We had a terrible time with the swallows last year. They built over 100 nests on our back porch. After they left, the clean up was a total mess. Mud, droppings, parasites were all over the place. Not fun. We tried knocking down the nests at the beginning, but it was to no avail. The birds kept coming right back with a vengeance.

This year, on the recommendation of a friend, we tried a new trick. The first day the swallows appeared, before they could even BEGIN to build their nests, I doused the entire porch with a can of regular old ant and bug spray. (e.g., Raid). For some reason, the swallows did not like the smell. They left and haven’t come back all year. All it cost was $3 and my problems were solved.