CASE STUDY: Yaletown, Vancouver – Ongoing Pigeon Problem
Triple F Management of Yaletown Vancouver, Canada, had an ongoing pigeon problem. The previous property manager thought it would go away by itself. But as the seasons passed, the pigeon population increased. When Deturd Bird Control got involved there was a flock of about resident twenty birds living on the roof top.
In British Columbia’s cities there are always visiting pigeons and seagulls. They can’t be stopped. It is the pigeons and seagulls that decide to make your building their home and become a huge destructive, dirty, and expensive problem. Resident pigeons. The earlier a property manger takes action to remove these pest bird from the building the cheaper the fix will be.
Back on point. The roof top of thisYaletown building had about twenty pigeons living in the HVAC units and cooling unit roofed area. These residence pigeons were perching on the edge of the building and crapping in the glass awnings and windowsills. The Yaletown owners were very frustrated. A day after having their windows cleaned, they were dirty with pigeon crap. Cars parked below were bombarded with bird crap. Unhappy campers.
We had pitched to Triple F Management before with no success, but then there was a change in property managers. The new man immediately took action and accepted our plan.
- Bird spikes;
- Bird control netting;
- One month trapping campaign;
- Clean up.
Actually, our persistence was not the main reason for hiring Deturd Bird Control. The tenants were constantly complaining the air conditioner units were not working properly. A Vancouver HVAC service company was summoned to inspect the roof AC units. What did they find…pigeon infestation! The HVAC workers refused to work on the site until the birds were gone and bird mess cleaned up.
So Deturd Bird Control got to work with the above pigeon deterring methods. First, we installed stainless steel bird spikes on the roof edge where the pigeons were perching. Second, we started a one month bird trapping contract.
A pigeon trap is designed to only catch pigeons. It is a large cage with a swing door that is pushed open only in one direction. It if effective only with pigeons because of the door size. A pigeon will fit, but larger birds will not fir through the door. Seagulls will not fit. Neither will crows or ducks. Actually, crows are so smart, they wont go in the bird trap. Eagles hawks and other birds of pray are both too smart and too big for the trap.
to 36 hours. The trap is humane, it has sun cloth on the top, contain bird seed and water dish. Generally, when one pigeon enters the trap, others will soon follow.
In the first week we caught about 15 pigeons or about three quarters of the resident flock! Things were getting better quickly! We were ready to start cleaning and then installing netting and bird wire to prevent bird access to both the cooling unit shed and the large rooftop AC units.
Unfortunately, we were so busy working that we forgot to take photographs before we started cleaning. The photos show after cleaning and then completed bird control net and bird spike installation.
It has been over a year and no resident pigeons. It also appears that the day visiting pigeons also know this roof top is a no fly zone. Our customer is happy and we are happy. No more pigeons! Windows are clean, cars are clean and the AC works.
Until next time… keep your stick on the ice!
