No – I am not going to bake them like blackbirds in a pie. We have Barn Swallow nests all through the barns- I think they might be my favorite birds. And my constant companions as I work or walk in the gardens disturbing bugs for them to eat.
Barn Swallows eat insects, lots of insects but especially mosquitoes, and flies. Lots of flies.
A single Barn Swallow can consume 60 insects per hour or up to 850 per day.
So it stands to reason that more Barn Swallows are more better!
I was in the hen house gathering the eggs when I heard the distress calls of tiny birds.
I heard little baby chirping and turned to find four little barn swallows without feathers huddled against the wall on the floor of the chook house ( literally the most dangerous position in the world for a non chicken chick) chirping their heads off. And you know what those chooks would do if they found them.
So I emptied the eggs out of the bread banneton ( my favourite gathering basket) laying them in the straw then picked up each of the fledgelings and popped them into the basket. Contrary to popular opinion you can pick up wild chicks and put them back in the nest. Mama does not care. So with the little chicks chirping frantically in the banneton; I looked up for the nest. The ceiling in the chook house is very high but I could not see swallow nest.
Barn Swallow nests are always high in a building and they must have been in the rafters above the ceiling panels.
So I climbed up and placed the banneton with the chicks still inside as high up in the wall as I could.
Hoping Mama and Papa would find them. It was the best I could do. Sometimes we have to take that risk.
With little hope for their survival I gathered up the eggs into my dress and left them to it.
Barn Swallow Chicks
I came back the next morning to find that mama swallow has begin to create a nest in the basket. And everyone was fed and settled.
One swallow chick fell out yesterday and is gone. They are in the most dangerous position surrounded by omnivorous chickens. But the last three were still there this morning (Day Three of their great adventure) and getting bigger and have more feathers. So I think their parents are still feeding them.
Living in the wild is a risky business. But we will see they have a ways to go yet. I am surrounded in robin chicks hopping all over the place so I am optimistic that nature has a plan.
I let the chickens out early this morning. Best they are engaged elsewhere!
WaiWai and the flies
Tortured by biting flies (with barn swallows flying overhead) Wai wore his cloak all day yesterday. He moves so slowly that it remains in place for hours.
It cannot be tied on to him. He twitched and growled at me as I walked around him like a dress maker trimming the excess off his robes. If I try to attach anything he leaps up and runs away in distress. It might be that it reminds him of his attackers roping him up. So I follow his lead. And lay his blankets and covers gently on him.
It is there – do you see? on the top of his neck where the skin is so thin that the flies give him so much trouble. He is bloody from their bites. Can you see them? And his back and his rear.
His ears are the hardest to cover because he hates them to be covered, understandably. Poor old Wai. Covering up is the most successful option for him.
He managed to keep his dress on all day and went to bed pre-covered.
I have begun spraying iodine on his ears and wounds. Iodine helps a lot to deflect the flies too.
Now I just need to train his minders to cover him while I am away.
As a rule he spends all day sleeping in his room in the barn. He only comes out to eat. So he is easy.
Cows and calves
I have shut the door to the calf creep so the calves would move in with the big steer. He was feeling a bit lonely after his cow-friend was sold so this is a better arrangement.
He does tend to lie down flat out like a dog but the calves are big enough to get out of his way now.
Being the guardian of this many animals I need to make sure to lean on the gate and watch them as often as I can. Observation is key. I will work on rearranging the barn further today so the big pigs can get into the middle of the barn. They are thick skinned and not bothered by flies at all but I need to think ahead to the heat.
Weather
Have a lovely day!
Celi
PS The new website at TheKitchensGarden.org is now imminent. Even though I am still struggling with the internet – getting brackets to hold up the tower is beyond my pay grade so I must rely on help. But I have. a meeting with Duane today to check the last few things! Then we will do a Soft Launch with you all. As long as you are on my email list you will get to see it early. So make sure to get on that list! Love ya! c
The Kitchen's Garden 
43 responses to “Barn Swallows in a Banneton”
I wonder if Wai would tolerate a fly mask, like the horses wear in Western Queensland. It’s cattle country and the flies attack in biblical numbers, so horses wear very thin, lightweight rugs and masks on their heads, protecting their eyes and ears. They actually have mesh ‘bubbles’ over their eyes so they can see where they’re going. Not that it’d be possible to buy anything like that to fit Wai, but I wonder if he’d wear it if someone made him one?
I think he needs a pair of Batman Robin ears. Tima too. The flies bite their ears something horrible. I see donkeys out here with those masks.
If you were here I am sure Wai’s robe would be a thing of glory. We would sew jewels into the hem to weight it down on each side/
I am feeling fanciful today!
I’m particularly enjoying that vision! Perhaps we could add a belly band to help it stay on… But I have a thought. Can you get those nylon ‘socks’ for fan blades there? Like knee-high tights? And would those fit comfortably over Wai and Tima-sized ears? They might well stay on because they’re stretchy, and the mesh is too tight for flies to get through. Assuming the pigs would tolerate them, of course…
You look after your farm animals so well…poor Wai Wai with the pesky flies, but he looks so sweet with his blanky on!. Spring with all the young being born is a lovely time of year, I am watching Springwatch here in the U.K and even that has highs and lows of nature doing her thing with young being eaten by other predators. I used to have a hand-reared barn owl that was beautiful to handle and watch, they were such elegant birds as adults, but weird and I hate to say a tad ugly as young.
I’m late ~ but I absolutely love barn swallows!! we’ve had nests right above the front door a few times ~ but I haven’t seen them at all this spring ~ so I’m really missing them. I’m loving all the pictures here. I just wonder what happened to the ducks?? seems strange. Send some rain my way ~ haven’t had any. I got sprinklers going ~ moving them around all the landscape beds.
We have had no rain either. It is going to be a.dry summer.