# Keeping Birds Out of the Barn



## jaydee (May 10, 2012)

Other than putting mesh screens of some sort over all the windows and doors when you have them open I can't think of anything you could do


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## Clayton Taffy (May 24, 2011)

I love my barn swallows, I encourage their nesting. They are voracious mosquito eaters.


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## OutOfTheLoop (Apr 1, 2012)

I shoot the nuisiance birds if they get out of control. I had pigeons so bad at one point there was crap everywhere you looked, in the sawdust and hay. I killed probley 40 and it got better.
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## Horseychick87 (Feb 5, 2014)

Put up mesh over any areas you can, then apply 'landing strips' to open spaces where you can't, like rafters. https://www.farmtek.com/farm/supplies/prod1;ft_farm_pest_control-ft_bird_control;pg109824.html

You can also set up 'predator dummies' that look like owls et cetera that might scare them off. 

You can also offer housing for them (and bats) in a field by putting up bird houses on trees and posts, this gives them somewhere else to go.

Try to keep grain/ feed cleaned up as much as possible and if you can screen in or bar up the windows.


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## SlideStop (Dec 28, 2011)

I like the birds, but I hate that they poo on everything!! There is a bird chirping system that keeps them out, but I think it's expensive.
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## littleamy76 (Jun 30, 2011)

Fake owls. Airports use them to keep birds away from the planes


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## 4hoofbeat (Jun 27, 2013)

SlideStop said:


> I like the birds, but I hate that they poo on everything!! There is a bird chirping system that keeps them out, but I think it's expensive.
> _Posted via Mobile Device_



that bird chirping system only works for so long. The blueberry place up the road used it for a while. i dont know if the birds learn to ignore it or learn that it does no harm and they were invading again.


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## Shoebox (Apr 18, 2012)

The birds in the arena at my old barn were WONDERUFL for keeping the flies and mosquitoes down, so I didn't mind them. Barn swallows, most of them. 

If you don't care for them, hang things that move and flash like streamers or old CDs, cover entrances to the barn with mesh, etc. Install fake owls. This season yet it may be a bust, since the birds have active nests and will do everything they can to get back to them - but if you wait till after the birds leave, clean up, install mesh/streamers/owls etc, you'll do a great job keeping them away next year.


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## Samstead (Dec 13, 2011)

we have tons of barn swallows at the ranch but they never seem to poop on anything aside from the ground and never cause any trouble aside from stealing the odd shred of hay for their nest but never enough to affect how much the horses eat. We do have on annoying pigeon but he's really only loud. It sounds like you've been invaded though. I'd put up mesh wherever you don't want them nesting and like HorseyChick said put up some bird houses outside the barn, sounds like a good way to get the bug control benefits without all the poop everywhere.


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## Horseychick87 (Feb 5, 2014)

Samstead I love your Signature. ;-)


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## Corporal (Jul 29, 2010)

Ditto on hanging old messed up CD's. We use them to keep birds from stealing all of my tart cherries from my two producing trees and other places in the garden. Their prey instincts set in and they think that there are predators everywhere.
I love my barn swallows. Did you know that dragonflies also eat mosquitoes? This summer I have seen both in swarms flying above my pastures and "grazing."


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## Saddlebag (Jan 17, 2011)

My son put up clear fishing line, cheap two lb test. It frightens the birds when they touch it because they don't see it.


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## Hammersmith Farms (Jun 22, 2014)

*Birds*

Thanks everyone for the great ideas


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## stevenson (Sep 12, 2011)

the fake owl ... mine has bird poop on it. I get crows, they nest in my trees, the poop on everything, I also get a lot of dove/pigeons. They steal the dog food. 
Some of them come and sit on the corral fence when we are cleaning pens. They supervise.


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## franknbeans (Jun 7, 2007)

We tried everything, then finally used these. They are great. Leave them up all summer, and they also help keep out the bugs. But no swallows!

Target : Expect More Pay Less


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## NorthernHorse (Jan 11, 2013)

Sounds like you need my barn cat lol, every couple mornings he brings me a "gift" from the barn or tack shed. He's brought me tons of birds, the other day he had his claws in a magpie but it managed to get away. 

I've tried fake owls before only to see the birds perched on it lol. Mesh always seemed to work for the most part though.


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## SueNH (Nov 7, 2011)

When I was a kid my father had this stuffed owl that moved it's wings when you pulled a string. The crows and bluejays would go nuts diving and attacking it.

I'd try a fake owl. Probably have to move it from time to time.

I like my barn swallows because they eat so many mosquitoes. Don't like mosquitoes one bit.


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