Blue Bird Houses

We have 3 Blue Bird houses on our 11 acre property.  They are very territorial birds, so the houses can’t be too close together.

Blue Birds became threatened due to loss of habitat and nesting areas. 

A few years ago, people started building them nest boxes and Blue Bird Trails, in attempt to help them breed more successfully. The birds have made a good come back in this area.

Blue Birds need a certain size box with a  1 1/2 inch diameter hole, which needs to be 8 inches above the floor.  I know in the wild, they don’t always get this perfect of a nest, but we need to give them as perfect of a nest as we can to  help them to survive. 

We always put a baffle on the pole and keep the box far enough away from any kind of trees. This is to keep snakes and other animals from getting to the box.  You sure don’t want the female to be sitting on the nest with only one way out and a snake slither up the pole and get her and the babies.  It happens!  That’s why we always baffle our houses.

Al put his first nest box up a few years ago and it wasn’t a week before they started building a nest.  He was so happy!

We' had several batches of Blue Birds in 2 of our boxes. One box raised a family Carolina Chickadees last spring.

My friend Glenda already has two nests in her yard, so I guess I am behind schedule.

Al is going to put up a new nestbox today down from the motorhome and away from Ivan the Terrible!  He’s pestering the two Blue Birds that want the nest box by the motorhome, so we figure we will offer them new “digs.”  We want to put in a few more boxes so they will have their choice!

Last year we had a fight over one nest box which ended with one male having the other male on the ground.  I finally had to go break up the fight.  We ended up moving that particular box because it was visible from another box that was already being used.  They are sure territorial!

Al got up two new nest boxes today.  I can’t wait to see how long it takes for them to find them.