How do you get rid of barn swallows?

[WTA]

We've had the same pair of swallows come back every year for 4 years now and hatch out a nest in the same spot. Every year when they fly away I hose away the nest and the next spring they rebuild again.
I really love watching them fly around snatching up mosquitoes. Especially since an elderly neighbor of ours died from west nile 3 years ago. Several horses here in the past few years have died from it too. These birds just go nuts over them.

I just keep my tractor and cars out from under them and let them be. I'm no tree hugger but that is one beneficial bird to have around the farm.

 

[Egon]

Hang tarps to catch the droppings. Augment said droppings with peat moss and sell as Guano fortified plant starter!

 

[m7040]

We had problems with Pidgens and they are way up at the ridge inside the barn may be 50 ft to where they are nesting and they are messy. So get a BB gun and went to work. That did the trick athough now I have a few holes in the roof from some missed shots

 

[RobJ]

Tarp works great until it fills up with crap and falls. We had a pair coming back every year, mom and the kids said please leave it. HUGE mess on the porch. Not again. A 20ga separated the pair. Next couple years as soon as I saw the nest, it got hit with the water hose. This year they are on the back of the house. I left them because that's not a problem or a mess. But if I catch them earlier next year, they get the water hose. We don't have any mosquitoes at the weekend place.

 

[Highbeam]

I've got a sneaky nest in the eve of my home. Absolutely no poop anywhere. I didn't even know they were there until the hatched chicks made a bunch of noise as I was walking by. I will now wait until winter to plug up the hole so that they can't come back to that exact spot. I could shoot the mom but the babies would eventually die, rot, and stink in my attic.

I have a little soft spot for the babies. I like to watch the adults fly and eat skeeters. Just stay out of my attic!

 

[Egon]

Tarp works great until it fills up with crap and falls

You gotta clean it out once in a while so you can make the mix to sell!

 

[riptides]

We have over 10 active nests in our barn.

They are pretty messy, but it is a small controlled area easily handled with newspapers.

I'd say your better off with them. We have no flies or mosquitos in our barn.

Even when I fire up the machinery they clear the air around me.

I'd seriously encourage them to stay.

 

[Glowplug]

We have over 10 active nests in our barn.

They are pretty messy, but it is a small controlled area easily handled with newspapers.

I'd say your better off with them. We have no flies or mosquitos in our barn.

Even when I fire up the machinery they clear the air around me.

I'd seriously encourage them to stay.

I believe I probably have ya doubled there!
Cleaned all the poop off the tractor this evening and covered with a canvas tarp!

 

[Bird]

It's hard to believe some of places they'll roost and/or try to build. This is just over our front door two years ago. After I washed all the mud and poop off, my wife or I went out with a fly swatter after dark and chased them off 2 or 3 nights and they quit coming back.

 

[Egon]

I recall your barn swallow episode Bird!