Getting rid of birds in barn

[mack101]

I noticed about 20 swallow nests in a barn I just acquired with a property. I would hope they would keep the bug population down, even if I had to clean up a bit after them I wouldn't really mind. They just seem to be part of the barn.

 

[dodge man]

Well, if you aren't the tree hugger type, get a 22 and use 22 bird shot. I've had them try to nest in my garage, and it worked pretty good. Unless you try to shoot one really close, the light bird shot just bounces off things and doesn't even peneatrate the walls. I've let alot of birds just nest on the outside of our house, they make a mess, but I'm getting soft as I get older. Its when they poop all over my cars that I draw the line.

 

[beenthere]

Make your rafters easy for a cat to get to, by a "cat walk". Just plan a layout of 2x4's that they can move around on, and the birds will not be there. At night, the cats will seek them out and take care of business.

 

[sld]

I had a blast as a kid shooting pigeons with a pellet gun in a farmers barn.

To this day, I have a nice RWS pellet gun to dispatch things.

After a while of target practice, the problem will go away.

 

[rtimgray]

We have always had a good crop of barn swallows in one of our barns. They nest on the floor joists of the loft. We also have 20-30 barn cats, and it frustrates the cats to no end because they get in the loft, right above the nests, and try to reach the birds through the cracks in the floor boards, but can't do it.

Since we have been renovating the barn, I was going to install doors (it hasn't had functional doors in 40 or 50 years). I ended up making dutch doors so that we could let the swallows come and go. I agree, they make a mess, but so do the cats, goats and cows. I do make it a point not to park the tractor under them!