(Not sure where this belongs, so I'm posting it here.)

I periodically have common pigeons (Rock Doves) trying to set up housekeeping in an old barn in my property.

They're very insistent, breaking through screens and going through all sorts of contortions to get in.

They also make an unholy mess. (I store good lumber etc. in the hayloft.)

My first thought is to banish them yet again, plugging up holes, and possibly plugging the perpetrators.

But maybe I'm going about this all wrong. They were domesticated as meat birds thousands of years ago. Maybe I should be encouraging them, building a nest loft to control the mess, with the option of charging "rent" in the form of meat for the pot.

Anybody have any experience with pigeons? What do you all think?