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Birdhouse
- Thread starter Mith
- Start date
Junkman
Extra Super Moderator
To get rid of mosquitoes, you want to build a bat house and attract the bats to the area. One bat can eat its weight in bugs in a night. Some people are creped out by them, but I have never had any problem and this area of the woods if filled with them. Occasionally one will get in the house, and we just leave the door open and in less than 5 minutes, it will find the door and be gone. As for getting caught in your hair, that only happens on television..
thcri
Gone But Not Forgotten
B_Skurka said:
Tree Swallows are one of the neatest looking birds around. Don't confuse them with the Barn Swallow.
Tree Swallows which I monitor will use a Peterson Box, same as the Blue Birds. And will help the Blue Bird raise it's young. And to watch them in flight is really neat. Do a search for a Peterson Box.
I raised 9 Blue Birds last year along with 4 Tree Swallows. Not bad for my first year.
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elsmitro, that look like a bird mansion on your second picture! Would it not be a problem having so many boxes so close together?
murph, we dont have any birds that look as bright as those have there. Do you attract them to your property, or did they come before you placed a box?
BTW, I found a website that has drawings to make a Peterson box here
murph, we dont have any birds that look as bright as those have there. Do you attract them to your property, or did they come before you placed a box?
BTW, I found a website that has drawings to make a Peterson box here
thcri
Gone But Not Forgotten
Mith said:
I put up about three Peterson boxes last spring. Got a family of blue's right away as they were my target. My wife and I saw them a couple of miles from our house the summer before and I just thought, hey give her a try. About when the first family was half way through their first batch of young the Tree Swallows showed up and made a nest in the one my boxes that were empty. At the time I didn't even know what a Tree Swallow was and had to wait until the nest was built to figure it out. This year I am sure I will have up to 6 families of blu's and probably 4 families of the Tree Swallows. The blu's will eat meal worms right off my deck so I get a pretty close shot of them. The Tree Swallows if I go up to the nest box mom will stick around until I get within 2 feet of the box.
As I said earlier, to see either one of these birds in flight is amazing especially if you can be up on a high deck like we high and see them from above.
murph
Murph, any photos of your birdhouses?
Is the plan that Mith posted the type you used? What type of mounting requirements are there, do they have to face a specific direction (for example south to pick up the summer sun or maybe east to prevent the prevailing westerly winds from entering the entry hole). Do you position high on a tree? Or low on a pole? What about the surrounding area, some birds like to be in the woods, some on margins along fields.
If I want to attract these birds I presume there is a specific set of requirements that is a lot more specific than just the shape of the birdhouse????
Is the plan that Mith posted the type you used? What type of mounting requirements are there, do they have to face a specific direction (for example south to pick up the summer sun or maybe east to prevent the prevailing westerly winds from entering the entry hole). Do you position high on a tree? Or low on a pole? What about the surrounding area, some birds like to be in the woods, some on margins along fields.
If I want to attract these birds I presume there is a specific set of requirements that is a lot more specific than just the shape of the birdhouse????
thcri
Gone But Not Forgotten
B_Skurka said:
Bob,
I used the pattern that Mith has posted. There is many different boxes you can use, bluebirds and tree swallows are cavity nesters. The Peteson box is the one used with the most success. And there is couple of different varieties of it. I have pictures of my blu's but never really took pics of the box. In a couple of the pics you can kind of see the box on the pole.(well maybe not so good) I had it on a wood pole but reading found that is not good as snakes and raccoons will get to the eggs. So this fall I took down the wood post and put on an 8ft fence post. As far as direction one is facing west, one is facing south. Blu's like the open but like trees by so they can watch their box during the day. So having open area works best for both blu's and tree swallows. Blu's are also territorial and boxes have to be kept apart a minimum of 300 feet and at that range can't be facing each other or one can not see the other.
Here is some links.
North American Bluebird Society.
Louisiana Blue Birds
Minnesota Blue Bird Recovery Program
Indiana Blue Bird Society
I can go on and on with links. The above ones are my most favorite ones to visit when I have nothing to do.
Some pics attached. Look close
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thcri
Gone But Not Forgotten
Bob,
If your going to put up boxes you have to be prepared to do the monitoring and helping out with the predators. I had three boxes up and did not have them placed right as I put them up with no reading or researching. This summer I have a couple of neighbors that are allowing me to put up boxes and I will have them twinned to attract the Tree Swallows also but will end up with approx 8 boxes. They have to be checked once a week at a max. And the hard thing I had to learn to do was to eliminate all House Sparrows. House Sparrows love to kill just about any other bird in the area as long as it thinks something is invading it's area. Some people even put cams in their nest boxes and have witness the House Sparrow coming in the box and killing the blue for the box. House wrens like to use the box also and will poke holes in the eggs. So there is things you have to do like putting up sparrow spookers and wren guards. I have a live trap and have caught and destroyed over 30 House Sparrows this year. If you don't take care of the house sparrows then don't put up boxes as you are setting the blu's up for death.
But I sure had fun watching them, tracking egg hatch, fledging etc this summer. There is even software out there to help you track and for reporting if you wish to do that. The screened box you see the blu's are in is a meal worm feeder. The first family would come around even if I was within 5 feet of the feeder. The second family wouldn't come close. So they each have their own characteristics. Any other questions just ask, don't know if I can help you but can lead and learn in the process. There even is a email based forum that I belong to and it is fun to read the posts. It is not an open forum like FF but it works.
murph
One more pic.
If your going to put up boxes you have to be prepared to do the monitoring and helping out with the predators. I had three boxes up and did not have them placed right as I put them up with no reading or researching. This summer I have a couple of neighbors that are allowing me to put up boxes and I will have them twinned to attract the Tree Swallows also but will end up with approx 8 boxes. They have to be checked once a week at a max. And the hard thing I had to learn to do was to eliminate all House Sparrows. House Sparrows love to kill just about any other bird in the area as long as it thinks something is invading it's area. Some people even put cams in their nest boxes and have witness the House Sparrow coming in the box and killing the blue for the box. House wrens like to use the box also and will poke holes in the eggs. So there is things you have to do like putting up sparrow spookers and wren guards. I have a live trap and have caught and destroyed over 30 House Sparrows this year. If you don't take care of the house sparrows then don't put up boxes as you are setting the blu's up for death.
But I sure had fun watching them, tracking egg hatch, fledging etc this summer. There is even software out there to help you track and for reporting if you wish to do that. The screened box you see the blu's are in is a meal worm feeder. The first family would come around even if I was within 5 feet of the feeder. The second family wouldn't come close. So they each have their own characteristics. Any other questions just ask, don't know if I can help you but can lead and learn in the process. There even is a email based forum that I belong to and it is fun to read the posts. It is not an open forum like FF but it works.
murph
One more pic.
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elsmitro
floppy member
Thanks, I know my wood working skills are pretty sad but these are usually projects for spending time with my boys (and they think these look good). You have seen purple martin houses before haven’t you? It’s based on that concept, just made it up as I went along. The point of all the rooms is not to have them all full at one time but to have room for the birds second nesting cycle. Some birds (including purple martins) will nest twice a summer and don’t want to spend all that time in one room, so they move to a different one. None of the holes on the brown house are big enough for martins, because I wasn’t planning on putting it in a good location for martins and I didn’t want starlings moving in. Just put up as many different ones as you can. You are more likely than not to have someone move in, and if you’re lucky you will get a few spare minutes during the summer to watch and enjoy.Mith said:
(If you look hard, just above the obvious martin house you can see the corner of another one on the hill behind it, and it’s got a bat house on the pole with it.)
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thcri
Gone But Not Forgotten
Mith said:
In our area each box will get two to three mating adults per year. Once the first pair have their babies fledge they will move on to another box. They won't hatch a second set in the same box. As soon as I know the babies have fledged I have to remove the nest so another family can move in. This last year I got two families. The first family would be waiting all the time for me and would let me within 5 feet of them. The second family would not come around unless I was back in the house and then they would wait for 20 minutes before they would come to the feeder. Now I am told the same families will come back next year. So my first family should be tame and the second not so tame. But it will be different because I will have a lot more boxes up and I should have a lot more blu's coming to the feeder.
I have a lot more pictures but the pretty much the same as the others. This year I also have binoculars that I did not have last year. One box hopefully will have a small camera in it so I can't watch what goes on inside the box.
murph
thcri said:
that is a nice birdhouse. Looks like it keeps the squirrels out and has a solid covering so the rain dosent clump the food!
thcri
Gone But Not Forgotten
working woman said:
The screened in box on top of my deck that you see the birds on are the feeder. I have a Peteron box but you can not see it very well in the pictures. Maybe if I get home earlier enough from work I can go out and take a picture. But the screen box is only a feeder.
murph
thcri said:
sorry, still not thinking straight. I was refering to the bird feeder. At one time I was an avid bird feeder. Had six feeders in my courtyard in NC, had a hard time finding a feeder that had a covering and kept the critters out that didnt cost a nice chunk of change. I eventually filtered down to one cause the others were a pain to clean once the food got wet and moldy.
What about Purple Martins? Don't those eat mosquitoes too?
I think they use a different type of house. My dad had a "Purple Martin" house (at least that is what he called it). I think it had 12 houses grouped together on a tall pole. 6 houses had openings on one side, 6 on the other. The pole was about 15' tall with the house on top of it and it was positioned away from the trees.
ww . . . I used to feed birds too. Then I realized that it was drawing all sorts of racoons into my yard. After my dogs killed 3 or 4 racoons in one year I finally figured out that if I moved the bird feeder to a different spot that the racoons would stay out of the dogs fenced area. (I'm slow, I admit it). But the new spot was not easily seen from the window and so we didn't enjoy it and I eventually gave up on feeding.
I think they use a different type of house. My dad had a "Purple Martin" house (at least that is what he called it). I think it had 12 houses grouped together on a tall pole. 6 houses had openings on one side, 6 on the other. The pole was about 15' tall with the house on top of it and it was positioned away from the trees.
ww . . . I used to feed birds too. Then I realized that it was drawing all sorts of racoons into my yard. After my dogs killed 3 or 4 racoons in one year I finally figured out that if I moved the bird feeder to a different spot that the racoons would stay out of the dogs fenced area. (I'm slow, I admit it). But the new spot was not easily seen from the window and so we didn't enjoy it and I eventually gave up on feeding.
Mith there are specific sizes for the holes in bird boxes, depends on what you are trying to attract. I am having my house demolished at the moment (well it seems like it) and it is difficult to find anything, but I will have a look tomorrow for the information. I can't look tonight as not much of the house has any electricity and the builders seem to have booby trapped the place so it is much to dangerous to go looking in the dark. In the mean time you might like to have a look on the RSPB site, I rather think that they give sizes. Bird tables are a different matter, if it is not lashing with rain tomorrow I will photograph one that my Dad made, I have restored it and it is now under the eave of the house to protect it from the weather.
I started out using bluebird boxes with the traditional round entrance hole. Keeping sparrows and starlings away from them was a constant problem, so I started reading at various sites. Decided to try a variation using a slot entrance.
http://www.nabluebirdsociety.org/dandr.htm
Mine are crudely built from 2x6 lumber scraps; the thickness of the lumber helps to provide insulation from the summer sun and doesn't warp as badly as thinner materials. The bluebirds adapted to the slot opening immediately, and I've watched sparrows approach the entrance but for some reason they don't go in. Don't know if they can't or just won't. I've given all of my other boxes away and gone with the slot entrance type here, but your bluebirds may have differing needs.
An older neighbor down the road told me that he's noticed the bluebirds will hatch three sets of babies in a year. According to him, the fledglings from the first set will remain with the parents and help to take care of the nest and watch over the eggs for the second hatching. Then the new fledglings stay with the group and all assist with the next hatching. It was interesting to hear, but I haven't verified it myself, although I have noticed 10-12 bluebirds around the box nearest our den window in the later part of the year.
http://www.nabluebirdsociety.org/dandr.htm
Mine are crudely built from 2x6 lumber scraps; the thickness of the lumber helps to provide insulation from the summer sun and doesn't warp as badly as thinner materials. The bluebirds adapted to the slot opening immediately, and I've watched sparrows approach the entrance but for some reason they don't go in. Don't know if they can't or just won't. I've given all of my other boxes away and gone with the slot entrance type here, but your bluebirds may have differing needs.
An older neighbor down the road told me that he's noticed the bluebirds will hatch three sets of babies in a year. According to him, the fledglings from the first set will remain with the parents and help to take care of the nest and watch over the eggs for the second hatching. Then the new fledglings stay with the group and all assist with the next hatching. It was interesting to hear, but I haven't verified it myself, although I have noticed 10-12 bluebirds around the box nearest our den window in the later part of the year.
