As a bird lover, am I over-reacting?!

RealGem

Hi, 

My neighbours had a woodpigeon in their chimney recently. Luckily the fireplace was not blocked off and they were told that pigeons often fall down chimneys, and they sit on a ledge behind the fireplace and you can reach in and bring them out. That's exactly what happened, and the bird was released and it flew away. 

But they only learned this after the woodpigeon had been in there for four days, so the poor bird had been stuck there, with nothing to eat or drink for all that time. 

Now my neighbours have had home improvements including having the fireplace blocked off.

I asked them if the chimney had been blocked at the top, so pigeons can't get down it again, and I was told No not yet. 

This has upset me because if it happened again, there's no way a bird could get out. So it would starve to death. 

I know this means there are most likely thousands of little bird skeletons stuck behind fireplaces, but my neighbours had the opportunity to prevent it from happening again, and it looks like they didn't care. Even if they couldn't afford a roofer / chimney person yet, surely they could have waited to block off the fireplace, couldn't they?

1. How expensive is it to make a chimney birdproof? (for a regular 2 storey house)

2. Would anyone else here have blocked the fireplace off before blocking the chimney at the top? (knowing birds could still get stuck)

Thank you

FreeBear

RealGem said: 1. How expensive is it to make a chimney birdproof? (for a regular 2 storey house)

2. Would anyone else here have blocked the fireplace off before blocking the chimney at the top? (knowing birds could still get stuck)

1) Last time I enquired, all be it a few years back, about £50. But with inflation, I'd expect around £100 now.

2) Two of my fireplaces are bricked up, and it wasn't until 2017 that the pots were capped. Dare say, if I open up the fireplaces, I'll find all sorts of debris in there including a bird or two.

Money_Grabber13579

I have a gas fire which, to the eye, looks like a sealed unit and there is a bird cage on top of the chimney pot to prevent birds from getting down. However, even with that, a starling managed to get down the chimney and out into the room. If a bigger bird were to get down the chimney though, I suspect it would be stuck in the chimney and that would be the end of it.

There’s only so much can realistically be done and in my view, a few birds will get themselves into situations they can’t be rescued from. For example, young birds quite often fly into windows and kill themselves but advocating that everyone bricks up their windows to prevent it happening is not a realistic solution (extreme example but hopefully you get the point I’m trying to make).

Longwalker

I think you are being a tad over sensitive 

We have open fires and stoves and whilst we do have chimney caps, birds get in

Hopefully the fires aren't  lit, If they aren't we get a sooty bird flying around fighting his way out, If the fire is lit, well the smell is a tad nauseous 

There are millions of homes in the UK that have open fires or stoves, and even with caps, starlings get in. 

Im the person who is running around the house at 2am catching whatever four legged friend the cat brings in to play with, Im not one for saying it is what it is as a rule, but seriously you can not insist on a stranger ( or anyone ) to do what you think is fit 

Alanp

You should meet my wife’s uncle, he shoots wood pigeons, magpies and anything else deemed not suitable for their garden, they only like the little birds that come in to feed, oh and you should hear them gush when foxy woxy comes into their garden too, still doesn’t stop them going fox hunting at weekends though.

Woolsery

To quote your own sig:"People only get upset when their expectations are not met."

You're expecting your neighbour to be as sensitive as you are on this matter, and they're not. With the current squeeze on finances, it's unlikely they will suddenly become keen to complete what they see as an optional part of the job, unless you can convince them leaving the chimney uncapped will lead to dampness.

greensalad

I would honestly be upset too, but also realistic. You can't make other people care about animals if they don't. It's depressing and I've had many a discussion about it with people. For the most part, people just don't care enough to want to spend money on fixing things.

(I made a comment recently to my family about how awful I thought "I'm a Celeb" was because they're eating all sorts of animals and isn't that really cruel? The animals didn't want to be involved). Just got blank stares. "They're only spiders". 

Nifty_Purse

OP:
I agree that it would make more sense for the top of the chimney to be blocked first.

It's good that you have asked them about it. Hopefully, they will have a think and see the sense in getting the work done. 

The irony is that Wood Pigeons are really quite noisy so if one does get stuck in their chimney they will have to put up with the cooing noise in their house. 

Gavin83

FreeBear said:

RealGem said: 1. How expensive is it to make a chimney birdproof? (for a regular 2 storey house)

2. Would anyone else here have blocked the fireplace off before blocking the chimney at the top? (knowing birds could still get stuck)

1) Last time I enquired, all be it a few years back, about £50. But with inflation, I'd expect around £100 now.

I'm surprised it's that cheap. I'm also surprised they'd even come out for such a small amount of money. Plus I thought most trades would refuse to go on a roof without scaffolding in place due to health and safety.

RealGem

Thanks everyone.

I was not upset about bird deaths in general, as most are quick! 

But the very slow process of them starving to death over one to two weeks is different. Maybe it's because I have saved several regular pigeons over the years that I love em so much. 

I once had a baby pigeon in a cardboard box, waiting for a rescue lady to pick it up, and I was busy photographing it. When I looked down, there was a semi-circle of six adult pigeons round my feet. They heard the baby's cries and no doubt wondered why I had one of their own in a box. 

It was quite a surreal experience. 

theoretica

Your neighbour doesn't sound very experienced with pigeons down the chimney - so not something that happens to that chimney very often?