Gonna build a couple this weekend. Saw one today and it got me going.

Lot's of plans and placement instructions on the net.

Any pointers?

They used to nest between my weatherhead riser and meter globe base. I tacked them a house on the side of the shed and they use it now.

So much for that jive about 1-1/8” hole 5ft off the ground

seriously no pointers, our’s are not picky

Take out the kestrels.

Cool stuff... good luck. Post pics

This.

It's goshawks around here. And raccoons. I'll shoot one. Not the other.

I did a basic design and mounted on fence posts. They usually return every year

similar to this design, can lift up roof to clean out, Use cedar

https://www.bestnest.com/bestnest/R...gDIdijyltjq292glj0u-g4pUAEBoCv2cQAvD_BwE

i make them and put them all around my property. the sparrows compete with the bluebirds for them. learn to tell the difference in the nests and rip the sparrows out and shoot the sparrows if you get a chance. make them easy to clean out. nothing fancy, mine are about 6x6x12 with about a 1.5" hole. i make the roofs flat slightly sloped so water runs off them.

Take the hole saw bit & rough up the inside of entrance piece. Gives em a little purchase.

Out West we have some other critters that like them bluebirds

Lay in a supply of mealworms so you can feed them initially to help keep them there. 5-8' off the ground is fine. Hole size is critical so starlings can't get in. Inside of house needs rough lumber on board with the hole so babies can claw their way up and out the hole.

Not a whole lot of starlings or English sparrows around our place. Lots of other birds. Chickadees, etc. We have several violet green swallows around in the summer. I know they compete with bluebirds for nesting sites. Read that with tree swallows you're best to put a couple boxes very close to each other. That way blue birds will use one and the swallows the other. Not sure if that holds true for violet green swallow.

Ladies club in town started blue bird boxers years ago they have really done well.

Cool. I built a few out of old, 1x6 planks from a fence the neighbor tore down. They lasted a few years and the birds didn't seem to mind that they had been made from repurposed materials.

I've got some red cedar fence planks that I plan on using.

Seen a couple bull snakes down the hill on the Yamhill side. Never any up here.

Around here the violet greens will use the bluebird boxes Steve:





Matters not to me which one uses them. They're bug eaters and that makes me happy.

I wondered about that.

But one never knows.

I've been "raising" bluebirds for 31 years. I figure at least 350 have been fledged on my 5 acre property in that time. Along with tree swallows, chickadees and others. Never do have any sparrows. I build nest boxes using plans from the North American Bluebird Society, nabluebirdsociety.org. That's your best place for info. I had about a dozen bluebirds at my feeders today. This is the third year in a row I've had them overwinter here. They come and eat the suet. Get the nest boxes up as soon as you can!

A two liter bottle with the bottoms cut out solves the snake problems for us.
As for the Bull sparrows the 17 RFM solves their bullishness !

Thanks! That site is a wealth of info.

A single 1"x6"x6' piece of board can make 1 bluebird house. I found the pattern in a book called, "Woodworking for Wildlife," by Carroll Henderson. The hole size is somewhat important as too large of a hole can let starlings in and they are much more aggressive than bluebirds. Height is also important as too low or too high makes it more difficult to clean every fall and too low prevents keeping out squirrels and raccoons with a shield or tin wrapped around the post.

There are several bluebird house plans but the one above is the cheapest and simplest. Recommendations as to placing, height above ground, direction, competitor/predator control, and other factors are covered in the book. I've made dozens of the bluebird houses over the years as well as woodduck/kestrel, hawk, owl, and other houses.

Kestrels and bluebirds can coexist, one just has to put up a lot of bluebird houses! Actually, I don't think I have lost more than a handful of bluebirds to kestrels in any given year as the kestrels seem more attuned to mice and grasshoppers. It looks like I lose more bluebirds to shrikes based on the number of bluebirds I see hanging off barbed wire. Tree swallows use the nest boxes readily and it does help to put two boxes within 50'-60' feet of each other to reduce competition between birds. Face them at a little angle away from each other so the birds don't look directly at each other.

I've had as many as 150 houses up at a time but I'm down to about 60 now. Some were not used for some reason while others have had the post rot away or fall over. Others were allowed to fall into disrepair as it became too time consuming to keep them up. The boxes provide plenty of birds for entertainment.

I put a piece of shingle on the roof. One of the sides is screwed so that it
swings up by removing one screw. Gets used every year, probably 15 yrs.

My son use to make them and sell them at farmers markets. One #3 cedar fence picket is enough for one box, hinge the top with a hook and loop to count chicks or evict undesirables. The consensus at the time was 1 9/16" hole was best, 1 1/2" would wear on their feathers and 1 5/8" would favor starlings. Be careful about making posts like this, the bluebird crowd are more aggressive at recruiting than Mormons or Jehovahs.

I built one when I saw a kit at Home Depot or Lowes. Mounted it in my daughter's back yard. Had Bluebirds almost immediately. Very cool. When I visit we sit on her patio and watch the birds coming and going. Also put up a feeder.

Steve
I saw a male/female pair of W. Bluebirds on the OSU campus last week. Thought that was crazy early.
Swallows are already at the refuge here too . Not used to seeing them in town until St. Pattys Day usually. Off start..
Dan

I space mine out about 100 feet apart. on cedar posts . Boxes are used every year

Struggled for year to get them nesting in the yard...specialized boxes...you name it.

Added dried meal worm feeders...and in they came! Beautiful birds...enjoy them

http://www.nysbs.org/handouts/ThePetersonBox.pdf

I make the holes a little more narrow and taller. I mount them on metal poles and use a snake guard. I have a trail with 20 on the farm and one in my back yard, with a couple on the 6 acres up the road I have.

Watching them feed across a field from my deer stands is a favorite pastime.

I’ve build em of scraps.

Cedar or cypress.


I put some metal around the hole. Like copper or brass shim material.

Keeps squirrels from chewing and making the holes big.

Blue birds are my wife's favorite birds. We have 4 boxes on our property. All are used in the spring. There is an open death warrant for house sparrows with a no questions asked policy.the house sparrow will trap the blue bird in the nest box, and peck it to death. Then build a new nest right over the dead blue bird. if you want to draw/ help the birds over the winter put out dried meal worms. We have a gang of about a 12 to 14 birds that will perch in the tree above the feeder and wait for us to to fill it. The blue birds will empty the feeder in a few minutes.

Looks like a mealworm feeder is also on my project list.

Not sure about the nesting habits of bluebirds, but I have one idea you may find cool. Build the box and make the back wall out of 2 way glass and mount it near an exterior window in your house. That way you will be able to watch the entire cycle of life.

Cool thread, I was gonna recommend the NY State Bluebird Society website, for some years I had a camera set up inside a purple martin nest hardwired into the TV. I got the instructions from the NY Bluebird Society website.

Where I’m at is way too urban for bluebirds, way too many house sparrows too.

Since they feed up in the air purple martins don’t care too much about the surroundings of the nest, you can even get ‘em in the middle of a big city.

Ours lay 2 clutches every year. We clean out the boxes after every clutch has left. You will occasionally find a dead one in there.

Knocked one out. Need to get a pole set up for it. Probably only do one as we've only got enough open space on the property for it and a swallow box.

Excellent job there Steve! A couple days after the nest is built they will lay one egg a day for five days. Hopefully all the eggs will hatch 15 days after the last egg is laid. If not, remove any that didn’t hatch. Not all of the chicks may live so check the box regularly and remove any dead ones. After they leave the box, promptly remove the nest and clean the box out. Very often they will build a new nest and have a second brood. Good luck!

Thanks. Will put it up this week. Next up a meal worm feeder that's raccoon proof.

I have 5 bluebirds at my feeders right now eating suet. Three males and two females. It's sunny out but just 7°. It's great having them around in the winter!

I use old license plates for a roof. Folded 45 degrees and screwed on.

Love my bluebirds, I’ve got several boxes on mine and the neighbors farm’s. Lots of good advice on here..I like to face my boxes northeast and place them where they tend to get some evening shade.

Do three or four boxes if one can disperse them a bit. Had a pair do three broods one summer. Lost the first in box one to rain and cold, success in box two, and success again when they returned to box 1. Tree Swallows seem fond of the same boxes as well as the English Sparrows that I either toss out or shoot. If placed in some fairly dense cover House Wrens will use them as well. They have a habit though of filling nearby available haunts with twigs to retard competition.

I build quite a few out of PVC board and wife paints for people! Stainless screws and not rot! This was for my brother-in-law who’s retired from UNCW baseball coaching position after many years

Tagged.

growing up in PENN I had a friend who was big into building blue bird boxes and purple martins. Said starlings and English sparrows were the enemy to both of them. I believe he belonged to a blue bird society or something like that.

Dang, that's really early for swallows Dan. Which version arrived already?

Not a good sign for a continuation of "winter".

G,
Tree Swallows and Barn Swallows so far. The Violet Green will be next. All very early. Not sure what that portends for this coming summer, if anything, but...
D

I think that blue birds are here all year. The swallows on the other hand,,,

Sure hope it's not as hot and dry as last summer. Still seeing trees that are red and dying from that 115 day.

I've got a 'flying squirrel' box that has yet to get any flying squirrels in it. Last year the swallows were looking at it quite a bit, but a chestnut-backed chickadee ended up in it.

Most of our small acreage is in timber. Just an acre around the house is cleared. Might put up a couple.

Great photo. I'm guessing Cookie's work.

When I started putting up nest boxes over 30 years ago I put two on trees on the edge of the field. Within a couple of weeks both were occupied by flying squirrels. After that all future boxes were mounted on metal poles in more open areas.

I was able to limit the wren intrusions on my bluebird boxes by building nest boxes that are purpose built for wrens. It helps but does completely stop them from building nest everywhere and on or in anything.

When mounting Blue Bird houses, always have the entrance hole facing a tree, building or power line. They like to observe the entrance from high and then fly down into it.

you're right. i see them doing it all the time. especially the males. the female goes in the box and the male hangs out on a nearby branch.

It makes a difference. We currently have 4 breeding pairs that stay here year round in the Foothills of NC. I started using 1 x 6 bullnose decking boards 20 yrs ago and still have some of the original boxes. Their biggest pest to date have been our barn cats! Can't stop Mother Nature!