12 Secrets to Get Birds to Actually Move Into Your Bird Houses!

 Secrets to Getting Birds to Actually Use Your Bird Houses

Okay, you’ve added bird houses to your yard to help make a difference in the survival of your wild birds.  You know that a lot of natural nesting places no longer exist, like old fence posts, dead trees, and hedgerows.  But how do you entice insect-eating woodpeckers, bluebirds, wrens, chickadees, titmice, finches, nuthatches, and tree swallows (among others) to move in to your bird houses?

These are my secrets to entice birds to move in to those bird houses you’ve proudly added to your yard:

• Mount your bird house securely on a post, pole, or tree with the entrance hole facing away from the prevailing winds.  In most cases that would be facing east; and the morning sun will gently warm the inside of the bird house.  Facing towards the south is not a good idea because of the excessive heat and sun glare.  

• Keeping your bird houses up year round can provide much needed shelter from harsh climates and strong stormy conditions.  Birds will huddle together inside a birdhouse to keep warm and dry during bad weather.  They will remember the safe, secure structure and return to use it for raising their families.

• Selecting different sizes of birdhouses will attract a variety of birds.  They prefer rustic and primitive wood structures that mimic what they would find in the wild.  The appearance and thickness of barn wood is ideally suited to maintain insulation against both heat and cold, and tempt nesting site seekers.  Old barn wood’s very nature suggests just the right stuff to attract a wide variety of cavity nesters!

• Birds like to have their own territory, so spacing bird houses about 20’ to 25’ apart helps to minimize squabbles between neighbors.  The outer perimeter or edge area of your property is the ideal place to hang or mount a bird house. 

• Chickadees especially seem to favor a bird house that is close to shrubs like lilacs, honeysuckle or weigela.  The density of those plants gives them a chance to survey their area for any possible predators before proceeding to their bird house.  You see they don’t want to give away the location of their eggs or nestlings.  Bushes also provide lots of protein snacks your birds need when they have a bunch of mouths to feed!

• Most nesting birds like a home that is between 5’ and 10’ off the ground.  Bird house entrance holes should be between 1-1/4” and 1-3/4” in diameter to accommodate most backyard birds.  Make sure your mounting pole is sturdy and does not sway or wobble in the wind.  Our feathered friends need a secure and reliable place to raise their young. 

• Be sure to add a baffle to your mounting pole to discourage critters from seeking out birds’ eggs or nestlings.  A torpedo baffle works well against raccoons, while a cone-shaped baffle will deter snakes.

• Keep mice from setting up housekeeping in your bird houses by adding mint to the inside of the house.  Mice hate mint!  You can also plant a tub full at the base of your bird house pole.  That works well for me because mint can be very invasive.  Planting peppermint, spearmint or chocolate mint in a large pot and training it up the pole makes a pretty and fragrant garden statement.

• Fire ants can be a nuisance at best, and are downright lethal to baby birds at worst.  Peel  fresh oranges and throw the peels on top of the ant hill.  You can use any kind of citrus because fire ants hate the oils in the fruit’s skin.  Fire ant deterrents containing the volatile oils of citrus fruits are sold online and at local plant nurseries.   

• Keep your bird houses clean!  Birds will pass up a bird house if stuff from a previous tenant has been left inside.  Before nesting season begins, clean out any debris, old nesting material, spider webs, etc.  Then wash the inside of your house with a solution of 1 part chlorine bleach and 9 parts of clear warm water.  Rinse thoroughly, and set out in the fresh air to dry totally before remounting.  It is vital for the health of the next generation of birds to take just a few minutes to perform this cleaning.  In doing so, you destroy any parasite infestation or bacterial diseases that might otherwise claim the lives of your baby birds.
• Birds need a nearby source of clean water, either natural or provided by you in the form of a bird bath or fountain.  Feathers need to be preened and cleaned on a regular basis; plus, birds get thirsty just as we humans do.  Providing clean water is always a great way to attract birds to your yard. 
• Plant a vegetable and/or flower and herb gardens.  Color and fragrance attract birds and give them a reason to nest nearby.  The critters that appear on your flowers and veggies are tasty treats for your birds and their youngsters.  Most of our feathered friends require a steady diet of protein-rich bugs and creepy crawlies. 

Hanging up a bird house comes with a responsibility to the birds that will use it for raising their young.  Place it where they will be happy to use it, and keep it clean.  Do this and you will have a yard full of happy, healthy adult and new baby birds!

Optimal Placement of Bird Houses 

Grandma Pearl

How to Keep Mice Out of Bird Houses

Pineapple Mint
Grandma Pearl

If you are having trouble with mice invading your bird houses, especially over the winter time, I have some tips to help you discourage them from setting up housekeeping in the first place!

1.  Check your bird houses!  If they have old bird nests, mice nests, dirt or other debris inside, be sure to clean them out.  Use gloves to protect your hands, then take a wire brush or putty knife and scrape away anything that might be stuck on.

     Mice tend to use the same nesting material, and add to it repeatedly.  Removing old nesting material should help dissuade them from automatically moving in to a ready-made home.

2.  If you have mint growing in your gardens, or if you know of someone who would like to share some with you, by all means take advantage of this wonderfully aromatic plant.  MICE HATE THE SMELL OF MINT!

Spearmint loves moist soil conditions
Grandma Pearl

3.  After you have cleaned your bird house and are ready to hang it back up, rub the inside with the mint leaves.  The oils will penetrate the wood and help repel rodents.  Also, add a bunch of mint leaves to the inside of the nest box. 

4.  When spring rolls around again, be sure to plant a pot of mint at the base of your bird house pole.  Or if you have the space and a moist area near the nest box, plant the mint in the ground right there.  Be aware that mint is a prolific grower and will take over a garden in short order.  That's why I like to confine my mint to a large pot.  

     You can use spearmint, peppermint, chocolate mint, pineapple mint or any other strong-smelling mint variety.

Mint flowers attract all kinds of beneficial pollinators
Grandma Pearl

An added bonus with the mint is that it attracts beneficial bugs as well as butterflies and hummingbirds.  Yup, hummers love to poke their beaks into each of the tiny tubes of the mint flower head!  
Here in the northeast, my mint begins to flower at the end of August, and will continue right up until the frost hits.  After the first frost, I harvest my mint by pulling it out, roots and all.  Rest assured, you will always leave some roots behind and the mint will return in the spring.
Once I have gathered all the mint stems, I place them in a large paper bag in a cool room.  I like to use those big bags they give you in the restaurants....you know, the ones that have handles.  Those handles come in handy for hanging your paper bag on a hook.
I then cover my mint with newspapers to keep them dry and dust free.
If I need mint in a recipe, I have the real stuff!  Be careful, a little goes a long way.

If you happen to have an attic or basement that is particularly attractive to mice, place mint all around the areas where they are most likely entering.  Rather than confront the pungent aroma, mice will decide to set up housekeeping somewhere else!

Remember not to use toxic chemicals!  They are deadly to humans, pets and wildlife; particularly the owls and other animals that prey on mice and rats.  It is a painfully slow death they endure after swallowing poisoned rodents.  Instead, use the mint or humane traps.  If you don't like transporting rats and mice in a trap, use the old-fashioned snap traps, or the covered traps that let you know when they are full.  Those are totally disposable, and you never have to see or touch the critter.

Grandma Pearl

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Are Your Bird Houses Ready for Fall and Winter?

One of my bird houses that holds at least one bird family every year!
by Grandma Pearl

You purchased a sturdy, well-ventilated bird house, and mounted it so birds could easily move in and start raising a family.  Good for you!  There, your job is done, right?  Uh, No. . .as a caretaker for your songbird families, another responsibility comes with the territory.  Maintaining bird houses so they provide a clean, healthy and safe environment for your feathered friends is a major priority!

Have you looked inside your bird houses lately?  Chances are old nests, dirt etc. need to be removed before you can either store or re-hang your nest boxes.  It’s a simple but necessary process in order to ensure your next generation of backyard birds will have the healthiest start possible.

I cleaned out this bird house and made it ready for re-hanging in just about 5 minutes!
by Grandma Pearl

This bird house is in need of cleaning!  Here are the easy steps to get your bird house ready for re-hanging or storage for the fall and winter:

What you will need:

• Several thick layers of newspaper
• Plastic garbage bag that can be securely closed
• Garden or plastic gloves with no holes
• A small bucket or water pitcher  (dedicate this to your bird house cleaning only)
• Warm water
• Household bleach
• Screwdriver (for opening ‘clean out’ access door)
• Small scrub brush or wire brush
• Large paper bag or plastic bag for storing the clean bird house

Additional Items you might need:

• Hammer
• Nails
• Screws
• sandpaper

1. Spread out several thicknesses of newspaper onto a flat surface outdoors.  Open up the bird house ‘clean out’ and remove any nesting material, dirt, debris, etc., collecting all of it on the newspapers.   If there is no clean out, you can shake your birdhouse over the papers until nothing more comes out.  If necessary, use a stiff but flexible length of wire to dislodge any leftover nesting materials, and then shake and dump.    
2. Gather up the newspapers and put them into a plastic garbage bag; close the top of the bag securely.  If there has been a nest mite infestation, you don’t want any of those nasty tiny parasites to have a chance to multiply in the environment!  By the way, adult mites are no bigger than this dot [.]
3. Mix up a solution of 1 part of bleach and 10 parts of clear water.  I have a dedicated old pitcher with a spout that works well for this, especially if there is no clean out or easy access to the inside of the bird house.  Pour this warm water/bleach solution into the bird house a little at a time.  Move the liquid around and dump it out where it will not harm plants, animals or humans.  Repeat a couple more times and then follow with clean, plain warm water.  
4. If your bird house has an accessible clean out, you can use a wire brush to scrub the inside with the bleach/water solution, then rinse out thoroughly several times.  It should not smell of bleach when it is completely dry.  If you can smell bleach, then you need to rinse until that odor disappears.  
5. On another thickness of newspapers, leave your bird house outside in the sunshine and wind to dry thoroughly.  This might take a day or two, depending upon the amount of humidity in your area.  So watch the weather forecast!
6. This is a good time to make sure any nails or screws are tight, and replace any that are missing.  Ensure there are no splinters or broken pieces that might harm adults or young birds.  If necessary, use sandpaper to smooth any rough spots, especially at the entrance hole.
7. I like to wrap my dry bird houses with plain brown paper, or place the house into a paper bag.  Close the bag tightly so that no insects can enter.  Store in a dry place on a shelf in your garage or shed. 

All this may seem like a major hassle that you can skip, but it is vitally important that you keep your bird houses clean and parasite free for the next generation of birds.  The bleach/water mixture kills bacteria from old droppings, and diseases carried by lice, fleas, ticks and other parasites, as well as the tiny critters and their eggs; all of which can pose a very real risk to nestlings.
Some birds will even pass up a bird house if it has debris or old nesting material inside.   It really doesn’t take that long to mix up a bucket of life-saving bleach/water.  Just make sure you use the proper proportions of 1 part bleach to 10 parts of water, and rinse thoroughly.

NEVER USE TOXIC CHEMICAL PESTICIDES INSIDE OR OUTSIDE YOUR BIRD HOUSES!
Spraying chemicals inside a nest box could potentially harm or even kill nestlings.  Using harmful pesticides on the outside of the box may also pose a threat to adult as well as fledgling birds.
  
Don’t assume if you live in a northern climate that these tiny critters will freeze!  Nest mites can survive from -4 degrees to +125 degrees Fahrenheit.  Their detrimental effects on tiny birds, as well as adults, can range from minor itching irritation, to anemia and/or a severely compromised immune system; which can lead to death.


Remember, baby birds are helpless to fight off pesky critters that might be hiding in old nesting material.  It often happens that insect and parasite infestations in bird houses actually kill baby birds before they ever have a chance to open their eyes!  It’s up to you to become a vigilant caretaker ensuring your young feathered aviators survive and thrive.
Grandma Pearl


Optimal Placement of Bird Houses Around Your Yard and Garden