But what I also love about barn swallows is that they eat insects, not grain. So they are very useful to have around in and around a barn and farm animals.
Here are a couple barn swallows in Valerie's barn.
I didn't hold out any hope that we'd get our own flock of barn swallows as our barn is smaller with lower ceilings, and with just one horse that only eats inside the barn. But we do have plenty of straw, llama and angora fiber, and wet mud to use for creating a nest.
So I hoped and wished.....and we finally have our first set of barn swallows laying claim to our barn now. Yay!!
Aren't they just beautiful?!
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The farm our goatees are staying at has lots of these. I didn't know what kind of bird it was but now I do! Thanks
We are having a terrible time with Pigeons too. The barn owner is not fond of those at all.
My neighbor has a half dozen nests on her porches that surround the house. She HATES them as they poop up a storm. She's gone so far as the put up fake snakes and owls and paint the ceilings blue ('if it looks like the sky, they won't nest there')--they've laughed at her attempts.
I would love to have a little bird poop on my porches, but it's not to be. They just swoop over my pool all day to get drinks. I do love when they line up their babies on my railing to have "swoop over the pool and get a drink, but don't fall in" lessons.
They are beautiful! How cool.
Nice farm blog! I'm impressed by how many of your animals have names! Even though we have two kids who LOVE naming things, we keep running out. As a result we named two ducks and call them all the rest "Lassie". Our pigs have the same names year after year. We have two new goats with no names yet, though they were just born this morning, so we will surely name them by nightfall! Do you really name all your chickens?
I have one horse who seems to attract birds. Sparrows fly around in his stall, nest in the rafters over his stall, and ride on his back, while they stay away from my mares.
My neighbor is always chasing pigeons out of her barn with a broomstick. She says they are bad news.
They do poo a lot....but thats okay in a barn, right? I did not know they ate bugs not grain, so that means they are also good for the environment! I am glad you got a set! ;)
We used to have quite a few of these in my parents barn each year when I was growing up. I occasionally see them now but not so much. This brings back fond memories.
Oh, I luv swallows too. We have pair that nests in the attachment from the barn to the silo every year. Wish we had more, they're voracious bug munchers. Aden calls them swoopers! :)
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