Barn Swallows over front door

Ardie/WI · #21 04/29/11, 06:16 PM

I wonder if putting a few mothballs on the ledge would discourage them!

springvalley · #22 04/29/11, 06:25 PM

We have some everyear on the front porch, we use the backdoor so having them there is no problem. The kids love to watch the babies develop over there life and then they are gone. And I get them in the barn everyear also, I never remove swallows as it is said to be good luck to have them in any building, I need all the luck I can get. hehe> as allways, Marc

chewie · #23 04/30/11, 12:45 PM

i was told to hang a bunch of cd's by fishing line. didn't do much for me, but i've sen others do it and they hung quiet a few, so maybe i didn't have enough?

we use the 'smackit racket'. a tennis racket on a short pole, and tear down the nests and smack birds to the cats. sounds awful, but i've been hit by them while milking the goats, and the goats have gotten lice from them. dirty buggers that could easily build elsewhere, which would be just fine, just not my barn!

jwal10 · #24 04/30/11, 12:54 PM

I love having them around to eat insects but not over the doors or under the porches. We just hit the area with a hose twice a day, knock down any starts and being wet makes it hard to start a nest. I have 20-30 nests under the barn eaves every year but I knock down and clean the mess up as soon as they are gone....James

TedH71 · #25 04/30/11, 01:07 PM

Bird lice won't get on goats. What you got was goat lice. Completely different species.

65284 · #26 04/30/11, 03:10 PM

We have several pairs that nest here every year. Most are in the barn, but one pair builds on the outside light above the garage door, and another on the side of the house on the brick wall under the eaves. I leave them be and hose things off after they leave. They're welcome here.

I love to watch them, and like it that they eat a lot of bugs. And as someone mentioned it's a lot of cheap entertainment, I laugh when they dive bomb the cats and send them scurrying.