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Originally Posted by Starbuck
I've been feeding the birds in my garden lately, which mainly consist of pigeons. It makes me feel really good, like I'm giving something back to the natural world, and the birds recognise when their food is coming so I've developed a bond with them. However, a friend of mine told me today that I shouldn't feed pigeons because they carry disease etc and they can cause nuisance. I did a brief google search on this subject and it seems that the general advice is not to feed them. Call me childish but I feel quite upset that what I thought was a kind deed is seen as wrong. I don't know whether to stop putting food out now or not.
What are people's thoughts on this subject please?
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Starbuck, what you are doing is a good thing. If your heart tells you to do it , then don't listen to outside voices. I would continue to feed them a modest amount of seed on a periodic basis. Pigeons as well as Mourning Doves love white millet seed! I would especially feed them during weather extremes where it may be hard for them to find food. --especially if your area experiences cold and snow.
There are plenty of predators out there to keep pigeons under control these days and also many humans will go out of thier way to kill these birds, so don't worry about encouraging overpopulation. A modest amount of daily seed is sufficient so please don't stop!.