We have barn swallows that come back every year .They made a home for themselves on the roof under our porch. . It was safe because no other bird would go on our porch. Very messy though & I took away our chairs& put a cardboard box for dropping All my friends thought we where nuts The first year we had them I had put out a decorative bird house ( not meant to be used as a bird house). It did have a flat roof & to our surprise 2 barn swallows build their mud nest ON TOP of the bird house .A chimney made a good roost at night .Its the stangest place I have heard of for nests. The first year they had 2 baby's then 2 years ago 4. They would sit on the railing & sometimes dive bomb us when we sat our there but finally they did get used to us Then last year ,no birds .I do know they fly a long way in winter so thought something happened to them so I tore down the nest & threw out the bird house .This year I put a smaller bird house up & sure enough a swallow found our porch ..I think it may have been one of the baby's from the previous years . It was so funny to watch this male trying to get a mate. For over a month he screamed out to every swallow that went by & even tried to build the bottom of the nest.. FInally he had luck Now these 2 are more scared of us so we try to stay off the porch.as much as possible. Also nest was small .They layed 2 eggs but one day I found a broken one on the ground .Anyone know if this is normal??? One baby was born & he hung around for a week after parents left but yesterday the parents came back overnight to the nest & he finally flew of with them .. WE WILL MISS THEM.. HOPE WE GET THEM NEXT YEAR Don't need bug spay our swallows are great hunters

These cute little birds are growing so quickly! My concern is that another poster said that they return to the same nest, after fledging, to live for the next few months. Do you think that they will be able to safely find another place to live if we have to take down their nest, for our house project, after they have the ability to fly? Thanks to anyone who can help us make the right decisions!

I have barn swallow nest under my balcony, which of course just has to be where my back door is. They have already had a baby, which they were aggressive towards us when we would walk out the door, but only as we passed it. The baby has flown away. We thought we were in the clear. But it appears THEY HAVE ANOTHER EGG. I Went out to get into my pool today and BOTH of them were extremely aggressive. They were both coming at me at the same time, flying at my head and circling around to come back. Mind you, my pool is more than a few feet away. With the other egg, as long as we walked past, they would fly past as if to Warn us, but then leave us alone. This time seems to be different. They followed me. I have 3 kids that I cannot allow in my back yard because of this. I am at a loss . I can not keep 3 kids locked in my house for a few weeks. There is no baby yet that I can see.

You might check to see if you have an Audubon Society branch in the area. I'm sure they would advise you on what to do at this point. If there isn't an office in the area you could call a more distant Audubon office. In the meantime, might the babies eat mealworms?(the ones people buy for their feeders). Also, I took care of some baby birds for a friend once (don't know how that happened) and I was instructed to give them chopped up pieces of cooked scrambled egg. They liked it. Also, you could try giving them water with a medicine dropper if you are concerned about the heat in the barn. I don't know much about birds but it sounds like something has happened to the parents. I would think that their being gone for four days is a bad sign. From what I've heard birds are generally very good parents. You are so goodhearted to take this on. I hope you can get some sound advice that will relieve you about this and resolve the babies' situation. Good luck -