For bird control and general wildlife removal, visit the www.CINCINNATIPESTANIMAL.COM website.

Will rice or alka-seltzer kill a pigeon?
There are always loads of old wives’ tales handed down from generation to generation about things like getting rid of pests. Here are two that really take the cake.
The story goes that if a pigeon eats dry (uncooked) rice, the rice will mix with their stomach juices and expand inside their stomachs. Having no other option to get rid of the extra food in their bodies, they will explode. Just stop and think about this for a moment. Have you ever seen an exploded pigeon before? If they didn’t have a mechanism to get rid of unwanted, or extra food in their stomachs, we would see a lot more blown up birds around. It’s not like pigeons ever pass up a meal on the basis that they’re really just too full.
Like so many other animals, nature has equipped all birds, not just those pesky pigeons, with the ability to regurgitate or vomit. In fact, this is how momma birds feed baby birds. We’ve all seen it on TV in those nature shows and thought, “That’s really gross. So glad I’m human.” So the possibility of too much food in their stomachs won’t really upset a pigeon. Apart from the ability to purge the extra food, as with all animals, their stomachs can stretch. Think of those Competitive Eaters who guzzle down a hundred hot dogs, buns and all. Their stomachs stretch to accommodate all that extra food. So rice won’t do more than make a pigeon uncomfortable until it throws up.
The same goes for the Alka-Seltzer. The story for this one goes that the birds will fill up with gas and not being able to expel it, will explode. Once again nature has been kind to the pigeon. As mentioned before, they can vomit and along with that, nature gave them the ability to burp. Yes, pigeons can burp just like humans. Their stomachs will expand and hold the gas until it can be safely expelled, one burp at a time. So a build-up of gas, although uncomfortable as we all know, is no more dangerous than a mild stomach ache.
If you have a pigeon problem and you desperately want to get rid of the noisy, messy creatures, there are ways. None of them however, involve leaving out heaps of raw, dry rice and spoon-fuls of Alka-Seltzer.