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Post by chuckie on Aug 16, 2019 19:48:32 GMT -6
A man that we know has Purple Martin houses around his barn. He claims that when the birds are using the houses, he has very few fly problems. Has anyone else ever tried this before or is he feeding us a lot of bull? It would be nice if the birds stayed close to the cattle, but I have never heard of any kind of report that this worked.
Anyone here have Purple Martins around their cattle?
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Post by birddog on Aug 16, 2019 20:23:55 GMT -6
Our purple martins are only around nesting houses in the spring when flys are not that bad. At his stage of summer the birds are long gone, the fly's are bad, and the spray has a very short life span as the fly's get used to it. A wet cold front would do wonders.
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Post by bulltrader on Aug 16, 2019 20:26:18 GMT -6
I looked them up and it just said they eat flying insects and fire ants.
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Post by okie on Aug 16, 2019 20:35:02 GMT -6
I can believe it if they are around during the time of year that the flies are building up. I don't see very many purple martins here but I do have a bumper crop of scisortails and swallows and on a good nectar flow when the bees are really cranking there's a pretty big flock of them buzzing around poaching bees.
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Post by chuckie on Aug 16, 2019 21:32:22 GMT -6
I was afraid he was BS'ing us. Have you ever met people that made a story grow to what they wanted it to be? This fellow seems to have a bit more grander story than the next. I feel that if the Purple Martins were a great contributor to cattle fly problems, there would be more written about them. Thank you for everyone's input.
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Post by the illustrious potentate on Aug 16, 2019 22:16:16 GMT -6
They're sought after to control mosquitoes, so I'd imagine they'd control flies as well.
But it seems like there's a constant battle to keep sparrows from taking up residence in the purple martin houses and there just arent good numbers of them around our area.
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Post by cowrancher75 on Aug 17, 2019 6:06:28 GMT -6
they do a good job.. all the amish set up a lot of houses for them.
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Post by ebenezer on Aug 17, 2019 7:27:33 GMT -6
They're sought after to control mosquitoes, so I'd imagine they'd control flies as well. But it seems like there's a constant battle to keep sparrows from taking up residence in the purple martin houses and there just arent good numbers of them around our area. Saw some recent research which said they do not eat mosquitoes. I don't know. I used to laugh as a kid when they brought big dragon flies to the gourds and could not fit them into the hole. I doubt the fire ant part of the story greatly. |
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Post by M-5 on Aug 17, 2019 8:12:30 GMT -6
They eat something and mosquitos are plentiful along with knats , they sure do alot of acrobatics about dusk over the ponds and Fields. I wish they ate love bugs . They showed back up this week.
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Post by franklinridgefarms on Aug 17, 2019 8:16:03 GMT -6
I have never heard that about them eating flies, could be I don't know. Lot's of people around here have some martin houses up, and like others have said the Amish seem to have A LOT of gourd martin houses up.
We have quite a few barn swallows here, and have always heard they keep down mosquitoes, and that could be cause see them flying around like they are getting something. I see them quite bit flying real low like they are skimming up something from or near the surface of water in ponds. I am not sure about the fire ant thing. Seems like to me they would have to be lit on the ground to pick them up, and would get covered in them in the process.
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Post by JMJ on Aug 17, 2019 13:49:22 GMT -6
They're sought after to control mosquitoes, so I'd imagine they'd control flies as well. But it seems like there's a constant battle to keep sparrows from taking up residence in the purple martin houses and there just arent good numbers of them around our area. Saw some recent research which said they do not eat mosquitoes. I don't know. I used to laugh as a kid when they brought big dragon flies to the gourds and could not fit them into the hole. I doubt the fire ant part of the story greatly. The purple Martins here predominantly feed on Skeeter Hawks, aka Crane flys, or Tipula. If you look under the gourds or Martin houses you will see thousands and thousands of wings from the Skeeter Hawks. Contrary to popular belief, the Skeeter Hawks don’t eat skeeters. But I still like the Martins around. |
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Post by chuckie on Aug 17, 2019 16:46:36 GMT -6
I was reading about Barn Swallows. They fly low to the ground and as high as 75ft. I see them flying over the tops of the grass in the pasture, but have not noticed if they are buzzing around the cattle or not. I have many mud nests in the rafts of the barn and I don't dare knock them down. I don't think my population is big enough to make a difference in the flies around the cattle. Here is a very interesting article about Barn Swallows helping out the farmers.... extension.umd.edu/sites/extension.umd.edu/files/_docs/programs/woodland-steward/FS798_WMgtBarnSwallow.pdf |
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Post by backhoeboogie on Aug 18, 2019 18:12:48 GMT -6
Half of a hummingbird's diet is mosquitoes or gnats. When I found this out I put out more feeders.
People with Martin houses swear by them.
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Post by greybeard on Aug 18, 2019 19:42:45 GMT -6
I was reading about Barn Swallows. They fly low to the ground and as high as 75ft. I see them flying over the tops of the grass in the pasture, but have not noticed if they are buzzing around the cattle or not. I have many mud nests in the rafts of the barn and I don't dare knock them down. I don't think my population is big enough to make a difference in the flies around the cattle. Here is a very interesting article about Barn Swallows helping out the farmers.... extension.umd.edu/sites/extension.umd.edu/files/_docs/programs/woodland-steward/FS798_WMgtBarnSwallow.pdf I have several barn swallow nests and colonies along the edge of my house roof. They're about done for the year here, have raised at least 2 broods already and mostly have abandoned the nests. They return to the same nests every year unless it's like the one that was under the ceiling of my back porch...I pressure washed it away this spring because I didn't want the bird poop mess there this year. I suspect around my yard during the peak of the swallow season, that there are no more than 20 adults at the most. |
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Post by chuckie on Aug 18, 2019 20:13:00 GMT -6
Maybe the pair that nest under the ceiling of your porch will pick a better site when they return in the spring. They can make a mess if you have something parked underneath one of the nests.
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