I have a pigeon trapping contract going right now and I am having a very hard time getting these birds. I am trapping on the roof of dorms. There are certain areas that the birds are using all the time and I have pre baited my trap with the bobs tied up and the top door open for 4 days. They had been cleaning up the corn I am baiting with.

I untied the bobs yesterday and shut the top and today I figured I would have some birds and when I checked only one bird. This is the second week of trapping and during the first week I only had three birds of the 85 to 90 birds that are using this building. I moved the trap to a different area where the birds are staying.

Any suggestions you guys could give me would be appreciated.

Your trap is a good size I hope, also you should keep a female pigeon inside of the trap at all times. This is a confidence builder for the other birds. Hope that helps

Are the pigeons just loafing at random points, or do they seem to be using specific areas for nesting/roosting? I have done some pigeon trapping programs with varying success, but in most cases can solve the problem using exclusion measures at the "attraction" points. If you can take away their access to the nest/roost sites, they will quickly move to another location.

Did this one up at a large Ford truck dealership.... they had 2 other companies try trapping over a 3 year period, but never had any lasting results. After installing $50,000 in new AC units, their HVAC service company found the new units packed with pigeon nests within 3 months. We all know that is about 14 sticks and 2 pounds of poop per nest. The HVAC company warned them that the new AC units would be toast in no time if the pigeon issue wasn't dealt with, and I was the one the AC company told them to call.

I built a framework using metal conduit. The existing enclosure for the AC units provided a perfect support system. Standard cable support system with turnbuckles and then a translucent 1.5" bird netting was installed. The lower edge needed sealed, but had to allow for ventilation, so I used 1/2" hardware mesh and secured it with metal tabs and self-tapping screws.

After spending a bunch of money on trapping programs and every other gimmick the pest control guys could find to sell them, the pigeon problem was completely solved by the installation of this netting. There were about 100 pigeons using this site, and they have now moved about 1/2 mile down the road to a gas station canopy. Maybe I'll get to deal with them again!

Here's a few pics showing the enclosure. I made an access door using PVC pipe for a frame. It sits in 4 "u"-shaped hooks and is secured using two small bungee cords. Really works great... the HVAC guys have easy access into the enclosure and can work standing up, as I made the "ceiling" about 6.5 feet high. Not sure if you could solve the pigeon problem at your site using this type of system, but thought I would share this info.

That was a great job Ron. I hope the guys at the gas station don't see this post.
I've noticed that the worse the weather gets, the easier it is to catch pigeons up here. When we first started in business we got a pigeon job from the town we lived in. I never prebaited because I didn't know any better but I caught a thousand birds; most of them in winter. We don't have any purchased cages. I made my own out of old mink cages years ago.
We are much more sophisticated now. Here are a couple of rules.
1. Always have a water supply in the cage. Snow works in winter.
2. We use commercial pigeon feed for bait. The birds love it.
3. A smooth cage floor is better than wire.
4. We prebait with a trail of food so they get used to the cage.
5. We have had some success with a decoy. Live birds are better.

Really Good Post

Ron the birds are loafing and nesting on this building. It is hard to explain the way this building is layed out so I will get some pictures up tomorrow.

Here are some photos of the area I am trapping. I checked it today and had 6 birds. I made sure the water was good and still had plenty of corn and left them in.

This shows the type of architecture of the building. There are six of these tower areas on this building.


This shows the trap with the birds in it.

We do quite a bit of pidgon work but our traps are a lot larger than the one you are using. It's about 3' by 3' by 2ft.high. I also also use milo and add oyster shell fragments to it for bait. Best pigeon bait we ever used. The trap breaks down into 4 sides and top for easy transport and is put together on site which takes about 3 minutes. Also it has no bottom which I think helps as opposed to walking on wire. I prebait by leaving the top off the trap untill the birds are used to going in and out to feed. Also the trap is tall enough that I put a wooded dowel diagnally have across the cage and about mid-way up in hight this gives room for more birds to be caught at one time. I don't tie the bobs up as I want them to get used to going through them into the trap. As I said the top is off but not mainly for them to fly in but out. Most will come and land outside the trap and walk through the bobs. Once they are feeding on a regular basis I put the top on and set the trap for real. The most we ever caught at one tme was 39 and they were packed in pretty good. Another thing is trap placement. Make sure where ever you put the trap the birds already feel comfortable being there which usually means on a foof some place. The last thing is we always put the main bulk of the bait in a container 'cause if you don't they're going to kick it all out of your trap as they scratch through it. I do scatter some around at first for eye appeal but once they are hitting the trap area good the bait goes only in the container which is placed in the very middle of the trap.

Bob