Re: How to protect pigeons from hawks

The winter cold will not harm them unless they are not eating and
drinking,
so it would not be necessary for them to remain there. If you keep
feeding them, add some popcorn into the feed. Popcorn, along with some
other seeds, help them generate heat.
Their feathers insulate them better than a fur coat.
If you do not wish for them to utilize the garage, remove or change the
nesting location,
and materials, and eggs.
If they have already started to build, the hen is probably already
carrying eggs. I would let her
lay, THEN throw out the nest and eggs, then close the garage so they
cannot enter. This will motivate them to find another location. Until a
hen can incubate her eggs, she can lay eggs every 10 days. If she
incubates them, they will hatch approx. 18-20 days. It takes about 4
weeks for the young to fledge.
You DO have a slight problem thou. You basically hand-raised the
original 2, so they normally would have slight problems fending for
themselves, since they were not taught by their parents how to scavange
for food. However, the flocking instinct is very strong in pigeons, and
if you stop feeding them and force them to find another source, they
will usually follow the ferals and find food with them, by observation.
Unfortunately, some will just sit and let death overtake them.

But, your original 2 seem to have gone a little independent on you, and
have apparently found ferals to mate and hang-out with, so should do
well on their own. They might hang out for a few days wondering why
they can't get in the garage, but they will shortly find another place
to roost.
You can still occasionally put some food out for them, but just
remember, if the food is abundant enough, they will start bringing
their friends, and the next thing you know, you'll have a whole flock
of them hanging out in your yard!
The majority of birds, songbirds, etc., don't have too much trouble
finding food during the winter, but they ALL have trouble find fresh,
unfrozen water. If desparate, they all eat snow, but fresh clean water
is truly appreciated by all the birds, so you might want to put some
out occasionally.

Don't let the dominance of the one bird bother you. Pigeons retain a
top-bird hiarchy, and that's just the way it is. The one that is being
slighted, could very well be the top bird somewhere else.
He will make an adjustment.
Do you want them out of the garage because of the mess, or what? If you
just happened to save a couple babies, but don't wish to have pigeons,
just follow some of the above advice. But if you don't mind them, you
can actually make them utilize a particular spot in the garage by
making them a nestbox. The box can be any dimension you want, but would
be most preferred by the birds if it were about 2x2x2. Should be an
enclosed box, with a square opening in the front just larger than the
bird, with a perch in front of the opening for the *** bird to sit on
at night. (Hens sit on the eggs all night. Cocks sit on the nest
usually from around 10am to 4pm..) I can give you more info if you so
choose..............otherwise, close the garage and ignore!%^)
E-Man

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