Bird house making is really easy as long as you love what you are doing.
It is also an effective way to make your house – as well as you – feel
chirpy and bright in the morning. Believe it or not, nothing beats having
birds outside your homes. The following are tips and advice to make the
dream bird house that you always imagined you would have. Also included are
the ways and methods of appropriately setting up the bird houses.
First things first, the point of bird houses is to bring in birds.
Attracting them however is just half of the story, it is making them return
as much as they possibly could, that is the challenge. Hopefully, the
following guidelines will work.
Have a roof that is hinged
Providing a roof that is hinged on the sides is an effective way for you to
make house cleaning a lot easier especially during the spring. Spring
cleaning during the early weeks of March is a good idea. As much as
possible, use hinges that are rust proof. Remember that animals such as
raccoons are able to open an eye and a hook.
Place appropriate ventilation
Drill four drain holes that measure about one fourth inch in every bird
house's bottom. Also, add two five eighth hole ventilations on the top of
each house's side.
Place a roof
Provide a bird house roof that has at least an overhang of two inches in the
bird house's front in order to protect the hole's entrance from rain that is
driven by wind as well as to prevent animals like cats from reaching inside.
Also, the sides of the bird house should be enclosed towards the floor in
order to keep the rain from having to seep inside the bird house nest.
Try to recess the bird house floor about one fourth of an inch from the
bird house's bottom in order to prevent it from rotting as caused by the
moisture.
Bird house perches
Believe it or not, putting perches on the bird house is a no-no. The birds
that do appreciate and do perch are the starlings and the sparrows. For bird
houses of song birds, keep the holes of the entrance about an inch and three
eights inch small in order to keep the house sparrows and starlings out. Of
course, the exception are the purple martins.
How should the bird houses be spaced?
If there are other bird houses or boxes near, they should therefore be
spaced appropriately about twenty five feet far from each other. Houses for
bluebirds meanwhile require about three hundred feet. The space is important
in order to reduce any conflicts. Another reason for this is because a lot
of birds are actually territorial and so protecting the area around the
bird's nest is important. The exception to this are mergansers, wood ducks
and goldeneye. Putting their bird houses close to each other is okay.
Purple martins meanwhile prefer to live in bird colonies and so apartment
bird houses is their specific preference and not single family bird houses.
What kind of material is best for bird
houses?
The best to use is wood. As much as possible, avoid lumber that is treated
with pressure because once wet, it excretes vapors that poisons birds. Using
preservatives like stain or paint could be used on the box's outside,
especially the back. Using the chemical preservative creosote should also be
avoided.
Try not to use cartons of milk, can tins, metal. These materials could
overheat and destroy the bird eggs as well as the bird younglings. An
exception however are the commercial martin aluminum bird houses.
Be careful with uninvited guests such as mice, wasps, bees or squirrels.
Once found, remove them as soon as possible. Be careful though as such
animals could sting and hurt you.
All in all, making a bird houses is not simply hammering and pasting one
material to another. It requires as delicate a care as creating an actual
house or room for a human being.
