Nothing beats mom’s homemade food. Unless you live alone or don’t have any cooking skills or no emergency food left in the pantry. Well, you know how it goes – when life wants to throw crap at you, it uses a shovel. However dim the perspective may be, Mother Nature will always provide, if you know how to ask.
In today’s article, I’m going to talk about one of the most interesting birds out there – the pigeon. Some love them because they’re friendly and chatty and pettable, others not so much. I personally neither like nor hate them – they’re okay as long as they stay away from my car!
Anyway, even though the perspective of catching your own food is not something one would do out of pleasure, there are times when stop caring about those things and do what’s best for your growling stomach. If you find yourself without food, you can always enjoy a nice and tasty pigeon stew or steak.
The idea of eating pigeon meat may appear as revolting. However, history reveals that pigeon meat is not only palatable but a delicacy which once adorned royal feasts. During the 19th century, around Boxing Day, young couples and families would head out of the house to do a little bit of ice-skating.
As the weather was nippy, the skaters needed something hot and tasty to put some color back into those flushed cheeks. The snack of choice was the so-called Pigeon Pie Mystery. Fast-forward in time, pigeons have become associated with nasty things like car-wreaking, necrophagic behavior, and uncleanliness.
Despite these objections, pigeon meat is safe to eat, but you’ll need to catch them first. Sure, they may be friendly and a bit curious, but that doesn’t mean they’ll allow you to gut them. In today’s article, I’m going to show you a quick and rather ingenious way of trapping pigeons, using common household items. Enjoy!
Gathering the materials for your first pigeon trap
For this project, you will need the following materials:
- Plastic straw rope (you can replace it with dental floss or any kind of cordage).
- An old plastic bottle.
- Plastic bucket.
- Wire cage (it doesn’t have to be new; if you can’t find one around the house, you can always go and buy one from your local flea markets or thrift shops).
- Styrofoam board (should be about the size of the wire cage).
- Crafts knife.
- Pole.
- Glue.
- Small wooden board.
- Hammer and nails.
Are you done gathering the necessary materials? Wonderful. Here’s how to piece together your first pigeon trap.
Crafting the backyard pigeon trap
Step 1. Remove the part of your wire cage. For this project, you may want to get one of those rectangular cages (mine is an old chicken coop I found in the attic).
Step 2. Glue the Styrofoam board to the top part of your cage. Allow the glue to work its magic before proceeding to the next step.
Step 3. Using your crafts knife, cut a hole in the Styrofoam board. The hole should be wide enough for your plastic bucket to pass through with any problems but, at the same time, prevent the pigeon from escaping.
Step 4. Once you’re done cutting the hole in the Styrofoam board, use the same knife to cut two small entrance on each side of the plastic bucket. If you really don’t want to sacrifice a bucket, you can go for one of those one-kilo yogurt containers. Just be sure you keep the lid.
Step 5. Apply some glue over the edges of the lid and place in on the bucket. Allow the glue to dry.
Step 6. It’s now time to craft your wooden lever. Nail the small wooden board to the top part of the pole. Make sure that the board can move up and down freely.
Step 7. Plant the pole-and-board lever into the ground, just above the Styrofoam board opening.
Step 8. Make one small hole in the front part of the board and another one in the back.
Step 9. Draw some cordage through both holes. Ensure that the cord drawn through the hole made in the front back of the board is long enough as to allow the bucket to reach inside the cage.
Step 10. Tie the front string to the bucket’s handle.
Step 11. Fill your plastic bottle with water and tie it to the back string.
Step 12. Place a couple of seeds, kernels or breadcrumbs on the bottom of the bucket, and wait. Congrats! You’ve just built your first pigeon trap.
More on the makeshift backyard pigeon trap
The idea behind this simple trap is simple: attracted by the seeds or kernels placed on the bottom of the plastic bottle, the pigeon will land on the edge of the Styrofoam board. Bear in mind that pigeons are cautious by nature, meaning that they will take a good look at your thingamajig before stepping inside the trap.
If you cut only one small hole in the side of the bucket, the pigeon will not approach the seed, because it will realize that they’re no way out of there. That’s why you should have two openings.
Once the little sucker starts eating, it will probably figure out that everything’s okay and will step on the bottom to stuff its beak with them goodies. The second it steps inside, the bucket will be lowered inside the coop, trapping the bird.
You should pay extra attention to how the bucket’s lowered inside the cage. For this trap to work, the cord’s length should allow for the bucket’s body to reach the inner part of the cage, with the lid blocking the opening made in the Styrofoam board.
I can’t give you any precise measurements – it’s a trial-and-error process. One last thing: the plastic bottle’s contents. It would be wise to fill it with water instead of sand or earth; the trap’s sprung by the pigeon’s own weights. Putting anything heavier inside the bottle will make the trap useless.
That’s it on my makeshift pigeon trap. What do you think? Hit the comments section and let me know.
Other self-sufficiency and preparedness solutions recommended for you:
The Lost Ways (The vital self-sufficiency lessons our great grand-fathers left us)
Survival MD (Knowledge to survive any medical crisis situation)
Backyard Liberty (Liberal’s hidden agenda: more than just your guns…)
Alive After the Fall (Build yourself the only unlimited water source you’ll ever need)
The Lost ways II (4 Important Forgotten Skills used by our Ancestors that can help you in any crisis)
The Patriot Privacy Kit (Secure your privacy in just 10 simple steps)
