Bird Houses- To have or Not to have

[Mockingbird]

I personally love bird houses, as a kid my grandfather had a birdhouse equivalent to a Motel 6. When I bought my house there was a birdhouse I kept. About 5 years ago I went with my son to Gettysburg, at the bed and breakfast we stayed at there was a lovely Koi pond and garden. One of the things they did was to set a wall of different kinds of birdhouses in a space that really could not support much growth short of vines. I thought it wonderful and now pick up little bird houses here and there to put out in the yard. Not sure if that's a good thing or not because I don't know that much about bird houses. Anyone with some helpful advise?

 

[marlingardener]

There are ornamental bird houses, like those in your picture, and there are functional bird houses. If you want to attract a certain bird, the height of the house from the ground, the NSEW orientation, the size of the entrance hole all have to be taken into consideration. Bird houses also need to have a hinged opening so you can clean the house out after the occupants leave (prevents disease/mites/bugs).
Purely ornamental bird houses are attractive, and if you have them in your yard, you might get a bird occupant, or not.

 

[R.R.]

I love birds, and taking pictures of them, but I only feed them. There are two reasons I don't have bird houses: the first one is my two cats, and the second is that I'm afraid they'll become wasp nests.

 

[Pat]

I put bread out for the birds and other animals in the yard. I like to see the ornamental bird houses in the yards.

 

[claudine]

I love bird houses! Some of them are beyond adorable Collecting them sounds like a great idea. I would like to do it too, but I don't have my own garden yet. I often feed birds when I'm walking in a park though

 

[Rosyrain]

I love bird houses and would go with the ornamental type. One downfall of having actual bird houses that attract birds is that there is bird poo that comes along with it. I like functional bird houses as long as someone else is cleaning up the mess.

 

[Cereus]

I love whimsical birdhouses and always thought of having something that combines both function and ornamentation. Cleaning out the house wouldn't be that much of a hassle since it'd be outdoors anyhow. I used to keep pet birds, so this wouldn't be that much harder.

 

[marlingardener]

Cereus is right--cleaning out the birdhouses is mainly removing the old nesting material. It isn't all that "yucky" and can be done in just a few minutes. I use a 10% bleach/water solution to spray the inside of the boxes after the nesting material is removed. It's just an extra precaution, not really necessary, but the spraying is quick, easy, and may prevent diseases.

 

[Mockingbird]

If you want to attract a certain bird, the height of the house from the ground, the NSEW orientation, the size of the entrance hole all have to be taken into consideration. Bird houses also need to have a hinged opening so you can clean the house out after the occupants leave (prevents disease/mites/bugs).

Okay I looked in my native birds of NY guide and I see no reference to which way a house should point where would I find that sort of information? i would imagine it has to do with protecting the nest from the elements?

I do have houses with the bottoms that come off, and you are right about the decorative ones, people like to glue stuff on them, you have to be careful since the birds will grab at these ornamentation. I never thought about the wasps going in, I guess they could.

There are some sparrows that nest in a hollow brick in the building next door to mine, is that a species that cleans out there own nesting area? there seems to be babies every year, they are adorable. We also get robins, doves and ducks every year, the robins and the doves don't seem to be to particular where they make a nest. the duck seems to me to be the same one, she is pretty smart she nests under a barberry bush and grabs plastic bags and pulls them in, they get stuck like a tent. Very smart. Took me awhile to understand they leave the eggs during the day.

 

[marlingardener]

Mockingbird, Rodale's Attracting Birds to Your Backyard by Sally Roth has a whole section on birdhouses, their orientation, size of entrance hole, etc. It also has extensive information on useful plants for birds, bird baths, and even how to protect your fruit crops from birds.
(ISBN 0-87596-892-9)

 

[helagumamela]

We used to have bird houses in the empty lot where our garden is located. However, ever since my father and grandfather started raising more chickens, they removed the bird houses. I wish that we can make more of these again though. They are pretty as decorations.