[Closed] Aargh, pigeon stuck in chimney.

light the fire?

My wife managed to extract a stuck pigeon by simply pulling it. It came out in bits (it was dead before hand) but worked. Rubber gloves, some protection on the carpet and a waste bag needed.

Pliers or mole grips might make it easier to rech through the slot. Pipe wrench might be ideal.

you wont get it out alive.. bashing a brick out will letrally scare it to death.
theres always a first time dso good luck..ps are you absolutely sure its there it could be sat at the top of the chimney taking the piss. half the bird behind fires i ve been called for have not been there when we pulled the fire out..

have you tunred the gas off or did someone qualified do it..

you wont get it out alive.. bashing a brick out will letrally scare it to death.

I beg to differ. I wouldn't expect it to go into shock and die as a result of taking a brick out. Pigeons aren't particularly prone to shock unlike some other birds. I've managed to successfully remove a pigeon alive and well from a sealed off fireplace.

Slide a pussy down your chimney, birds love it.

you wont get it out alive.. bashing a brick out will letrally scare it to death.

Many years ago my father knocked through the chimney breast to extract a pigeon, still alive and none the worse for its experience. Of course, it could that like many modern day humans, modern day pigeons have become a bit more 'delicate' and prone to suffering a 'lack in moral fibre'.

12 bore?

Similar issues many years ago.
Pigeon obviously got in at the top. Went on the roof & took the small chimney pot off to make it easier.
- Used a Drain Rod set with the brush attached & ever so gently pushed the pigeon back up & out it popped non the worse for it's 12 hour ordeal.

Otherwise .... take off and nuke the site from orbit. It's the only way to be sure 😉

Chris

I found a perfect pigeon skeleton when I opened up on of our fireplaces.

If you leave it to die in there it'll get pongy for a few weeks and then the smell will go.

Of course, it could that like many modern day humans, modern day pigeons have become a bit more 'delicate' and prone to suffering a 'lack in moral fibre'.

So it needs to PTFU?

I had one get down the chimny and get stuck behind the iron 'grate' on a Victorian style fire place. My wife was in at the time, she hate birds, panicked due to noise and the feathers/ feet poking around the grate and ran out the house. At this point she remembered mini 6 month old Transapp asleep on the rug in front of the fire place...
When I got home, I put a sheet up around the fireplace, got myself a box to put it in and a pair of gloves so I stayed relatively clean. Sadly i know stuff all about birds, so as I was extracting it, it shot off across the room, through a vase full of flowers and smack into a glass door that scared wife was hiding behind leaving me with a handful of tail feathers!
Luckily that stunned it enough for me to grab it and get it out the window before any more cartoon style arseups could happen. Took about 4 hrs to get rid of all the soot.
Not sure how this helps you but it's made me chuckle thinking it all back through

Do it when it's light outside. close all doors into the room (unless you have a patio door), and close curtains covering any unopened windows. Open the biggest window you have and make that the only visible bit of the outoors. When free it'll fly for the gap, so it had better be a real one as transapp found

(and get a eurocowl or something fitted on yer chimney)

Call Dick Dastardly tell him you've caught it.

we had a bird get stuck in a chimney in our old house.... the chimney wasn't blocked off, but the bird was clearly stuck somewhere inside where we couldn't see it.

every day for a few days it would flap about for a while, but to no avail.. eventually the noise stopped.

a few weeks later, our house was inundated with flies... hundreds of the buggers! Every time we got home from work, there would be another 20 or 30 flies.

Get it out of the chimney, or prepare for a biblical plague of beasties!

Dave

Update:

Here he is:
[IMG] [/IMG]

Here's where he was:
[IMG] [/IMG]

He's outside now sitting under the hedge with a dogbowl of water, some bread and water, regaining his composure. Doesn't seem to have fared too badly, considering. The gas fire has a stop valve on the last elbow into it, which was handy otherwise I'd have the whole house isolated today, and no hot water. I'm not gas trained, but not a complete numpty either, so my friendly plumber is booked to recommission it next week. Two bricks had to come out of the top of the opening, after nervously prising the marble back off. I'll mix a bucketful of mortar and get them straight back in today, so it can all go back together until the gas man cometh.

your karma increases

That is a lot of mess for a pigeon - i'd have lit a fire for a few hours and hope to incinerate it.

Nice one well done 8)

Good on you for doing the right thing

are you mad? for a pigeon (vermin)?...

I'd want some serious karma for that

A star for effort. I'd have given it bicarb and pulled it out rather than do that.. mainly as I've just redecorated.

Are those pigeons on your wall paper?

Was gonna say, perfect wallpaper...

Now 'fess up... you actually dropped the pigeon down the chimney in the hope of doing a Yorkshire farmer's chimney sweeping job where they drop a chicken down, didn't you?

A happy ending! Good effort. Have more karma from me. Looks like a nice wood pigeon rather than those manky ones in city centres with horrible feet.

what a palaver for a scratty pigeon
think I'd rather suffer the stink and flies than have to rebuild my fireplace

And we're back in the room...

[IMG] [/IMG]

I think we now know the real lesson we have learned today. I need a phone with a better camera next time.

Darwin had a theory to deal with these incidents. Might be worth getting your chimney capped if it happens again.

After fishing two pigeons out from behind the fire on two separate occasions I can't say I'd bother again. I'd imagine the natural air flow up the chimney would prevent the smell so maybe just some fine netting over the fireplace to stop the flies getting out - they can be hoovered up later.