Swallows thwarted!

[Dougeye]

I like the swallows, especially their swooping and diving way of flying, but I can't stand the mess they make in the barns, crap all over including the hay and even on the horses. This is the third year that I've been actively deterring their repeated attempts to build nests... As soon as I see the slightest bit of nest construction I get out a stick or broom or something, and knock it down. In our century old hay barn, I have to use a 20 foot length of 1" PVC pipe to reach the high places. And I can say that my persistence has paid off, this is the first year they have made few attempts... easier going for them in the neighbours' old unused barns, I suppose. So it seems they can be taught to avoid our buildings. Besides, there was little point in them attempting to raise young 'uns here, we have four barn cats that are always on patrol.

 

[Sigarms]

Good job!:thumbsup:

 

[ovrszd]

You gotta give them credit for their persistance.

 

[MossRoad]

We had two years in a row where we went on a one week vacation in early summer only to come home to fully constructed nest on our overhead porch light and an aerial assault every time we came to the door. They never hit us, and it got kinda amusing. 3rd year I put up some foil strips on the lamp and they built on a wall thermometer. So I took that down and moved it to an outbuilding. They didn't come back.

 

[drssg]

Congratulations. I would guess this will be an annual chore to keep them from coming back next year.

I saw a similar phenomenon with the geese at our pond. If I take the dog out to the pond once a day in the early spring and chase them away, they end up making their nest somewhere else that year. So they are not a problem for the rest of the summer. The following year is a new ball game.

 

[Dougeye]

Congratulations. I would guess this will be an annual chore to keep them from coming back next year.

I'm thinking that they will go wherever they had success the previous year, and avoid our place. Maybe this will be passed down to subsequent generations. All I know is that the first two years I had to do a lot more than this year.

 

[oosik]

Right now I have ~ 18 mud nests in the eves of my house. They do occasionally crap on the Taco Wagon and I wash it off. I have absolutely no mosquitos in or near my house. I will GLADLY accept this...........

 

[riptides]

Congrats...

But it is a generational DNA thingy that brings them back to the same spot for nesting. Our experience lasted about as long. Where we used to see dozens of pairs around the farm, now we see one or two.

Sad, but the barn is "clean".

 

[Peter 315]

I have one nest in the barn the same one they use it every year, There are 5 baby swallows in the nest. We just put sawdust on the floor under the nest....

 

[3 Horse Ranch]

We've been having starlings find places to build nests in our barn. We have had two nests on the door track under the flashing that covers it. I'll take barn swallows any day over the mess starlings can make.

 

[ovrszd]

We've been having starlings find places to build nests in our barn. We have had two nests on the door track under the flashing that covers it. I'll take barn swallows any day over the mess starlings can make.

I'll agree with that. I eliminate every Starling I can.

 

[ovrszd]

I eliminate every tree swallow I see. They run off every other species of bird they can. Rob nest boxes and break eggs. I thought they were kinda cool when they first showed up. By the second season I was eliminating them.

 

[rswyan]

The Migratory Bird Treaty Act, Explained | Audubon

 

[oosik]

Around here the mosquitos are under constant attack. It's the cliff swallows in the day - little brown bats at night.

 

[ruffdog]

Around here the mosquitos are under constant attack. It's the cliff swallows in the day - little brown bats at night.

Anything that eats mosquitoes is a very good friend of my wife and I. :earth:

 

[oosik]

mapper - the mud nests under my house eves come from a mud puddle at the beginning of my driveway. This year the puddles were full of the gravel I added. They got mud from somewhere else this year.

BTW - those that build nests in the eves of the house are just the overflow from the MASSIVE swallow nesting area down the lake about 850 feet. There is a natural formation in the basaltic lava cliffs where no less than 400 to 500 swallows make their nests. You want to get CRAPPED ON - just go down there. Stand on the edge of the cliff - yell, BOO. It can be so grizzly & icky - you darn near want to jump off the cliff and fall the 40 feet into the lake to wash it all off. I reserve that specific location for people who have chosen to irritate me - ha, ha.

Thank goodness - these swallows don't use dirt from the driveway. There is plenty of good, sticky mud at the outlet of my little lake.

 

[Peter 315]

Anything that eats mosquitoes is a very good friend of my wife and I. :earth:

Same here.......:thumbsup:

 

[RichZ]

Any mess that barn swallows make is worth it, when you consider how they control mosquitos. It's easy to clean up their mess, it's not easy to control mosquitos. Same thing with bats. White nose disease has greatly reduced the numbers of little brown bats, and they are outstanding mosquito controllers.

 

[ovrszd]

Here we have the luxury of Purple Martins. Food choice is small flying insects. No mess. Very entertaining. We have seven nesting pairs this year.