# Clothespins



## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

A friend and I were talking about the uses we have for clothespins, none of which involves hanging clothes. Sort of like Poultry Judge and his use of zip ties.

I have a new use for them today. Holding a sheet up across the grill of my truck.

I was in a rush to beat the rain this morning to get feed. When I got in my truck and closed the door two birds flew away from my truck. I knew what that was about because it's happened before.

It was Wrens building a nest behind the grill in a corner. Sure enough when I looked there was a complete nest. When I got home and the rain quit I pulled the nest out. I went out to think about how to convince them to quit building nests behind the grill when sitting there on the grill with a leaf in its bill was one of the Wrens. 

Now to see if the sheet is secure enough to keep them out.


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## Poultry Judge (Jul 15, 2020)

robin416 said:


> A friend and I were talking about the uses we have for clothespins, none of which involves hanging clothes. Sort of like Poultry Judge and his use of zip ties.
> 
> I have a new use for them today. Holding a sheet up across the grill of my truck.
> 
> ...


That's a good idea. Zip ties do work to hold the entire farm together, they don't work that well for laundry.


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## Slippy (May 14, 2020)

It had to have been at least 35 years ago, we were living in Texas at the time. One Saturday morning a neighbor stopped by and told us that he caught a thief in his garage trying to steal his tools. It was way before cell phones and my neighbor said even though he had the man at gunpoint, there was no way to get to a phone to call the sheriff. So eventually he let the thief go.

Since then I got to thinking, that if I ever catch a thief trying to steal from me, I'd Zip Tie the [email protected] so I can safely call the sheriff. Ever since then, I have a bunch of Zip Ties scattered around the house in drawers and such...


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

Don't get me wrong, I have tons of zip ties floating around here too. But if I find someone pilfering my stuff, as a woman alone I won't need them. 

Now the wrens are targeting my tractor. Guess I'll have to get the massive tarps out to keep them away from it.


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## imnukensc (Dec 5, 2020)

Build some wren nest boxes. They're quite easy to make.


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

What? I didn't know a thing like that existed. Now I need to check that out because the little buggers really want to build in inappropriate places.


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## Overmountain1 (Jun 5, 2020)

We have barn swallows. Idk how many of you have dealt with them before but they’re even worse than wrens! I promise. These little suckers build several nests, idk why but they have like backup nests. So, every set is building multiple nests! *We love watching them swoop around like jet fighters, eating the skeeters while we mow.  They are used to us and let us get really close now. 

Hubbs had to start plugging his exhaust pipe with a rubber ball every day he got home a couple years back! He would blow the stuff out every time, but then there’s more the next time!  
We love our barn swallows and we plan to build them a big community nesting box, hopefully in the next spring or two.


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## Poultry Judge (Jul 15, 2020)

Overmountain1 said:


> We have barn swallows. Idk how many of you have dealt with them before but they’re even worse than wrens! I promise. These little suckers build several nests, idk why but they have like backup nests. So, every set is building multiple nests! *We love watching them swoop around like jet fighters, eating the skeeters while we mow.  They are used to us and let us get really close now.
> 
> Hubbs had to start plugging his exhaust pipe with a rubber ball every day he got home a couple years back! He would blow the stuff out every time, but then there’s more the next time!
> We love our barn swallows and we plan to build them a big community nesting box, hopefully in the next spring or two.


I have barn swallows in the barn, mostly in the hip roof eaves and wrens in the shop. The wrens seem to build nests everywhere.


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## Overmountain1 (Jun 5, 2020)

That’s so funny! Maybe we don’t have the wren problem bc the swallows are eating them to all the food spots! Lol I’ll have to find the pics of our barn swallows bc they’re abnormal too; we aren’t supposed to have this type in our area. But they clearly ARE... shoot. I’ll get it.

Ok so I totally lied- apparently ours are TREE swallows. 









Tree Swallow Identification, All About Birds, Cornell Lab of Ornithology


Handsome aerialists with deep-blue iridescent backs and clean white fronts, Tree Swallows are a familiar sight in summer fields and wetlands across northern North America. They chase after flying insects with acrobatic twists and turns, their steely blue-green feathers flashing in the sunlight...



www.allaboutbirds.org


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

I don't have enough open ground for the barn swallows. I had a ton of them in TN and I miss them.

OM, there have been more and more reports of birds migrating to areas they've never been seen before.


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## imnukensc (Dec 5, 2020)

Here's some easy to build plans for a wren nest box. Don't even need to drill a hole. I'd make some mods to make it easier to clean out and wouldn't use so many screws, if I used any at all. Sorry about the pic orientation.


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

That would be easy and I probably have everything I'd need to make one. 

Last night I didn't cover the tractor just to make it less appealing to them.


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