Episode #48. Greg Judy discusses tree swallows for fly control on livestock
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- Опубликовано: 16 окт 2024
- Green Pastures Farm uses natures fly control. Tree swallows love eating flies that suck blood out of our cattle. Make a home and they will come. For more new profitable grazing ideas, check out my books on our website: greenpasturesfarm.net
![Tree Swallows Fight for Nest Boxes [NARRATED]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/CrCr2G8P9zc/mqdefault.jpg)
Hey Greg! Just wanted to tell you what a huge success the Tree Swallows have been for me. I put 9 of them up on my 37 acre property in March and by May, they were hard at work eating all the flies and mosquitos. Yesterday I had to mow a 3 acre spot and the swallows were swarming all around me eating all the bugs the mower was kicking up. At first, I thought they were trying to scare me off but eventually noticed I hadn't been swatting away flies or mosquitoes the entire time. I love it. Thank you!
Cory (or Greg) - how many tree swallow houses do you put up per acre? It sounds like you're doing 1 per 4 acres (37 acres divided by 9 houses, rounding down). Is that based on a scientific reason, or just what you've done so far? Any guidance you have would be greatly appreciated. I have 11 acres.
Just to answer my own question (or contribute to it) - I just watched a different video by Greg where he speaks of grazing a 45-acre farm where he's put up 83 tree-swallow houses. So almost 2 per acre.
He said he'd never seen tree swallows, until he put up houses... a "if you build it, they will come" scenario.
On spacing, he says "keep the houses spaced at least 100 feet apart", as they're territorial
@@derekthompson5731 I have 9 houses on a 37 acre lot. My reasoning is they should be at least 100 feet from another tree swallow house (terrietorial), 50 feet from any large trees (predators), 50 feet from water bodies (Martins and Bluebirds) and I keep them at least 50 feet from the road and neigboring row cropped property.
All of those except the road distancing are from researching on the net. The distance from the road is because I see dead birds in the road all the time and my neighbor is pretty liberal with the pesticides.
My property has a lot of trees and water, so good spots for tree swallow houses a sparce.
The good news is that while they are territorial, they will go wherever the food is and that makes for a relatively fly and mosquito free experience for me!
Hope that helps.
@@corywarneke668 Awesome - thanks for the reply. And your approach makes perfect sense. As soon as I read the first few lines (distance from each other AND from large trees), I gathered that your property must be somewhat wooded. That's hugely helpful to know what you've done and WHY.
My property is much smaller, almost square, and for the most part treeless (except for along one edge of the property). It looks like that's how Greg's properties - or at least this one - tends to be (more open). But I'll definitely keep the 100-foot rule (and the 50-feet from the wooded edge rule) in mind. And it's a good point also about the pesticides... I have one edge that borders a country road and on the opposite side is a field that gets sprayed... so I may take your advice there also and create a buffer.
Thanks a bunch for the info!
Two other questions (since I have your attention): did you use the Red Cedar wood that he recommended, or something else (e.g. pine)? I gather it's probably a good idea to steer clear of "treated" wood here, unless it's salt-brine.
Also, what did you use for the pole? I see that Greg uses what he calls a "fiberglass" pole, but I couldn't get a close-enough view on the dimensions. The important idea being to avoid squirrel interference. Just curious if you have recommendations on that as well.
Could you make a video that goes into the details of the house and post setup?
This information is underrated.
Do you have anything about tick control?
A handful or so of white pine tree pine needles is very much appreciated by both tree swallows and bluebirds. I've been pre-nesting my nest boxes (30) with pine needles for several years now, and I won't stop using them. Sometimes, neither the bluebirds nor the tree swallows have to add much to the nest. They dig a nest cup right in the pine needles and raise their young.
It looks like they remain in my area (coastal Virginia) year-round. Looks like I need to get building!
Thank you
This is such a great idea to fly control!!!
Afternoon Greg. How do you got them houses fasten to that piece of PVC? Thanks
Bolted on
Great content -I love all your videos, the audio on this one was very weak. Keep up the good work!
The only problem I had was the video.
Sorry I meant audio
Greg, what did you use for the post? Do you have a plan for the tree swallow house construction you might be willing to share?
www.treeswallowprojects.com/creproj.html
I use fiberglass posts for the bird house pole. I will be coming out with a video on the plans, spacing of bird houses, etc soon.
Thank you Greg.
@@samkinpommers4558 you've given us a great link! thanks.
@@gregjudyregenerativerancher how do your mount the bird house on a round fiberglass post?
Any issue with snakes getting in the boxes? Thanks for the video
Snakes climb trees better than poles--my experience.
Will Bluebirds also eat the flies as well? Will the birds bother your dung beetles or are the flies just an easier target and therefore they don’t make a large dent in the dung beetle population?
Bluebirds eat all kinds of bugs and insects. I love having them around. They will also nest in a tree swallow house. They are the official Missouri state bird. Birds will not put a dent in dung beetles.
Greg Judy I see a LOT of bluebirds around my place but not many tree swallows... hopefully they decide to start coming around here more. I met a lady in PA that custom built birdhouses and she suggested using hardware cloth in the birdhouse. Just bend the 4 sides to create a spacing between the hardware cloth and the birdhouse floor. She claimed the mites and lice tend to fall to the bottom and prevent against infestations in the bird’s nest. May want to look into it. Thanks for all the information you provide! Much appreciated!
so i live in north Louisiana right on the line for tree swallows. i was wondering if you had any suggestions?
Put a few tree swallow houses and see if you get any to start nesting in them. It would be a cheap experiment before building a bunch of them.
This website E-Bird ebird.org/la/explore shows sightings in much finer detail. You can search by time of year, you should look for June-July.
Does anyone know will this work in the UK - our swallows usually live in the barns April - Oct. What about other UK birds?
I have the same question as rancher mike
Someday I hope to see a real bluebird. None that I know of in Eastern WA State.
Here's a link to Western Bluebirds in your state: www.seattleaudubon.org/birdweb/bird/western_bluebird?tab=4#
A pair eats 8000 per day? Isn’t that about 12 times their own weight each day? Or about 11 per second of daylight? That is a lot of flies!!!
Yep, how would you like to be the chap counting those flies??
Hi Greg: This is a great link for Tree Swallows, as well as other North American birds: www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Tree_Swallow/maps-range
The Pirma culture Solution for a horseflies in the barnyard-
Can you buy dragonflies online? Yes, you can. Several online retailers in the US sell dragonflies to the public, including Niles Biological and Ward’s Science. Expect to pay around $30 per pack of 12 nymphs.