Yesterday morning I noticed that a very pretty gray mama pigeon had moved into my balcony planter, made herself a nest and laid two eggs. I was quite excited at the prospect of being a mother (figuratively, of course), and was a little concerned about do’s and don’ts with pigeons. (I have markedly little experience.)
I contacted the local bird sanctuary to see if I could get some basic info about pigeons and they put me in contact with the local Racing Pigeon Fanciers Association. I explained the situation and inquired about moving the pigeons, using my balcony, whether pigeons would get aggressive when they had babies, etc. etc.
I basically wanted to find out exactly the best thing to do. Well, the pigeon man explained that, while now, I have a mama and 2 eggs, soon I will have a mama, probably a father, and 2 babies. And in about 45 days, I’ll have a mama, a daddy, 2 babies, and another clutch of eggs, and about 45 days after that, I’ll have a mama, a daddy, 6 babies, 4 eggs… You can see where this is going. He said by balcony will be over run with pigeons. That I’ll have pigeon poo up to my yang and that it’s not sanitary. He said the pigeons could get aggressive with my bunnies if I put them on the balcony to get sun. He said that leaving this pigeon to do her thing is A VERY BAD IDEA[sup]TM[/sup].
He told me I have to…::gulp::…kill the baby pigeons.
He said to just take the eggs out and throw them away. The baby pigeons inside will die and the mama pigeon will leave – No kidding – after I murder her babies.
I fell horrible about this. My beau has graciously agreed to come over tomorrow morning and do the deed because I know I couldn’t do it myself. I don’t even know if I’m going to be able to let him do it. I just looked out and the mama pigeon is out there, dutifully sitting on her eggs, keeping them warm. She seems like a really nice pigeon too.
Man this suxs.