Pigeons…

This last weekend my wife and I went out to her parents farm near Cambridge, Ohio. They raise beef cattle primarily. On their property is a barn that was built around the 1900s that is still used today and is about 60-70 ft. tall. It’s still in good enough condition to hold a tractor on the second floor (it’s built into a hill-side, so the second floor is ground-level on one side).

The weekend’s project with my father-in-law was to repair the two cupolas on the top of the barn. Years ago the shiplap siding on the cupolas had worn so much that the slats were sliding down on each other, creating large gaps where birds could get in. Since then a whole flock of pigeons had taken up residence in the barn rafters and thoroughly covered everything in fowl defecation.

Before putting the new siding on the cupolas, my father-in-law decided to scare the the pigeons out of the barn. My job was to wait for them outside with a shotgun.

To some, that may seem wicked, but if you had any idea how many pigeons where in there (and are in the world) and how much damage they’ve caused, I think you might understand. I can’t say I didn’t have a blast though.

I nailed 3 pigeons, grounded two, and 3 or 4 got away. I was especially pleased with the last one I got, which fell perfectly into the open dumpster. Their German Shepherd, Mollie, helped us collect the KIA & wounded birds.