CDT: We're in Manhattan but we also have an apt in a high-rise NJ condo. Every apt has a terrace and we've had trouble with pigeons landing on and messing up the terraces for years. We finally solved the problem!

We hired a company that put a dish of corn kernels injected with a chemical on every terrace. It doesn't kill or poison pigeons and it wears off. It disorients them so they decide (however they do that!) not to return to where they got the corn kernels. That was in spring 2008. We haven't had one pigeon on or even flying anywhere near any terrace in the building since then.

The company is Bird Doctor, Inc. (subsidiary of a large company called Bug Doctor, Inc.) They're in NJ but they work in the entire tri-state area. Their number is 201-599-1007 and their website is www.birddoctorinc.com. We tried many things but this is the only one that worked, and 100% effectively.

BP, thanks for the enthusiastic response. Unfortunately, your description sounds like the bird-disorienting drug called Avitrol, which is no longer legal in New York, though it's fine in many other states.

Any other ideas? I'm very interested in hearing real-life war stories about how pigeon problems were handled, whether or not the results were successful. We'd love to banish pigeons from our building, but we don't want to throw away money on ineffective techniques.

CDT:I don't know if Bird Doctor uses a product containing Avitrol. I was told they use various chemical and other things - mechanical systems, audio-visual devices, wire mesh, etc.

One coop installed small spikes 3" apart along the top of their terrace railings. It seems pigeons usually go on the railings before they go onto the terrace floor, and when their feet land on the spikes they don't like it and fly away. The coop told me this works much of the time but not all the time.

Another coop used "bird netting." It's taut and attached at the top of a terrace railing and at the edge of the terrace ceiling. It's sort of a screened-in porch effect. It's flexi-fiberglass and not a tight weave like wire mesh. The weave is wider but not enough for pigeons to squeeze in. It's clear color so it doesn't interfere with visibility or the look of the terrace, and it allows air to circulate freely.

This coop installed the netting from terrace floor to ceiling. I know people who live there. One has a dog and the other has two cats. They like the full-length netting because it creates an invisible blanket on all the railing posts as well as from the railing top up. They can let their dog and cats out onto their terraces without fear that they'd fall or jump off!

We tried scarecrows that look like hawks which go after pigeons. We tried a glue-y substance you squeeze along the top of the railing like toothpaste so pigeon feet stick to it. That worked briefly until the birds stopped landing there and went straight to the terrace floor. We tried windsocks, hanging plants. Someone suggested painting the railings a weird color to scare the pigeons. He owns 4 apts and tried lime green paint on his railings (without coop permission) which looked awful! The coop made him remove it. I don't even know if pigeons see colors, and if so maybe they like lime green because it seemed to attract even more of them.

As I said, I don't know if Bird Doctor uses Avitrol but if you have pigeon problems it may be worth contacting them for info. It's a large well-known company. "Bird netting" sounds like it might be worth checking to and I would think Bird Doctor would be familiar with it.

Hope something I wrote here is of some help. You should also tell residents not to throw any food/seed out windows or put it on window sills for pigeons or any birds. Some people like to feed the "dear little things" but once they territorialize your place it's very ifficult to get rid of them, and they can carry diseases.

BP, thanks for all the additional details. In particular, the bird netting sounds less odious than anticipated. I'll talk with the rest of our Board about investigating this possibility. (And I promise we won't paint it lime green.)

By the way, although I've had no reports of our residents feeding the pigeons, we live next door to a hotel where pigeon feeding has been a problem in the past. Someone over there may be doing it again.

Thanks again.