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Another fly control thread
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<blockquote data-quote="RDFF" data-source="post: 1793660" data-attributes="member: 39018"><p>Wreaking havoc on your in ground biology too.... just the opposite of what you want. Gabe Brown did it with some cattle that came in after being on IGR... Said it took 6 months to get any dung beetles back.</p><p></p><p>Greg Judy puts tree swallow nest boxes all over his pastures. He's farther south in their territory, where I'm at in Minnesota, we don't get those. However, I've researched, and now am considering putting <strong>Barn Swallow</strong> nesting shelters out all around the pasture... but haven't implemented that as yet. Each nesting pair of swallows (tree or barn swallows) while raising a brood will catch and eat about 7000 flies a day... they catch them "on the wing", so kind of fun to watch them diving around all over the pasture, particularly wherever the cattle are. They also catch mosquitoes. We used to have them nesting just about solid end to end under the eaves of our old wooden barn by the cow yard... now, since the old barn is long gone, and we've all gone to steel buildings with no open wooden eaves to build nests under, <u>and because everybody is "prophylactically using fly control" on the cattle</u>, and insecticide across all of our farm fields, barn swallow populations across North America have dropped by about 75% in the last half century. Using these "easy solutions" has consequences!</p><p></p><p>Barn swallows only need a nest habitat area similar to what it was like under the eaves of the old wood barn... sheltered from rain and sun, and preferably built using rough sawn wood. Tin gets too hot, and it's smooth so more difficult for them to prefer to build their nest on it out of mud. They don't need much though... they'll build right on a vertical board, but better is if you've got a very short ledge (1" sticking out from the vertical surface would do it), or in a vertical corner. They'll put their nest a couple of inches down from the "roof"... just enough so they can sit on the edge of the nest under there. They prefer to not have another nest WITHIN SIGHT IF THAT NEST IS CLOSER THAN ABOUT 6-8"............. but if you have a "divider", like a vertical board between nests, they'll put them right up against each other back to back, with just that piece of board between (blocks the view from the neighbor, like the privacy wall between condos!)... so if you have something like a vertical 1x6 for example between them, they'll put nests literally back to back. Under the eaves, they'd have a 2x4 rafter between, that's it, and there was a nest in every one of those corners between the rafters. They build close together like this because they're "colonial nesters". In contrast, Tree Swallows are "solitary nesters"... same as Bluebirds... they don't want another nest within about 300', and they will protect that territory and drive out any new pairs that might want to build there! So you can have a whole lot more barn swallows in a given area than you can tree swallows. You also don't need to clean out the "nest boxes" (nesting sites... no boxes required) like you do with a tree swallow box. Barn Swallows PREFER that their nest be a minimum of about 6' off the ground, mostly to feel safe from predators. Because they build their nest with mud, having some source of water nearby, like a creek, is a help as well. They'll go quite a way though to get that, and will have a daily flying range of up to a mile or more.... but the closer they are to their "food source" (flies) the better. </p><p></p><p>BTW, a tree swallow box is exactly the same dimensions and <u>hole size</u> (which IS important to limit the size of bird that can gain access) as a Bluebird box... and their nesting habits are the same too...interchangeable. Another issue with them, other birds like to invade and use their nests (thus the "size of hole" being important).</p><p></p><p>[MEDIA=youtube]-gCRMKhqKhk[/MEDIA]</p><p></p><p>[MEDIA=youtube]1O8J9I-AKHU[/MEDIA]</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="RDFF, post: 1793660, member: 39018"] Wreaking havoc on your in ground biology too.... just the opposite of what you want. Gabe Brown did it with some cattle that came in after being on IGR... Said it took 6 months to get any dung beetles back. Greg Judy puts tree swallow nest boxes all over his pastures. He's farther south in their territory, where I'm at in Minnesota, we don't get those. However, I've researched, and now am considering putting [B]Barn Swallow[/B] nesting shelters out all around the pasture... but haven't implemented that as yet. Each nesting pair of swallows (tree or barn swallows) while raising a brood will catch and eat about 7000 flies a day... they catch them "on the wing", so kind of fun to watch them diving around all over the pasture, particularly wherever the cattle are. They also catch mosquitoes. We used to have them nesting just about solid end to end under the eaves of our old wooden barn by the cow yard... now, since the old barn is long gone, and we've all gone to steel buildings with no open wooden eaves to build nests under, [U]and because everybody is "prophylactically using fly control" on the cattle[/U], and insecticide across all of our farm fields, barn swallow populations across North America have dropped by about 75% in the last half century. Using these "easy solutions" has consequences! Barn swallows only need a nest habitat area similar to what it was like under the eaves of the old wood barn... sheltered from rain and sun, and preferably built using rough sawn wood. Tin gets too hot, and it's smooth so more difficult for them to prefer to build their nest on it out of mud. They don't need much though... they'll build right on a vertical board, but better is if you've got a very short ledge (1" sticking out from the vertical surface would do it), or in a vertical corner. They'll put their nest a couple of inches down from the "roof"... just enough so they can sit on the edge of the nest under there. They prefer to not have another nest WITHIN SIGHT IF THAT NEST IS CLOSER THAN ABOUT 6-8"............. but if you have a "divider", like a vertical board between nests, they'll put them right up against each other back to back, with just that piece of board between (blocks the view from the neighbor, like the privacy wall between condos!)... so if you have something like a vertical 1x6 for example between them, they'll put nests literally back to back. Under the eaves, they'd have a 2x4 rafter between, that's it, and there was a nest in every one of those corners between the rafters. They build close together like this because they're "colonial nesters". In contrast, Tree Swallows are "solitary nesters"... same as Bluebirds... they don't want another nest within about 300', and they will protect that territory and drive out any new pairs that might want to build there! So you can have a whole lot more barn swallows in a given area than you can tree swallows. You also don't need to clean out the "nest boxes" (nesting sites... no boxes required) like you do with a tree swallow box. Barn Swallows PREFER that their nest be a minimum of about 6' off the ground, mostly to feel safe from predators. Because they build their nest with mud, having some source of water nearby, like a creek, is a help as well. They'll go quite a way though to get that, and will have a daily flying range of up to a mile or more.... but the closer they are to their "food source" (flies) the better. BTW, a tree swallow box is exactly the same dimensions and [U]hole size[/U] (which IS important to limit the size of bird that can gain access) as a Bluebird box... and their nesting habits are the same too...interchangeable. Another issue with them, other birds like to invade and use their nests (thus the "size of hole" being important). [MEDIA=youtube]-gCRMKhqKhk[/MEDIA] [MEDIA=youtube]1O8J9I-AKHU[/MEDIA] [/QUOTE]
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