Gilbertson PVC Bluebird House with Babies

7-5-2014

[@CrixJoki]

ahw, they are sooo small! :D I have acctually never seen baby birds, thank you for sharing that :)

[@chadtimmons4992]

You are welcome. Thanks for posting. Chad

[@natureshared]

What made you choose this type of box? I am seeing this type come up to discourage house sparrows.

[@theschoolpsych]

Sparrows will still use it. But the blue birds really love them! They’re easy to check the status of the bluebirds, they’re easy to trap sparrows in if you are into that, and they’re easy to clean and remove the nest once the baby blue birds have flown away. They also provide good ventilation for the baby bluebirds, keep rain out, and look like an actual tree bark, which the bluebirds love. One way to tell if a sparrow has started to build a nest is to check the nest and if it has a lot of grass and feathers in it that is a sparrow nest. It’s very easy to dump it out and frustrate the sparrows. Hopefully they will eventually go away. A bluebird nest will typically have only Pineneedles. At least in our area. So I just keep dumping the sparrow nest out until they go away. Chad

[@natureshared]

@@theschoolpsych Great & Quick response, thank you!!! I bought 2 boxes from Wild Birds Unlimited in 2015, a cedar & a recycled material. They have had 9 nests in them from 2015-2019. I use the recycled for the first spring nest, because it seems warmer and more water repellant. Then I use the cedar during the hotter summer months, believing it's cooler, more breathable. In 2019 there were so many bothersome birds in my yard (Sparrows, Jays, Mockingbirds) that I didn't even put out the box in 2020, they ended up nesting in a Sweet Gum Tree on my street. The city has since cut it down due to a disease, so now I feel obligated to put back out my boxes in 2021, but not before being ahead of the sparrow problem. with advice like yours, maybe I'll be prepared. Check out my Bluebird video kzbin.info/www/bejne/g2jWf5qDqqZpnNk

[@theschoolpsych]

@@natureshared I don’t know if you can notice in the video but I actually have three of these bluebird boxes right in a row. What actually happens pretty much every year is sparrows start to nest in the one on the left and then the bluebirds choose the one in the middle or the right. Usually the middle. So that’s how I have control of my sparrow problem. Once the sparrows start to nest in the one, I keep dumping out the nest as it is being built over and over again. I do it to frustrate the sparrows and also so they don’t hatch any eggs. All the while the blue birds are doing just fine in the middle one. The reason I like these bluebird boxes is because it’s so easy to pop it off and just dump the sparrow nest out on the ground. It’s satisfying knowing that I am thwarting the sparrows efforts to build their nest while the bluebirds are doing fine in the one next to it LOL. I’ve also had tree swallows nest in these boxes and have allowed them because they are nice cool birds too. And one year I had a house wren build a nest in there which was really cool! The way to know it’s a house wrens nest is it will be all tiny little wood sticks.

[@natureshared]

@@theschoolpsych I watched again and couldn't see all 3 but that is a great idea that seems to be working. I have read not to put Bluebird boxes to close together, so that the Bluebirds don't fight with one another, so I have never tried 2 in my backyard, because it's small. But I can see you're on to something ;)