Barn Swallows over front door

[starjj]

There is a pair of barn swallow that are trying to build a nest right over my front door. There is a little overhang (flashing) to keep rain off the door. They have filled it with muddy moss and just mud. I cleaned it out today. Is there a way to discourage them?

[GrannyG]

This happened at our church. The barn swallows were right by the door, and you had to watch for droppings...someone put a bullseye paper down....everyone busted out laughing as we left the church. We all decided to just let her raise her babies, she taught us a lesson on persistence. She would always rebuild it after it was torn down. I vote for the bird....LOL

[arcticow]

Originally Posted by starjj

There is a pair of barn swallow that are trying to build a nest right over my front door. There is a little overhang (flashing) to keep rain off the door. They have filled it with muddy moss and just mud. I cleaned it out today. Is there a way to discourage them?

Not anything non-lethal, that I know of...

[Danaus29]

Mom spent 3 years fighting her Barn Swallows before she gave up. Now a Robin is building it's nest by the back door. Once she sets her potted hoya outside the House Finches will build a nest in it.

[MELOC]

nip it in the bud because they get very territorial once established.

[Ravenlost]

This will be the third year a pair of barn swallows have raised their babies on my back porch. I can see the nest from my kitchen window and love watching them. If we were to repaint the back porch I'd paint around the nest!

However, we had a pair trying to build in the garage. We knew this would be a very bad idea since the cats hang out in the garage. A couple times getting locked up in the garage all day sent them on their way!

[deb]

Originally Posted by starjj

There is a pair of barn swallow that are trying to build a nest right over my front door. There is a little overhang (flashing) to keep rain off the door. They have filled it with muddy moss and just mud. I cleaned it out today. Is there a way to discourage them?

We had this happen with our front door. We had decorative trim around the door that gave them a bit of ledge to build on.

We kept removing the mud so they never got a nest built. Finally my husband stacked 2 pieces of wood on top of the trim so there was no ledge at all. If the swallows tried putting mud on the stacks of wood, it would move a bit. If they pushed too much on the wood it would fall off. The swallows gave up and moved elsewhere.

deb
in wi

[Fat Charlie]

Some screening should shield it pretty well.

[dragonfly65]

My grandmother tacks strips of cloth over the ledges on her porch to discourage them when they move in the breeze.

[vicki in NW OH]

They build on the front porch. We use the back door, try to ignore the mess out front, and clean it up after they have raised their babies. I like watching them, and they sure eat a lot of skeeters and such.

[arcticow]

With my mom's house, it is crested flycatchers on the front porch... hate the mess, but no flies at all.

[Farmerwilly2]

They're good luck, unless you're wearing white. I enjoy them, specially when I cut grass and they come to dinner. Sorry they're causing a problem for you---maybe tell them Willy'll keep a light on for them and shoo em my way.

[salmonslayer]

We had the same problem last year and the Mrs put some granulated stuff meant for keeping animals away from the garden (I thinks its mostly tobacco based) on the ledge over the front door and they stopped trying to build the nest.

[Use Less]

A pair of phoebes started building on top of my storm door, which doesn't stay quite closed, but after we went in & out a few times, they moved along voluntarily. If I had another door that was handy to use, I'd have left them be. Cheap entertainment for us & the cats, who could sit in a window nearby & observe. Sue

[windblown]

we have had them to build on our front porch also we keep tearing down the nest and put a lg rubber snake on the door jam that worked my grandma had them on her porch so bad she got bird mites in her house so we try try to keep them away as much as we can

[Wanderer0101]

I had to shoot them to stop them.

[salmonslayer91]

i know the droppings can be a mess but they sure are fun to watch go back and fourth especially when the chirpping starts

[starjj]

Originally Posted by Wanderer0101

I had to shoot them to stop them.

Nope I wouldn't ever shoot them. They are beneficial. The update is when I cleaned the overhang over the door out I used bleach water. Don't know if the smell bothered them but they have not been back since yesterday when I cleaned it out. I will just have to keep watching it in case they come back.

The even better news is my bluebird house has 6 babies this year. Last year the pair raised 3 babies. So I have double the bluebirds this year

[mekasmom]

Originally Posted by starjj

There is a pair of barn swallow that are trying to build a nest right over my front door. There is a little overhang (flashing) to keep rain off the door. They have filled it with muddy moss and just mud. I cleaned it out today. Is there a way to discourage them?

They did that to the trellis on our door once. We purposely used the back door until they were finished. It was such a blessing to watch the Mama bird right there on the door. The dogs made them nervous though because they were use to using the front door, and kept coming up onto the front porch to scratch to be let into the house. She never built there again. I guess she figured it wasn't worth having to flog dogs 5-6 times a day.

[Haven]

Originally Posted by MELOC

nip it in the bud because they get very territorial once established.

Very true. They will become attached to that spot and come back over and over each year. I finally put plastic mesh up in my eve and stapled it to the wood. They started picking the mesh apart like rats and squeezed through the holes.

Go to the toy section and buy a bunch of big rubber snakes and lay them up in the area where they keep building. It's the only thing that worked for me.