# Don't feed the fucking pigeons, dammit! **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [November 23, 2007, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-feed-the-fucking-pigeons-dammit/427529 "2007-11-23T19:27:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2007, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-feed-the-fucking-pigeons-dammit/427529/61 "2007-11-27T22:54:49Z")
[QUOTE=Zebra] Pigeon racing is a sport that is as competitive as horse racing but, unlike horseracing, you don’t have be rich to own and raise pigeons. [/QUOTE] However, you **do** have to [drink a lot, live on the dole, and beat your wife.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andy_Capp) ---
**Author:** ![Kevbo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e47774/32.png) [@Kevbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kevbo)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2007, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-feed-the-fucking-pigeons-dammit/427529/62 "2007-11-27T22:55:15Z")
[QUOTE=The Flying Dutchman] …Canada Geese on the other hand … Its high time to declare a season on these shit mongers. There is no positive health benefit with these guys unless we eat them. [/QUOTE] It suprises me that someone who knows enough not to call them _Canadian_ geese doesn’t know there IS a season. They are rather tough and strong flavored IMO. The first couple of recipes weren’t so hot, but I found they make pretty good tacos if you pressure cook the meat for 15 minutes or so. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2007, 11:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-feed-the-fucking-pigeons-dammit/427529/63 "2007-11-27T23:12:31Z")
[QUOTE=Spavined Gelding] When I first came to this little town 35 years ago we had a serious pigeon problem. Between an abandon railroad yard, all sorts of old brick buildings with decorative cornices and a Greek Revival courthouse there were pigeons all over the place. The answer then was for the city fathers to organize an annual pigeon shoot in late fall so as to pick up the annual migration of starlings and grackles along with the pigeons. Anybody who owned a shotgun was invited. The county sheriff provided the ammunition and supervised the festivities. From a select perch on the courthouse roof, I got a quartet, four birds out of a squadron with four successive shots (Remington 1100 with the plug removed). It was great fun but we had to abandon it because some of the more squeamish citizens found the sight of the town’s cats disposing of the wounded and the stragglers too distasteful to tolerate. Instead the authorities went to a secret campaign of poisoned grain in feeders on the city hall roof. Just as effective but not nearly as much fun and not nearly as flavored by some degree of danger. [/QUOTE] They should’ve tried [Bolivian tree lizards.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bart_the_Mother) ---
**Author:** ![chowder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/977dab/32.png) [@chowder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chowder)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2007, 9:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-feed-the-fucking-pigeons-dammit/427529/64 "2007-11-28T09:33:40Z")
[QUOTE=BrainGlutton] However, you **do** have to [drink a lot, live on the dole, and beat your wife.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andy_Capp) [/QUOTE] Excuse me, Andy may have been a lazy drunken sod but he never hit Florrie. He probably would have done but he was never sober enough ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2007, 9:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-feed-the-fucking-pigeons-dammit/427529/65 "2007-11-28T09:49:48Z")
[QUOTE=chowder] These are street peckers :eek: not your wood pigeons which is what your butcher flogs [/QUOTE] I’m going to try feral pigeon sometime soon, I think. They can’t be that bad - sure, there are some really scabby diseased looking specimens, but there are also plenty of plump, glossy, healthy-looking young ones too. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2007, 9:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-feed-the-fucking-pigeons-dammit/427529/66 "2007-11-28T09:50:51Z")
[QUOTE=Kevbo] It suprises me that someone who knows enough not to call them _Canadian_ geese doesn’t know there IS a season. They are rather tough and strong flavored IMO. The first couple of recipes weren’t so hot, but I found they make pretty good tacos if you pressure cook the meat for 15 minutes or so. [/QUOTE] I’ve heard they’re a bit greasy. ---
**Author:** ![Hostile\_Dialect](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e495f1/32.png) [@Hostile\_Dialect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hostile_Dialect)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2007, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-feed-the-fucking-pigeons-dammit/427529/67 "2007-11-28T18:38:33Z")
[QUOTE=chowder] Excuse me, Andy may have been a lazy drunken sod but he never hit Florrie. He probably would have done but he was never sober enough [/QUOTE] He did hit her quite a bit, IIRC, but only in self-defense. And he wasn’t too bad at defending himself, considering how drunk he was. ---
**Author:** ![GreedySmurf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a698b9/32.png) [@GreedySmurf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GreedySmurf)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2007, 6:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-feed-the-fucking-pigeons-dammit/427529/68 "2007-11-29T06:56:07Z")
Pigeons? Seagulls? Bah…bunch of lightweight amateurs. Come to Brisbane and experience the sheer terror that is a flock of Ibis eyeing off your lunch. (Or maybe you? never was sure which). They are big damn birds with these massive long beaks and can be very aggressive. This is the [Brisbane City Council](http://www.brisbane.qld.gov.au/BCC:BASE::pc=PC_2252) page about them. At one stage the local council actually employed two falconers, to just have their birds (IIRC they were peregine falcons) fly around the city centre to try and frighten the ibis away. ---
**Author:** ![chowder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/977dab/32.png) [@chowder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chowder)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2007, 9:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-feed-the-fucking-pigeons-dammit/427529/69 "2007-11-29T09:41:52Z")
[QUOTE=Mangetout] I’m going to try feral pigeon sometime soon, I think. They can’t be that bad - sure, there are some really scabby diseased looking specimens, but there are also plenty of plump, glossy, healthy-looking young ones too. [/QUOTE] I most strongly suggest you DON’T try eating feral/streetpecker pigeons. Tell your butcher you intend to do this and watch him turn pale ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2007, 10:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-feed-the-fucking-pigeons-dammit/427529/70 "2007-11-29T10:04:48Z")
[QUOTE=chowder] I most strongly suggest you DON’T try eating feral/streetpecker pigeons. [/QUOTE] For which reason - because they’re likely to be unpleasantly-infected with something, or because there’s an inherent problem with eating rock pigeon and its descendants? ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2007, 10:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-feed-the-fucking-pigeons-dammit/427529/71 "2007-11-29T10:22:47Z")
[QUOTE=chowder] I most strongly suggest you DON’T try eating feral/streetpecker pigeons. [/quote] It can’t be _that_ bad - I imagine your chief concern would be contamination from environmental pollutants? Cities are dirty places, for sure, but some are worse than others - there is a substantial population of very healthy looking pigeons in the park at Bournemouth, for example - and I reckon these won’t be significantly worse than a wood pigeon. > [@](#): > > Tell your butcher you intend to do this and watch him turn pale Sure, but if I told my fishmonger I was going off to the seaside to catch crabs, wouldn’t I get a similar reaction? Actually, probably my biggest reservation about the idea is the possibility of bringing bird diseases into the house and infecting my budgie. ---
**Author:** ![calm\_kiwi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9fc348/32.png) [@calm\_kiwi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/calm_kiwi)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2007, 10:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-feed-the-fucking-pigeons-dammit/427529/72 "2007-11-29T10:36:54Z")
I always liked pigeons, they look kind of helpless (that whole head bobbing thing is cute yet odd). Sparrows can be bloody annoying. Last sunday I had lunch at a garden centre and a sprarrow actually attempted to land on my sandwich when it was on it’s way to my mouth! Canadian geese I know nothing about about but your run of the mill white geese are the devil dressed in feathers! Aggressive, evil things. Magpies! Bullies dressed in feathers! But the MOST annoying bird hands down are seagulls…the screeching, the bullying of other birds, the swooping and landing on any item of food, the evil red eyes! HORRID creatures! ---
**Author:** ![Ice\_Wolf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/dfb087/32.png) [@Ice\_Wolf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ice_Wolf)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2007, 10:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-feed-the-fucking-pigeons-dammit/427529/73 "2007-11-29T10:48:38Z")
[QUOTE=calm kiwi] But the MOST annoying bird hands down are seagulls…the screeching, the bullying of other birds, the swooping and landing on any item of food, the evil red eyes! HORRID creatures! [/QUOTE] They may be annoying (all right, they _are_ annoying) but, apart from the big black-backed or Dominican seagull, they’re protected here. Always strikes me as most odd – there’s _thousands_ of the beggers. But officially, they’re native. Getting partly menaced by a black-backed gull while I was eating lunch in my home 'burb the other day was interesting. One lone determined bird, and I just kept telling it to sod off from its perch atop the rubbish bin. Those things are _huge_. ---
**Author:** ![Staggerlee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/staggerlee/32/3134_2.png) [@Staggerlee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Staggerlee)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2007, 1:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-feed-the-fucking-pigeons-dammit/427529/74 "2007-11-29T13:43:28Z")
[QUOTE=Mangetout] It can’t be _that_ bad - I imagine your chief concern would be contamination from environmental pollutants? Cities are dirty places, for sure, but some are worse than others - there is a substantial population of very healthy looking pigeons in the park at Bournemouth, for example - and I reckon these won’t be significantly worse than a wood pigeon. [/QUOTE] My reservation would be with their diet. I don’t mind corn-fed chicken, but puke-fed pigeon doesn’t appeal so much. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2007, 1:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-feed-the-fucking-pigeons-dammit/427529/75 "2007-11-29T13:47:43Z")
[QUOTE=Staggerlee] My reservation would be with their diet. I don’t mind corn-fed chicken, but puke-fed pigeon doesn’t appeal so much. [/QUOTE] That’s a fairly good point, and I agree, it’s not a nice idea, however, it is worth noting that whatever you feed an animal on, it turns into puke in that animal’s stomach, before becoming part of the animal’s flesh. ---
**Author:** ![Wallenstein](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/b5a626/32.png) [@Wallenstein](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wallenstein)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2007, 2:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-feed-the-fucking-pigeons-dammit/427529/76 "2007-11-29T14:18:57Z")
Problems with pigeons…? Sounds like a job for [Mrs Dallinger](http://www.surreycomet.co.uk/mostpopular.var.1039169.mostviewed.marksman_called_in_to_kill_kingstons_pigeons.php)! (The comments section is where the solutions are proposed) ---
**Author:** ![Mellivora\_capensis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8797f3/32.png) [@Mellivora\_capensis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mellivora_capensis)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2007, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-feed-the-fucking-pigeons-dammit/427529/77 "2007-11-29T14:25:40Z")
[QUOTE=Zebra] Posion is a racket. Sure, pay me buku bucks and I’ll put down posion and for a little while, you won’t see any pigeons. But they’ll be back in a little while since you are still putting down food and sure, I’ll put down some more posion. For my regular fee. [/QUOTE] Well, you see, that’s the problem. It’s not working because it’s not p-o-i-s-o-n. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![OtakuLoki](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ac8455/32.png) [@OtakuLoki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OtakuLoki)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2007, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-feed-the-fucking-pigeons-dammit/427529/78 "2007-11-29T14:50:50Z")
[QUOTE=Staggerlee] My reservation would be with their diet. I don’t mind corn-fed chicken, but puke-fed pigeon doesn’t appeal so much. [/QUOTE] I hope that you aren’t fond of lobster or crab. There’s a reason, after all, that “bottom feeder” is such a gross insult. Sorry, I really see the point of worrying about the quality of the feed an animal has gotten based on some grossness factor. There can be real concerns about diet affecting the meat, from how fish-fed pork can taste, to parasitology. And some variation of that factor may well be worth concern with regards to pigeons. But I do not understand the “icky feed” factor. ---
**Author:** ![chowder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/977dab/32.png) [@chowder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chowder)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2007, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-feed-the-fucking-pigeons-dammit/427529/79 "2007-11-29T16:20:38Z")
going off to the seaside to catch crabs {quote Mangetout} No need to go that far, there must be some local comely wench who’ll oblige you ---
**Author:** ![One\_And\_Only\_Wanderers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/838e76/32.png) [@One\_And\_Only\_Wanderers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/One_And_Only_Wanderers)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2007, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-feed-the-fucking-pigeons-dammit/427529/80 "2007-11-29T16:24:14Z")
According to the news stories i’ve seen lately, the poor crabs have nowhere to live because they can’t compete with the herpes! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-feed-the-fucking-pigeons-dammit/427529.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-feed-the-fucking-pigeons-dammit/427529.md?page=5)