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applestar
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Location: Zone 6, NJ (3/M)4/E ~ 10/M(11/B)

BIRDHOUSE thread

I can't seem to find a dedicated thread for birdhouse discussion though it is mentioned here and there, some with really good information but mixed in. So I'm going to start this one and post a little something I thought of, though this is not the right season.

I know some people here have made birdhouse making into a system and art form that really works and are very knowledgeable. I just buy them when I have extra money... :oops: Or hang gourds after drilling a few holes which only lasts one season but have worked before.

I have only tried enticing house wrens and other small backyard birds and my level of experience is pretty much limited to those kinds of birds.

So I hope this will provide a place to discuss birhouses of every kind. Please feel free to share your own experiences and ask questions, too.

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applestar
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Location: Zone 6, NJ (3/M)4/E ~ 10/M(11/B)

An instance where the fall/winter/spring freeze here helps -- I leave the birhouses up year around because sometimes they can be depth of winter shelter for the birds. But if no"bird" is using them, I can also go around checking for wasps nest, and knock them right out along with the cold-immobile queen and her drones. :twisted:

They are usually small nests -- 1/2 shell walnut to no bigger than my small fist size at most (only IF the wasps had nested in it since the summer and didn't get evicted)

I welcome or tolerate wasps in most other not inconvenient locations, so I feel no compunction in evicting them when they choose to nest where they are not wanted -- utility boxes, hose storage, doorways, and birhouses are some of the places they should not be nesting. Most of the wasps here are not aggressive and we get along fine in the garden, but Yellow Jackets are mean and get another degree of intolerance though.

Generally, by the time I see the weathered wasp's nest again laying in the ground, something -- mice, etc. have been enjoying the unexpected find and the nest is chewed up and empty. I consider that just part of the natural cycle.

Sometime in early spring, I check them final time before the birds would start nesting, make sure there are no wasps nest and remove spiders for ones with openings large enough for not just house wrens (house wrens' favorite food is spiders and they use spider egg sacks for nest lining, so I feel it's OK to leave them in there) and dust the floor and side cracks with DE to make sure ants don't get any uppity ideas about high rise living during the spring thaw. This is also when any needed repair work is taken care of.

ButterflyLady29
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Location: central Ohio

Some birds won't nest in houses. Robins and Song sparrows are a couple of them. I try to leave areas where those kinds of birds can nest too. One place the Robins nest is on the falling down trellis under my trumpet vine. I want to repair and upgrade the trellis but that will be a winter project so it doesn't end up destroying a nesting spot. I've had Song Sparrows in my "nearly wild" rose bush and in an overturned pot under the rose bush. Unfortunately they won't be nesting there this year. I have to renovate that garden so I have a place to move my front yard plants to. (need a new well drilled, it will destroy my whole tiny front yard)

Last year I started buying bird houses for wrens. A week after setting up a wren house it was occupied. We had fun watching the male challenging his reflection in the living room window. I didn't wash that window this year so he wouldn't spend all summer fighting nothing. He still sits on top of my glider frame singing to the world.

I hung a bluebird house on a post for my privacy fence. It has wasps in it. I'll leave them there this year. I don't think the birdhouse is facing the proper direction anyway.

Then there's the other wren house that I just put in the dogwood tree a few weeks ago. It's nicer than the first. The first one has to be taken apart to clean out the old nest. The newer one has a hook holding a hinged panel closed. It's just a little creepy when you hold the birdhouse to take it apart and a million feather lice run up your arm!

I found out last year that wrens don't use the same nest again. When the young leave I dunk the house in a bucket of hot water to kill the lice then I clean the nesting material out and wash the house well.

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jal_ut
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Location: Northern Utah Zone 5

Image

I have built many birdhouses. This pic shows the style that I build. The size of the house and the size of the entrance hole will decide what birds may nest in it. The roof is removable for cleaning.



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