Realistic looking owl or barn cat.  A black rubber snake curled up where they are roosting sometimes works - except sometimes you forget it and then "find" it.

Sorry, don't waste your time with plastic owls and fake snakes.  Pellet guns and sparrow traps are more effective.  There are no legal poisons.  There are companies that sell bird deflectors, basically wire spikes that make it difficult for the birds to roost or perch on rafters, but they are expensive.

Are you dealing with house sparrows or pigeons?

KR  

I know the mud nests of the barn swallows can be messy but I would welcome them in my barn because they feed exclusively on insects that they catch in the air including flies of all sorts that irritate our horses!

kr

A number of years back we had a problem with pidgeons. We got 3 neutered cats, and have not seen a bird for years. . . . and the cats love life on the farm! They are also great "mousers."

Brenda

A word to the wise, the barn swallows are protected by federal law, while house sparrows (and introduced non-native pest) and pigeons are not.  With respect to barn swallows, catching, harming, causing-to-get-stuck on rafters and killing them is against federal law.  If your problem is severe, you can request a permit to do the above-mentioned things from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.  Incidentally, swallows migrate to Central America in the fall and return in the spring so they are only here to bother you and eat the bugs for about 6 months.

I have had success with sparrow traps, I suggest you do a google search for them, they rarely catch non-target species and if they do, you can release the protected birds (watch out cardinals bite hard!)

KR     

Aw man, now you've done it. We'll have all kind of posts about how the environmentalists, govt., do-gooders, etc are messing up the free market system by not letting us decide to bird gouge. We have barn swallows that return Mar 22 every year to nest under our front porch eaves. Messy? Yes. But we wash the porch off every day. We love to watch the little ones learning to spread their wings and fly. You are right about them being protected by law. Ask some of the bridge builders in Texas how much the penalty is for disturbing the nesting areas when occupied by the birds. And yeah I know, another case of Big Brother sticking his nose into our business. But I for one appreciate some of the regulations.

Pigeons are one thing, but barn swallows? They do not bother me or my barn. In fact I have some well trained swallows that only build nests at the entrance to  my barn and away from the cross tie area, stalls, and tack room. LOL!! Just a good barn layout I guess. I welcome these birds every spring and love to watch them build their "mud" nests and raise their babies, not to mention their extreme flying skills and kamakazi runs at the nearby cat. They do help with the mosquito population and other bugs, so I don't mind them a bit! I have three cats in my barn and occasionally they will snatch one but otherwise my cats don't care.

Good luck to you with your pests!

My neighbour has a problem with mockingbirds.  They are great for snakes, but they go after anything near their nest.  You, the horse, cows, dogs, and forget cats.  They will chase the cats.  My neighbour finally ran 2 strands (one hot, one ground)of hot wire along the beams in his barn so they can't land.  He has them spaced very close together so when they touch one they touch both and shock themselves.  Oh, and he uses a charger made for small animals.  Not a cattle charger, he doesn't want to fry them.  It has worked pretty well, but took a long time to insall.

Find a half dozen old cd's and hang them from the rafters!   We get monthly updates from the parent company and I have had farmer customers place these "shiny" "scary" things in their machine sheds and hog sheds.

They swear they work!!!

Lets you "recycle" --  they replace them once a year or whenever they get too much dust on them. 

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