How to put up and maintain a birdhouse
By Lance Gardner (Lance) on June 16, 2010
You have a birdhouse and are all excited to get it hung up. Wow, won’t it be fun to watch those birds raise their first family in your yard? They will even help you out in your garden eating a lot of bugs. Before you make some big mistakes, however, it is a good idea to take some time to pick a good place for it, and ensure it is hung well. |
You worked hard at making your house, received it as a present or maybe bought one that fit your yard well and Before discussing how to locate and hang the house, I would like to mention a few tips for anyone that wants to construct their own birdhouse. I have made a lot of birdhouses and researched what most agree will work well. The house should be made of reasonably weather resistant lumber, such as white oak or non-fragrant cedar (fragrant cedar can be toxic to some critters), and be at least 3/4 inch thick to provide insulation from extreme temperatures. I use one inch rough cut lumber locally milled from a tree that was taken down (hate to see good wood go to waste!). I have also used old 3/4 inch plywood scraps with bark nailed inside under the entrance hole. Ventilation holes or small gaps need to be incorporated, as well. I cut off small corners of the floor and either drill small holes under the roof or leave a gap between the front of the house and the roof. The interior surface, especially near the hole, needs to be rough so the birds (including the babies trying to fledge) can have something to hold onto while getting out - that is why I use rough cut lumber. The house should also be fairly rain resistant, with a solid (no holes) overhanging roof on all sides of the top, and tight joints along the sides. Don't forget that different species of cavity nesting birds use different house and hole sizes, so make sure your house is constructed for the bird you hope to attract. Here is a quick reference guide with sizing information: http://www.dgif.virginia.gov/habitat/wild-in-the-woods/make-a-bird-house.pdf To hang a birdhouse, I recommend hanging it on a post with a baffle to discourage snakes, squirrels, raccoons, opossums and other predators. Especially squirrels will chew the opening quite large, rendering the
For a baffle, a length of stovepipe works well and is easy to install. Next, cut the top of the stovepipe straight down in about 6-8 places, so that when these cut parts are folded over, the folded ends will rest on the nails and just barely reach the post. Place the stovepipe around the post and push the crimped ends together. Fold the cut sections over and allow it to rest on the nails so it wobbles, impeding any critter from getting a grip and also blocking snakes from going through the middle. If the folded edges do not seem to stay put, you can also drill some holes where they overlap, and hold them in place with a pop rivet, nuts and bolts, or even sheet metal screws. Here is some simple math to figure out how to cut the end of the stovepipe, if you want to use that for your baffle. As an example, you have a 4 inch diameter stovepipe and 1 inch diameter pipe for your birdhouse: 4-1=3. You now have 3 inches of space to fill to cover the distance between the stove pipe and your mounting post, but this refers to the diameter (all the way across the circle), not radius (center of the circle to an edge). Since you will be bending in the tabs cut into your stovepipe from both sides, 3/2=1.5. So, if you cut your tabs in the stovepipe 1.5 inches down, when you bend them in, it will just about reach your hanging post, which is what you want. Summarized, (4-1)/2=1.5, or fill in your own measurements. It is recommended to check your birdhouse once a week to see how the residents are doing, and to ensure that house sparrows are not using it. If you see the invasive (not native, therefore not protected) sparrows using the box, remove their nests. If they rebuild, plug the hole for a week or so until they give up. For really persistent problems, check out other sources such as http://www.sialis.org/, and let me know what works. House sparrows and starlings are very aggressive, and will kill the eggs, babies, and parents, so they must be removed. Since these are introduced invasive birds, there is nothing natural about this - the native birds have little idea on how to deal with this behavior. My parent’s bird houses get nothing but starlings in the martin houses and house sparrows everywhere else, so I am looking for good ways to limit these pest birds.
So why do we check the bird’s nesting progress? One year, a bluebird family in my yard lost the mother and the father was overwhelmed with trying to keep everyone fed. You can see what happened to the quality of his care, as he no longer had time to remove the fecal packs. I changed out the terribly messy nest and the birds fledged (left the house) a few days later. Cowbirds can also lay eggs in the nest, which will cause the bluebirds to lose their own kids to keep the greedy cowbird baby fed – I remove these eggs, even though it may not be ‘legally’ allowed. You may also find blowfly larva, which should be removed and destroyed, as they feed on the babies. So there are many benefits to checking the nest about once a week. More than that and you may disturb the birds too often and interfere with their health, or cause them to fledge too early.
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baffle, birdhouses, birds, hang, maintenance, nature, place, placement, post, wood |
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Comments and discussion:
Subject | Thread Starter | Last Reply | Replies |
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birdhouse portal protectors | zackjohnsdad | Jun 15, 2011 7:40 AM | 1 |
Untitled | nap | Jun 21, 2010 6:10 PM | 7 |
Thanks for the tips | Hemophobic | Jun 16, 2010 9:50 AM | 2 |