Battle with barn swallows

[msnobody]

Has anyone here ever battled with barn swallows and won?
You tear down their nest and they build it right back sometimes within the same day. They’ve even nested on small pieces of mortar sticking out of the bricks of the home, until they can build the nest back. That is when they acquired the names Ricky and Lucy. It seems they nest in pairs. It wouldn’t be so bad if they’d poop away from the front door and away from their nest.

[Bret Ripley]

Has anyone here ever battled with barn swallows and won?

Yes, but only if you redefine 'winning' as outliving the little bastards.

I actually love barn swallows -- especially when they stick to the barn -- but several years ago we had a nest on an inside corner of the covered porch outside our front door (which, being country folk, we hardly ever use). By the time our cats directed our attention to the nest, it already contained hatchlings; we waited for the young ones to fledge before we removed the nest. As is often the case, a nest was started in the same spot the following Spring. This time I removed it shortly after it was started and tapped in some large nails, leaving the heads protruding with the idea of making it an inconvenient spot for nesting. I forgot about it until a few weeks later when I noticed the nest had been rebuilt -- nail heads be damned -- and already contained eggs. Like the previous year, I waited for the fledglings to leave the nest and, being an imaginative sort, tried the very same nail trick again only this time using larger nails. (If I may toot my own horn, this worked splendidly: the following Spring the nest was built in another inside corner of the covered porch.)

Based on my experience: unless you have inherited a lifetime supply of large nails, you might consider taking up falconry.

[Jersey Girl]

Have you tried scaring them off with reflective stuff like pie tins, pieces of aluminum foil, hanging reflective CD's near their favorite spot?

What about one of those owl statues...I don't know if those faze barn swallows at all.

You wanna piss them off good and proper like we do the flicker woodpeckers (jerks) over here? Use some Tanglefoot from Lowes or Home Depot. Don't know if Walmart has it.

An old timer here told us years ago that if the woodpeckers got sticky stuff on their feet they would never forget it and never come back. It worked at the time!

Haven't had any since but that's due to environmental/climate changes more than anything else.

[msnobody]

The plastic hooting owls with red glowing eyes don’t faze them.

[Jersey Girl]

The plastic hooting owls with red glowing eyes don’t faze them.

GET the Tanglefoot! Thank me later!

[¥akaSteelhead]

wasp spray is supposed to keep them from building in an area. soak the surfaces with wasp spray?

[msnobody]

Thank you all for your recommendations.