeons’ behavior in your house. Are they gathering around a particular bush or tree? Are they pecking at something on the ground? Are they hovering around and over the trash bins? Please take a short time each day to observe and note their habits. If you discover that they are attracted to the food in your bins, ensure that they are tightly covered.

9. Sealing Of Entry Points

Typically, pigeons prefer nesting in corner areas where the sun cannot scorch them. Also, the corners are perfect areas to stay away from predators and the winter’s cold. Go around your house looking at places that pigeons would love staying. Then, ensure that these areas cannot be accessed as it will go a long way in keeping the pigeons at bay.

There are many ways you can achieve this, especially if you got the item from hardware stores or the home improvement section. If the access points and openings are small, you can use silicone caulk to fill them.

If the areas are big and cannot be caulked, go for hardware cloth. Also, you can hang pigeon or bird nests right above rafters (around that space). This will ensure that the birds do not find those spots accessible.

As you are sealing these entry points, ensure that you pay attention to the attic since birds love them. Get the branches that are grazing your wall pruned. This will discourage the pigeons from roosting in those high-up places and using your roof or attic as a nesting place.

As you take up this option, it is best that you couple it up with other control methods. Even if you seal the entire house, you also need to make the place untenable for the pigeons.

10. Getting Rid Of The Bird Bath

As a way of inviting birds and making your house aesthetically pleasing, you may have installed a birth bath. If you have a pigeon infestation, you may have to remove it entirely. The pigeons will come to enjoy the baths when the days are hot, and they need cooling. They will also get into the water to ensure the maintenance of good feather condition even though they are not water birds. The situation becomes overwhelming when the bath gets invaded by a pigeon flock.

If that is the situation on your side, you will need to drain the birdbath since it will continue to make the pests invade your home. Like the other steps, you need to be consistent so that the pigeons avoid your home. This means that you should work on emptying the bath when it rains. When you successfully get rid of the birdbath, you will have one less reason for the birdy nuisances to stay.

Ensure that you get your entire property checked to ensure that other ‘birdbaths’ do not remain standing. These could be things like shallow water containers or water puddles.

11. Getting A Net For The Pigeons

If you have a garden whose harvest got devoured by pigeons, you may want to eliminate the pigeons by any means necessary – even poisoning them. However, you need to understand that all pigeon behavior is not done in malice; the birds act according to their instincts. So, leave all the ‘painful’ options out.

To prevent the birds from landing on your garden plants, you should use pigeon netting. This is by far the best deterrent that will work to protect you from potential damage. If you choose to go the way of netting, you should use thin rods to install it. This is in the place of thick wood planks, which can serve as pigeon roosting areas.

Ensure that an at-least-6-inches spacing is left between the nearest shrub (or branch) and the netting. This will prevent the pigeons from poking their beaks and picking the plants through the netting barrier. Also, get the net installed at a steep angle. This will prevent the pigeons from getting the temptation to land on the netting.

12. Chimney Capping

Indeed, your chimney should be mentioned since it is bird-friendly in all senses. Birds like nesting and roosting in that area, making it very challenging for anyone to get them out. Ensure that no birds are trapped in the chimney before you cap it.

If any of the pigeons are there, you can get a box and put it in the fireplace. Then, get some sweet pigeon pellets and put them in the cardboard to coax the birds to get in. To make it more pleasant for the bird, sneak in a flashlight right through the fireplace. Theoretically, this should make the bird fly down and enter the box. Since this is a technical thing to execute, I suggest that you make contact with an expert.

Before you do any capping, be sure that no nests or birds are stuck inside your chimney. On the market, there is a variety of chimney caps that will perfectly fit your home aesthetic. The best cap to get is one with small mesh holes as they are good at keeping all birds and animals at bay. However, they will require you to do more maintenance since creosote, ash, and soot can quickly enter these spaces.

13. Removal Of Pigeon Droppings And Nesting Materials

Before you attempt any of the pigeon control methods given above, you should do a total cleanout of all droppings and pigeon nests. The reason why you clean the pigeon poop immediately is because of its corrosive properties. Because of its high uric-acid content, the pigeon’s excrement is highly acidic. This means that it can destroy different roofing materials. Apart from its acidity, the poop can leave zoonotic diseases that humans can contract.

Before you remove the droppings, you should wet them. This will help to minimize the dust. To be extra safe, ensure that you have a dust mask on. Get a power sprayer or a hose and use warm water to remove the excrement, and you can also put some little soap in the water to help them loosen up.

14. Pigeon Trapped, Pigeon Released

You may consider getting the pesky pigeons trapped and then released to a distance far away from your house. Before you proceed with this step, you should note that pigeons with strong homing instincts will not be driven away easily.

To do the luring business successfully, get the trap placed in an area where the birds frequent. For at least a week, keep putting bird feed in the trap and let the birds come and go as they please. Many more birds will come since they will have pinpointed an area with heavenly riches. The flock will get the impression that the area is free from harm.

Once the cage is full, take it on a long drive – at least 6 miles away. When you are at a safe distance, you can open the cage’s door and watch the birds fly off into the wild.