Bluebirds!

[Dave Zellers]

So a week ago, both my dental hygienist AND my dentist were talking about the bluebirds that visit and or live in their yards. So now I'm all about building a couple BB houses. I have plans and the basics of what they like, but just thought I'd check in here and see if anyone has had any success doing the same. We're talking Eastern Bluebirds. One of the key points seem to be no perch and specific hole size of around 1 1/2".

Any other tips? I know I've got to get moving on this ASAP. Even though right now it's hard to tell the difference here between Feburary and March. At least for me. For the bluebirds probably not so much. I know the squirrells are getting awfully frisky all of a sudden.

[Ted Calver]

Finished two last week using these plans.
497502. Made round entrance hole in one and oblong in the other, made the roof a bit bigger than the plans, added a white oak predator guard and used whatever deck screws I had on hand. Put some deck stain on the outside. Used galvanized stove pipe from Lowe's as a squirrel guard, sprayed the guards flat black and mounted the houses on top of a T-post. Had customers the second day! Best way to attract Bluebirds to your yard is to put out meal worms and have plenty of water.
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Incidentally, my bird store had something like this (https://www.duncraft.com/T-Post-Mounting-Plate) for mounting the house on the T-post. No affiliation. Working great.

[Dave Zellers]

Great- I assume the kerfs below the entrance hole on the inside are for the BB to grip onto? I like it- haven't seen that before. Is the mounting height above ground critical?

[John K Jordan]

I’ve made some very simple ones and they are always used. A few points:
- You have to provide a way to open to clean out. I simply put a small hinge on the back of the slanted roof.
- The material can be anything - I used rough-sawn 4/4 pine or cedar
- The entrance hole must be the proper diameter or they won’t use it.
- Some other birds will enlarge the hole. A sheet metal reinforcement (ring) will stop that.
- Raccoons will reach in the entrance hole and grab the eggs and young. I stopped that by putting some on a galvanized pole they had trouble climbing. I also added a 4” cylinder of hardware cloth extending from the entrance (a little larger diameter than the entrance hole. Raccoons can’t bend their joints to reach to the bottom. This was especially helpful when the house was mounted on a tree, wooden pole, or side of the barn, something that raccoons could easily climb.
- The simplest mounting I found was a flange from HD, threaded for the pipe pole and with 4 holes for screws to fasten to the bottom of the box.
- The birds start scouting for nesting places early so the boxes should be out then. In TN that means Jan, Feb at the latest. Some may find it later so better to put out late than wait till next year. This year I watched several pairs around our farm in early Feb.
- Bluebird couples may raise several broods in the same house in one season.

The houses are great and highly recommended but I’ve seen them nest elsewhere. One year a pair built a nest on a ledge on one of our porches! I sat quietly in a chair and watched them often, One day the little ones were out of the nest exploring the ledge. I got my camera and was lucky enough to get a picture of one taking its 1st flight! They would experiment with flying and landing on things on the porch. In 5 minutes they were all gone for good!


So a week ago, both my dental hygienist AND my dentist were talking about the bluebirds that visit and or live in their yards. So now I'm all about building a couple BB houses. I have plans and the basics of what they like, but just thought I'd check in here and see if anyone has had any success doing the same. We're talking Eastern Bluebirds. One of the key points seem to be no perch and specific hole size of around 1 1/2".

Any other tips? I know I've got to get moving on this ASAP. Even though right now it's hard to tell the difference here between Feburary and March. At least for me. For the bluebirds probably not so much. I know the squirrells are getting awfully frisky all of a sudden.

[Eugene Dixon]

Ted,

Please, how did you mount the galvanized pipe?

TIA

[Lee Schierer]

I mount my bluebird houses on 2 x 4 posts. I also slide a 3 foot or longer piece of 4" PVC drain pipe over the post to prevent raccoons from climbing the post. The sheet metal shield suggested by John are a good idea. Red Squirrels love to eat the eggs and will even nest in the boxes after enlarging the holes.

If you use S4S lumber be sure to rough up the inside surface below the entrance hole so the young birds can get out. You can do this with saw kerfs or by attaching 1/4" hardware cloth to the inside.

[roger wiegand]

For me they key to success after 25 years of various failed efforts was the installation of proper guards on the posts. I tried them all and lost many nests. Since implementing this plan we've fledged 14 of 15 nests successfully over the last five years. A hawk got my mama bluebird last spring, the only failure. Snakes, even in MA, turn out to be a real problem. Keys for success of this are 1) use an 8" pipe-- big snakes can climb smaller pipes easily. 4" pipe that many sites recommend is near useless; 2) the top needs to be screened with well-fitting hardware cloth, such that the snake can see light up the inside of the pole. If they can see light they will continue to try to climb the center pole, hit the hardware cloth and stop. If there's no light they will persist in trying to climb the outside of the pipe. A little snake psychology.

Your house will last longer if you reinforce the opening. I buy 1-1/2" stainless steel washers from McMaster, drill a couple holes and mount them on top of the opening. Really discourages chewing critters.

Be prepared and committed to deal with the invasive English house sparrows. An unmonitored nest box is worse than no nest box at all. I let them lay a few eggs then destroy the nest and eggs to try to exhaust their reproductive capacity. A pellet gun can also be an aide. The house sparrows will kill your bluebirds if you don't keep an eye on them. Be sure you know how to identify the invasive birds and eggs! Lots of protected and desirable birds will use the nest boxes, and I welcome them. I have six boxes for the bluebirds to choose from though my meadow will only support one nesting pair. The other boxes fill with wrens, swallows, and occasional other visitors, all of whom I'm happy to see.

I have a powerpoint presentation for a talk I give on keys to bluebird success in MA I can email to anyone who would like a copy.

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[Jeff Ramsey]

I found that the Peterson design is the best. We get bluebirds in our Peterson houses every year.

[Maurice Mcmurry]

Dad can always pick a successful location to put a Bluebird house. They like a field or big open space with a wire or tree branch to sit on that provides a view of the birdhouse.

[John TenEyck]

Roger is right. Only one pair will nest in a small meadow. I could not attract any when I had two boxes up. The first year I removed one box I had a nesting pair. Beautiful little birds to watch. They like open spaces and wires or posts to sit on. I mounted the box on a 6 ft metal stake, the kind used for wire mesh fencing. I've haven't noticed snakes or racoons being a problem, but other birds have been. They peck out the holes if not reinforced and take over.

The bluebird is the state bird of NY.

John

[Maurice Mcmurry]

Roger is right. Only one pair will nest in a small meadow. I could not attract any when I had two boxes up. The first year I removed one box I had a nesting pair. Beautiful little birds to watch. They like open spaces and wires or posts to sit on. I mounted the box on a 6 ft metal stake, the kind used for wire mesh fencing. I've haven't noticed snakes or racoons being a problem, but other birds have been. They peck out the holes if not reinforced and take over.

The bluebird is the state bird of NY.

John

Missouri Has the Eastern Bluebird as State Bird too.
Sparrows will peck the eyes out of baby Bluebirds. It is infuriating. I am generally against killing wild animals. I do drop a few sparrows with the BB gun if they are picking on the Bluebirds.

[John Ziebron]

Although there is some debate on this subject but the general concensus seems to be a minimum of 100 yards apart for bluebird houses. And if you have the land 200-300 yards is better.

[Ted Calver]

Ted,
Please, how did you mount the galvanized pipe?
TIA

Eugene, I'm fortunate to have two very good bird supply stores near me. One a franchise and the other privately owned. We've been buying supplies from the privately owned store for thirty years and the owner (Jim) has been very helpful. I buy a collar like this (https://naturehouseinc.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=234_77_169&products_id=1172&zenid=2i708nhdcb75nccgdkh6pgp745) that slips over mounting poles and holds the galvanized pipe guard losely in place. The snap together pipe and the tops are sold separately and the top press fits into the tube (https://www.acehardware.com/departments/heating-and-cooling/chimney-and-flue/stove-pipe-caps/47675). I use stainless steel screws to hold the top in position, first using a bimetal hole saw to make a hole in the center of the top just large enough to fit over the T-post/pole. These latest tops were pretty flimsy and I ended up having to run a bead of solder around the edge to reinforce the joint. Attach the collar to the post/pole, slip the pipe guard assembly over the post and let it sit loosely on the collar. I think some wobble helps to keep the critters off. 8" pipe is best in raccoon territory. Unfortunately my Lowes was out of stock so I ended up with 6" guards.
"

[Ted Calver]

Great- I assume the kerfs below the entrance hole on the inside are for the BB to grip onto? I like it- haven't seen that before. Is the mounting height above ground critical?

My bird guy says 5-6' is best because other birds don't like nesting close to the ground, but the bluebirds are OK with it.

[Christopher Charles]

A good a worthy project! Lots of good info above, will add this:

https://www.audubon.org/news/how-build-bluebird-nest-box

[John K Jordan]

Only one pair will nest in a small meadow. I could not attract any when I had two boxes up. …

This is my experience too. Fortunately our 27 acres has about 10 acres of grass fields in 5 separate areas, one field 1000’ long, and some neighboring pastures adjacent to some of our wooded areas. I’ve got a few boxes up now but this is inspires me to make some more for next year. We could probably support a couple dozen!

Another thing on my “list” is to build a couple of good bat houses. After several years lull I’m finally seeing a resurgence of bats in last two years. I love watching them cavort over the fields in the evenings. I suspect the mosquitoes don’t like them as much.

JKJ

[Dave Zellers]

Wow- so much great info! I'm thinking I may have missed the timing though. Especially since I can't drop everything and do them right now. Well it will give me time to do a better job and make a couple for my daughter for next year. She will love them.

[Ted Calver]

Don't give up too soon, Dave. They do several broods a season.

[Dave Zellers]

Yeah it's bugging me I didn't act on this sooner. I think what I'll do is knock out a couple quick ones and see what happens. A good way to use up some leftover cedar.

[roger wiegand]

You've still got a couple weeks for the first nesting, but ours routinely do three clutches in a season. When we lost one pair last year another pair moved in promptly even though it was well into May. We try to provide pretty high quality environment.

With regard to multiples, it is actually recommended, by the Bluebird Society and Cornell Nestwatch among others, to place the boxes in pairs about 10 ft apart. The bluebirds will pick the one they like and swallows or wrens will nest in the other. I've got three pairs of boxes in our meadow, typically we have one with bluebirds, two with wrens and one or two with swallows. Their territoriality doesn't extent to other species, and the second pair of birds will help defend the nesting area for both boxes. Over the last several years the bluebirds have used three of the boxes, with one a clear favorite. They also roost in the boxes over the winter-- half a dozen at a time-- so it's important to clean the boxes after the babies fledge to control mites and disease.

Another apparent rule is that the bluebirds never nest in the boxes that have nestcams in them-- but the wrens are little exhibitionists.

[Ted Calver]

Never say never. My local wildwings had two nest cams streaming live (https://www.facebook.com/wbuyorktown/videos/541654066342523/)in their bluebird houses today. Just ordered some blink cams.

[David M Peters]

I made my first bluebird houses this year, the X-Box design (http://nestboxbuilder.com/nestbox-article-xbox.html). It was a fun break from my eternal dining chair set project!

[Mike Stelts]

We've had success using the North American Bluebird Society 2020 design, similar to what's shown below. Be aware that there are a couple minor errors in the Bluebird Society drawing. The one I rememember is that it doesn't account for saw kerf size.

This winter, I made another 63 kits for a fundraiser and helped 15 4H students build their own using eastern cedar. Something to consider is that making a batch at once doesn't take much more time than making one.

[Stan Calow]

My recollection is that they prefer the opening to face East, but I could be confusing birds. I had never ever seen any in my yard until January, where I had five sitting perched on my (heated) birdbath. They checked out a couple of houses I had up but haven't seen them since.

[Bruce Wrenn]

I made my first bluebird houses this year, the X-Box design (http://nestboxbuilder.com/nestbox-article-xbox.html). It was a fun break from my eternal dining chair set project!

We use a similar design developed by blue birder here in NC.. The top over hangs sides, front and back, and is covered using roll aluminum flashing, dark side out. The door is hinged at the top, and held closed at the bottom by a piece of electric wire. There is a group locally that makes and sells blue bird house at the State Employees Credit Union branches for ten bucks each. They use scraps from a stair tread manufacturer.

[Keith Christopher]

I have officially learned more about bluebirds that I thought I needed to know. Really cool stuff. I often wonder how sometimes I build bird houses and nothing nests except spiders or bees. Seem I've been doing it wrong !

[roger wiegand]

My recollection is that they prefer the opening to face East, but I could be confusing birds. I had never ever seen any in my yard until January, where I had five sitting perched on my (heated) birdbath. They checked out a couple of houses I had up but haven't seen them since.

I have boxes facing each direction, as kind of an experiment. The most used boxes face west, the one that they've used a couple of other times face south. The east and north facing boxes have never gotten a bluebird. All the boxes have been used by wrens from time to time. It's a very small experiment though, so not very meaningful.

[Stan Calow]

Wow- so much great info! I'm thinking I may have missed the timing though. Especially since I can't drop everything and do them right now. Well it will give me time to do a better job and make a couple for my daughter for next year. She will love them.

Dave, I have been advised that bluebirds along with other birds need those birdhouses in the winter too, as a place of shelter. So I put some up last fall and at least one was used by some chickadees. In fact, one of the recommendations I read was to put some sawdust or other such material in them for insulation. So another use for planer shavings.

[Dave Zellers]

So I took the advice here and put what I was doing on hold to build 4 bluebird houses. About 6 hours over two days. Two for us and two for my daughter and her family.

497990

Her two will go out UPS tomorrow morning. My plant lights made the pic pink even tho you don't notice the pink in person.

Big thanks to all for their input!

[Maurice Mcmurry]

Good luck! Those look great! Coincidentally we had a pair in our back yard in town last week for the first time in 35 years. They were just passing thru, I watched them with binoculars for half an hour. We almost always have a pair out at the woodlot. I have not seen them yet this spring. Fingers crossed.

[roger wiegand]

Those look great!!


So I took the advice here and put what I was doing on hold to build 4 bluebird houses. About 6 hours over two days. Two for us and two for my daughter and her family.



Her two will go out UPS tomorrow morning. My plant lights made the pic pink even tho you don't notice the pink in person.

Big thanks to all for their input!

[Ted Calver]

Well done, Dave!!

[Dave Zellers]

So I sent two of the houses to my daughter and 2 days after putting them up, she sends me this:
498563

[Lee Schierer]

That is definitely a good sign. I have a pair checking out the four houses on our property.

[Dave Zellers]

I'll say! I'm jealous.

[Lee Schierer]

I'll say! I'm jealous.

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[Dave Zellers]

Very nice! We bought some suet and meal worms today. Here's hoping. :)