I take nests down as soon as I see them starting. I take down robin nests, too.
Whatever did the barn swallows nest in, before barns? (We named them that, obviously, and this is a rhetorical question. Migrating or not, the can go nest somewhere else and keep their sanitation issues too)
Caves, apparently.
But you won’t get their bug eating benefit unless you’re adjacent to a cave system. 
I’m good without their bug eating benefit, myself - I’m good without the resulting poop on porous structures and potential mites.
I always find it a little sick that people have barn cats and encourage birds to stick around. That’s a little weird, no? What do you think will happen to a young fledgling that falls out a little early?
Personally, I renest them.
That’s if you get there first. 
I just don’t get the conflicting logic. I know cats for mice and all that, but they hunt the heck out of birds too.
Fresh on my mind because the barn cat where I board got a swallow just a couple weeks ago. The barn owner encourages the swallows, has bird feeders by her house- and has 3 outdoor cats, two of which are hunters extraordinaire.
Doesn’t seem right.
My barn cat is locked in the tack room at night. Before he’s let out in the morning, I renest any swallows on the ground.
During the day, I close the stalls. Before I bring horses in, I renest any swallows on the ground.
These birds have all been renested in the last 72 hours. Tis the season. The cat has gotten zero. He will get a few, but hasn’t yet.
This isn’t hard. That’s nice you “don’t think it feels right” but you’re not even allowing them to nest. Which is certainly your prerogative but the judgement of those that ARE making space for these birds is a little weird.
I don’t care what other people do. It just seems weird to also be supporting a predator to them, in the same vicinity. That is weird.
It’s like having a kid, and also having a hungry tiger in the same house. Not in the kids best interest 
Sure. Sort of like how weird it is to have a barn and hate barn swallows.
¯_(ツ)_/¯
I don’t hate the birds, I hate the mess they leave behind.
They are considered nuisance animals by nearly all crop farmers, because they build nests in the machine sheds and then poop on 6 figure tractors and implements.
¯_(ツ)_/¯
Lol god forbid, poop 
Dude, you do you, of course. But I can’t buy the superior insect control these birds provide. It’s really incredible. I’m sorry you’ll never get to experience it.
I’m not sure why you’re in this thread, tbh. Do you have any control tips for bird mites beyond, idk, fuck the birds…?
We really appreciate the work they do. Our compromise was to install bird spikes anywhere we really don’t want them in the barn. We clean up in the fall.The bird spikes reflect light. Some people think we left Christmas decorations up. Two birds w one stone - pun intended😀!
In TX here, we’re cave central but the free tail bats own those and never heard of swallows nesting in caves around here. Maybe they do. The caves don’t have big open doors so no idea how they’d find their way underground. The swallows are all over when they first show up and I usually only do battle with a couple of pairs so the rest go somewhere. I don’t know where. I have lots of scissor tail and vermilion flycatchers who actually do a better job with bugs. And don’t ruin everything they touch. I don’t know about purple martins—I haven’t seen any here. Had them in the Midwest but they were really picky about where they chose to stay.
They also do permanent damage to structures. They are listed as nuisance birds. Hell, seagulls are a protected species as are Canada geese, and they are certainly pests.
Hey man, you do you, too. You don’t mind it, great. But one way of controlling bird mites is to get rid of the birds. Spraying your entire rafters etc. with chemicals isn’t the only way to go.
Why are spider webs bad? They actually catch flies! Not that I let them get out of control but spiders are not bad for the environment.
exactly! I love barn swallows and have never had a mite problem from them. As for the poop it’s usually just in the nesting spot unlike free range chickens that shit everywhere LOL.
Cobwebs are flammable. Otherwise I’m with you, I like spiders.
Oh, you’re thinking of house sparrows. That makes more sense.
House sparrows and barn swallows aren’t the same. We’re talking about barn swallows in this thread.
It’s such a good example of the different views people have on nature & wildlife in general, though. Not only do I enjoy wildlife, I think conservation is important. I don’t need or want a sterile environment and get that an ecosystem is important. I don’t chase swallows out of the barn because they’re barn swallows, and while they’re not on any threatened or endangered list, their numbers have been dropping, along with a massive loss of birds in general. I don’t kill coyotes, or fox, or snakes, or spiders. I report sightings of animals the state Environmental Protection agency cares about to them. I remove invasive weeds and plant natives.
To me, this is just living as a part of the world, and improving our property, which is home to a lot more than just the people. I don’t need to drive out every other “annoying” living thing from my space.
No, I’m talking about barn swallows, the topic of this thread.
They, and all other bird droppings, are acidic. They absolutely can cause structural damage.
I’m good with coexisting with lots of things. They’re welcome to live anywhere on my property except inside my structures. I don’t want their unsanitary poop on my hay, my tractors, my loft, my anything. It’s also a fire risk if they nest too near to wiring or lighting or fans or what have you.
Different strokes for different folks. They’re not welcome in my barn. (and I don’t have cats, either - similar reasons - they will use my stone dust floor as the worlds biggest litter box and I’m just not into it - not to mention the devastation they cause to natural bird populations).
Maybe I can put up a bat house for insect control.
A bit of Artistic License – Arachnids — spider silkdoes shrivel quite rapidly when exposed to intense heat (so yes, a flamethrower can clear out cobwebs), but it doesn’t actually burn , much less cause the pyrotechnics that people have come to expect in fiction.
Sure. Here’s some good information about that.
https://batworld.org/bat-houses/
Bat bugs sure will freak you out, though.
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