I used to trap hundreds of feral pigeons a week to sell, mostly for dog training.
I would first make a wire box, with no bottom 4' wide by 6' long by 10" tall. Attach a piece of wire mesh, on the inside that cuts that box in half. For your trap door entrance ways, cut holes in the side wire mesh, 6" wide. Put 1 hole on the 4' side and 1' hole on each of the 6' sides centered from the wire mesh that divides the trap in half and one hole in the center of the divider. On both sides of all the entrance ways, attach a piece of 6" wire mesh, going from the outside in and into the closed off area. Block off the inside end with a piece of wire. Cut a hole in the wire used to block the ends 5" tall by 4" wide. Hang doors over those holes that are 5 inches wide, by just about a 1/4" shorter than 5". Bend the edges of the wire in, so they are somewhat pokey. Cup the door slightly, so that it curls towards the entrance way. Cut out some of the horizontal wires, between the vertical wires. Don't make any holes large enough for a pigeon to push through.
On top, cut a couple of holes, that will just fit your arm. Cover them with a couple of doors you can securely latch close. Snap clips work well for this. File and duct tape over any sharp edges, so you don't gouge your arms getting pigeons out.
Rusty old looking wire mesh works better than bright shiny wire to the traps. 1" by "2" is a good size mesh to use, but other sizes do work.
Place the trap on a flat surface, preferably off the ground, in an area where lots of pigeons will see it and bait it with whole corn. Put a bowl of water in the inside compartment. In hot, dry weather, the water helps lure pigeons in as well as the corn. It also keeps the pigeons from dehydrating. On top of the trap place some bricks, rocks or cinder blocks to keep the pigeons from getting out when they flush.
When you empty the traps of pigeons, leave at 2 birds in to help lure in others.
My traps were basically a large, short, wire mesh box, without a bottom. Some pigeons hesitate to step.on wire mesh. Enough so, in side by side tests, I took the bottoms off all my traps. The big compartment, with a trap going in from the main trap, helps retain the pigeons. Once pigeons want to get out, they try to manipulate the doors to get out. It's easier for them to go through the door to the compartment, so they typically do. If they get back out that door into the compartment, they usually go back in, because it's easier than manipulating an outside door. The pigeons aren't very bright, but they are not stupid either.
Making recesses going into the trap and compartment, makes it easier for the pigeons to find the door. The first traps I made, long ago, just had doors that were flush with the sides. Pigeons had harder times finding the doors. With recessed doors, I usually caught pigeons the first day.
Once you start catching a few pigeons, catches get rapidly better. Pigeons are attracted to the other pigeons they see in the traps.
The closer you can set to the visible flock, the sooner you will start catching pigeons. In some pigeon dense areas, I kept traps out all year, except in bad snow and ice. Light snow, that covers food sources, makes the traps very productive, if you keep the snow shoveled out and the trap baited.
There is a huge demand for cheap pigeons. I had a huge number of good contacts and still have quite a few.
Occasionally raccoons and Cooper's hawks would kill or injure the pigeons in my traps.
I mostly trapped gas stations. After a woman drove into my ladder, I started parking my car or truck, so that I could prop my ladder against it. The metal edge of most gas station roofs is smooth and sharp. I've had strong winds blow my ladder over. Once I fell and sliced my stomach open on the edge, when the ladder fell. Most roofs had nothing for tie offs. Putting a cinder block on the roof to tie off to, makes it safer.
Keith
