I maintain a Bluebird "walk" on my 5.5 acres plus the 30 or so surrounding it. I have about 20 boxes; and about 10 of them attract bluebirds every year. The rest get occupied by English Sparrows, an introduced species. When I discover them nesting, I open the box, discard the nest and leave the box open the rest of the season. They need no assistance from me. They are based on the original design by Chandler Robinson, a noted Bluebird expert. This is a front view:
This is a side view:
This is the bottom view:
Dimmensions:
Back: 16"x5.5"
Front: 10"x5.5"
Sides: 4"x10.5" (rear) x 10" (front)
Bottom 4"x4" (Chamfer the corners for drainage)
Top: 5.5" x long enough to shade the hole (I nibble out half the thickness from its end to the top of the front to allow the front to open smoothly. Note the hinge on the bottom. I also match the angle between the back and sides for a tight fit - about 15 Deg..
Entry hole: 1.5" diameter, centered horizontally and 2" from top of front.
Drill 3 or more 1/4" holes about 1" from top of sides for ventillation.
In this one the front is secured with 1.5" #6 Gal bugle head screws. When I'm feeling fancy, I use brass hooks and eyes.
Wood: I use whatever I can recycle - this one's southern yellow pine. Discarded wooden pallets are a handy free source.
I forgot; that extra piece on the frontis an experiment. It forms a "tunnel" that is supposed to make less attractive to competetive nesters and other critters.
Enjoy
This message was edited Mar 5, 2004 8:22 PM
Thank you Bob.
Thanks, Bob. Sounds better (and cheaper!) than the store-bought houses.
On the 15º angle on the sides... If the lumber is S4S, shouldn't that give a tight seal?
OK, Darius, you got me. What is S4S? I match the angle just to make the roof fit better (and look better). If I cut the back end of the roof square, there will be a V-shaped notch where it butts up against the back. This would trap water. Not a good thing.
Sorry... S4S is the industry's shorthand for 'surfaced on 4 sides'...
Ah! NOW I understand where you use the bevel.
Thanks for the info, Darius. I'm now am better educated!! Who'd think you'd learn about lumber jargon on a gardening site? I love it. BTW, recycled wooden skids are definitely not S4S. My table saw and surface planer get a work-out when I use that stuff. Got the idea from Norm Abram on the New Yankee Workshop.
Bob, I'd love to have a good planer. Cannot do a very good job with my 3" portable. If I end up buying a place that requires some building, I'll invest in one, though, and probably a joiner too. Many sawmills around here. :)
Question, Bob: Is the entry hole 2" measurement down from the top to the top edge of the 1-1/2" entry hole, or to the center of the entry hole?
The center, Darius.
Thanks.
thank you so much! I have one box in my yard that I bought, I wanted to build a few more. Last year I had 2 sets of Bluebirds build in my box. I am tickled they have returned this year.
Bob, do you ever cut a "ladder" on the inside of the front piece? I saw a bluebird house (retail) that had that feature, which makes it easier for the fledglings to climb out for their first test flight.
It looked to be a series of saw cuts at perhaps 1/2 inch increments. I thought using my chop box and being careful not to cut too deep might work.
What do you think?
I've seen that done, Darius; and I don't think hurts anything. One thing you don't want to do is put anything on the outside that might make easier for other birds to perch and do damage. You ought to see a bluebird fairly dive through the hole. Starlings don't do that; but if they can perch near the hole, they'll do it; and peck the heck out of the rightful residents. Do you have a table saw? Using one to make the ladder might be easier.
My table saw is in storage. All I have here are hand (elec) tools and my chop box, which is 12" and compound.
I had bluebirds 2 years ago at my other house. One clutch fledged and after laying a second batch of eggs, the birds abandoned the house. I found one egg on the ground, broken. Never did figure what really happened.
Some predator got in there for sure. Black snakes are particularly nasty and hard to deter.
Bob, I thought it might have been a black snake.
My neighbor here told me she's seen bluebirds, so I'm going to try and finish the house I'm building today and get it put up. Plus, a feeder for mealworms if I have enough cedar.
I ended up putting the rough-sawn side inside. Should give enough surface to 'grip'.
Would you post a photo? I'd love to see your handywork!!
Sorry... forgot to make a note to self to post a photo!
It's not as nice looking as yours, but having very few tools here made it a challenge.
Here's a feeder box for mealworms. I didn't make this one, but will copy it.
Your bluebird house is marvelous. You ought to see my first attempts!! Only the bluebirds think they're nice looking. A small favor - could you measure up the feeder and post the dimmensions? I'd like to build one, and others may as well.
Have a joyous Easter!
Bob
Sure, Bob. I'll try to take it down and measure today. I've thought I'd like to build one with glass/plexiglas on both sides, not just the front.
Here's the dimensions of the Bluebird Feeder. I'm using mealworms, but I understand you cal also add a few raisins. Do you know? I'm also told that in the beginning, you should open the top until the bluebirds get the hang of finding food inside.
Looking at the front:
The bottom is 12-1/2" wide including the "rails" which are 1x2 material tacked onto the bottom piece.
The back is 7-1/4" wide and 10" tall
The sides are 6-1/4" wide and 6" tall, with a 1-1/2" hole
The top is 7-1/4" wide and 8" from back to front.
The glass just sits in a saw kerf in the side pieces, not the bottom. The bottom of the glass is held in by a piece 3/4" x 3/4".
Darius -
How do the birds eat? Do they actually enter the holes in the sides?
Would this be appropriate for other species?
Thanks,
Julie
Julie, they must enter the holes on the sides... I haven't had the lid up, and all the mealworms are gone in a few hours. The male bluebirds take the worms back to the nesting female, and later they both take the mealworms to the babies.
The hole is sized just for bluebirds.
Edited to say I put in more mealworms a few minutes ago, and watched the feeder box from inside. I saw both a male and then a female on the top of the box, but they flew away. Maybe I spooked them through the window close-by.
This message was edited Apr 10, 2004 8:55 AM
Thanks, Darius. This will make a nice project. But the garden comes first! I confess I've never fed bluebirds exclusively so I can't answer your questions. I did find some information here
http://audubon-omaha.org/bbbox/ljrecipe.htm
Hi Bob--I looked at your BB house thread again since we are getting organized to make a bluebird walk in our area....you seem to have some good luck and good experience with them...
wondered if you had BBs again this summer and if they stay thru the winter in MD or migrate south? Any updates?
found Darius' Audobon BB site full of good information. I mixed up some batches of the 'BB banquet' recipe and that's a start I guess but I think we need some houses and meal worms...
read on another site that thanks to BB habitat providers (like you) the eastern BB is really making a comeback from endangered status! Thanks!
How often do those of you who have bluebird boxes experience loss of baby bluebirds?
I had my husband take my three bluebird boxes down a year ago because I lost a brood of baby bluebirds that were almost raised after the parents just up and disappeared. We managed to save only one baby out of four by taking it to a wildlife rehabilitator.
In the six years I have had boxes, I have had baby bluebirds freeze to death when the weather took a cold and wet turn in May, and I have had English Sparrows toss them out of the box. This is really upsetting to me, but I found that I missed them a great deal this summer and I am thinking about putting the boxes back up.
Grateful for any insight you might share about brood loss.....
Good thread. I have 7 bluebird nest boxes, all commercial, not as good with saws etc. as some of you. After having two and 3 pairs of birds in past years I was very disappointed not to have any this past summer. Saw one male early in season, never saw him again or any others. I don't know why. I did really enjoy feeding them, have a couple of mealworm or whatever feeders like the one Darius posted. I could call them and they would come flying in for their worms.
Also only had one pair of Tree Swallows, and a male wren came and built a couple of nests then left and none came back. I can't think of any reason for all the missing birds. Donna
Tabasco,
We had an excellent brood this summer and the usual crop of interlopers I described in my first post. They flock up and remain here all winter unless it's a very hard winter.
IndaShade,
I'm really surprized to hear of English Sparrows evicting a brood. I've seen starlings try it, however.
bob--do you feed bluebirds in winter or do they find their own food? t.
T, Depends on the severity of the weather. We've had 2 mild winters here so I haven't been feeding. If I ever get caught up on my must do list, I'm going to build a meal worm feeder like Darius has. Retirement can't come too soon! 3 years and counting.
Does anyone here use Sparrow Spookers to keep The English House Sparrows from getting in and attacking the Blue Birds?
Actually, the English Sparrows are how I ended up with a third Bluebird box. I found that if I let them have the box in the middle (which they seemed to prefer), they left the boxes on either side of them alone and the Bluebird (or Barn Swallow) parents could raise their babies in relative peace.
Never heard of a Sparrow Spooker. I know some people trap them and destroy them, but that's out of the question for me. I'm the one who picks up worms off the road after a rain and puts them back in the garden! LOL!
Hi IndaShade,
The sparrow spookers are actually very effective in helping deter the English House Sparrows.
Here's a really good site with information for all kinds of English House Sparrow control and management ideas to suit everyone's comfort level.
www.sialis.org
This message was edited Dec 16, 2008 6:14 PM
Well now, those suggestions about "disabling" the English Sparrow eggs are darned good ideas! I don't have a problem with doing that. I know you're not supposed to let the little buggers breed, but sometimes it really seemed to be the only way to keep the backyard wars and bloodshed to a minimum.
For the last several years I have tried to "run interference" by removing the nests the sparrows were building when they were about 1/3 of the way done. This only worked for a little while though, as I inevitably got busy doing something else and the next thing I knew, I would hear peeping coming from the sparrow nest box.
I had also thought about getting little fake eggs at the craft store that looked similar to a sparrow's egg, but I was afraid they would somehow "know" that they weren't real eggs and move on to one of the other occupied nest boxes.
My husband has pointed out, and rightly so, that I have successfully fledged more broods of bluebirds than I have lost. But it's so darned upsetting when things don't go the way they're supposed to!
