Help!! Does anyone here know anything about swallows

S

sue_ellen

Well-Known Member
Joined
3 May 2008
Messages
197
Visit site
Yard manager borrowed my trailer yesterday to move some hay. She towed it down the field, dropped the ramp and hey presto! A swallows nest with 5 babies is in there!
Obviously we have disturbed them so hope they will be ok, but does anyone have any idea when they might leave the nest? Was hoping to go to our first show of the season this sunday, havent used the trailer for a few weeks as pony has been a bit poorly.
They have their adult feathers, does that mean they will leave home soon?!
I am assuming that I cant just take the trailer out for the day while they are still in there, are there any bird experts out there who can enlighten me?
Any advice, opinions, ideas greatfully recieved, Thanks!
 
If they have their feathers then they won't be long. A few days I'm guessing. Also it is a criminal offence to interfere with a birds nest now. I believe the fine is £1k per bird/egg. I was told this by a tree surgeon fellow who had to stop felling my neighbour's tree until the nest he had come across fledged the babies. Please don't move your trailer, I know it's inconvenient but swallows have had a hard time in recent years, this year especially, due to our cold spring and no food being about when they got here. Just enjoy their aerobatics and get your camera out and take some pics for us.
 
Whether they are nearly ready to fledge or not they will still be dependent on their parents for food and will starve if their parents are unable / unwilling to attend to them. If the nest is replaced as accurately as possible and everything appears just as it was the parents may return, but they may not :-(

Disturbance frightens adult birds away and you certainly mustn't use the trailer, it must be replaced in the original spot. As above, it is a criminal offence to disturb a birds' nest.
 
theyll be fledged and flown away with 3-4 days if they're looking like adults and got adult feathers. leave them in piece but check once a day discretely so you know when they've flown.
 
As above. The trailer being moved may mean parents abandon, but was the trailer moved back into original position quickly? If so, they might be alright.

With adult feathers, they shouldn't be too long, but Swallows do like to stay close to the nesting site for a while after fledging so I would make sure that even if they have fledged, that they have actually stopped using the trailer as a base before you move it again.
 
Ooh thanks everyone, as I said she just didnt realise they were there. The trailer is back where it was originally. There is no way I will move it if they are still there of course. I did google it earlier and read something that said that once they have started to fly they can feed themselves and are independant almost straight away, so I was just trying to get as much info as possible, thanks again!
 
I wouldn't worry too much about abandonment. I had some build a bad nest a couple of years ago and found the new babies huddled in the corner of my stable. I built a new nest and put the babies in it and the parents came back and resumed feeds. For their second brood, they knocked my nest off and built their own again. Ungrateful things! :D
 
Hi Sue_Ellen, Sorry but I think you should leave things as they are. We live on a farm in the north and take particular interest in our swallows. The parents and their young return to their nests daily. They swoop in and out of the farm buildings all day. Third week in September they form a large group with neighbours and head off for the far south. I've read that the same ones return next year - if they survive the journey, of course!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top