A guide to shooing pigeons off your home
No Brooklynite wants to open their window on a warm September morning to discover a roost of pigeons on the windowsill. Not only are property owners required by the city to clean up all pigeon poop on their property, but these droppings contain a microscopic type of fungus that can occasionally cause disease, according to Brownstoner, which published a how-to guide for keeping pigeons and their droppings off your home.
Preventative measures include wire systems that are placed on window ledges and lintels, pointed spikes, shock traps and netting. The process often requires the use of a lift, so homeowners are advised to wait for alternate side parking or take on the operation when scaffolding is already up. This, however, can cost anywhere from $2,500 to $3,000, Brownstoner reported.
Simpler and cheaper solutions involve using the birds’ sense of smell against them: cleaning up all droppings, which contain pheromones that attract more birds, and buying bird repellent gel that smells like citronella and peppermint, which pigeons dislike.