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Attract these beautiful birds to your yard with this well-designed house. Eastern bluebirds may nest as early as February and continue until early fall, raising two to three broods each year. Bluebirds tend to nest at the edge of forests or other wooded areas as well as in open country backyards.
Plans
Build the eastern bluebird birdhouse with red cedar, pine, or almost any soft wood. Use wood rough-cut on both sides so that birds can grip both interior and exterior surfaces. The general recommendation is to place bluebird houses a minimum of 100 yards apart or no more than two houses per acre. 1 1/2" hole for eastern bluebirds and western bluebirds, and 1 9/16" hole for mouuntain bluebirds and where eastern and western bluebird ranges overlap.
Smooth or Rough Wood for Nest Box?
There are specific bluebird house designs that are meant to deter house sparrowsfrom using them. They are an aggressive, introduced, non-native species that will bepersistent at taking over your bluebird house and, if needed, will kill adultbluebirds as well as nestlings. Building bluebird nest boxes is a great way to help conserve birds at the locallevel. Perches are not necessary on bluebird nesting boxes and are considered unsafe because they help predators access the nest inside. A clear flight path to the box will allow the bluebirds to go to and from without any need for a perch.
Browse New Construction Floor Plans Available in Los Angeles
Birds will not care what color your bird house is, whether it has intricatecarved designs or cute little welcome signs. If the latter ismore of what you are thinking of, then the bird house design you choose is veryimportant in determining which birds do or do not use your next box. Purple martins nest colonially in martin apartmenthouses. Bird house plans for martinsvary from very simple to quite elaborate. BluebirdHouse PlansVariety of plans for Eastern, Western and Mountain bluebirds. This avoids occupation by house sparrows before the swallows return.
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I reattached the four quarters with glue and a couple of screws. It can also be educational to watch them as they spend hundreds of hoursworking to build their nests and to raise their young. I used a simple method of driving a 5 foot section of a 1/2 inch rebar about 3 1/2 feetinto the ground. I think it is a good Idea to keep the hole as small as possible, butafter watching the Tree Swallows struggle to squeeze through the 1 1/2 inch hole,I expanded and re-shaped the hole. At the end of the season, the floor is removed and the old nest is cleanedout. I like the final look and function of the roof on the log box, but I didnot think it out very well before hand.
A Simple Log Birdhouse
It helps to know what to look for and how to assess a floor plan layout. Now that you have looked at many house plans, you have probably noticed that most modern home plans designs tend to be of an open style. The popularity of open floor plans reflect the way home shoppers want to live, however not every builder offers this type of floor plan. Featuring 73 communities and 26 home builders, the Los Angeles area offers a wide and diverse assortment of house plans that are ready to build right now.
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These nest boxes didn't need an additional roof or floor. A 14 and 15 inch log with a 2 inch thick wall would be 78.5 and 95 squareinches respectively, or 23% and 49% larger than an 8x8 inch nest box. A growing brood of Tree Swallows becomes too crowded in the small bluebirdnest box and that reduces their nesting success. I have done this by first splitting the log, then hollowing out each side,drilling an entrance hole, then joining the two halves back together with woodglue and screws. Front of Nest BoxMost nest box plans have a perpendicular face,but recently, several designs have a sloping front.
Side-Opening Mountain Bluebird Nestbox
While it’s possible to recognize a House Sparrow nest vs. a bluebird nest, the best way to confirm is to observe the next box to see which species are inside. At this point, they are getting prepared to leave the nest but are not quite ready. Opening up the box may scare the juveniles prematurely out into the world!
NABS Fact Sheets & Plans
In areas where the eastern bluebird range overlaps that of the mountain bluebird, use the larger nest box for mountain bluebirds and western bluebirds. See range maps and more information on each bluebird species page. Using the chisel, cut deep crisscross scratches on the inside of the front panel. These will allow young birds to climb to the entrance hole and emerge.
Bluebirds are territorial, and each male has about 2-3 acres in his specific territory. To avoid confrontation and fights between bluebirds, space each pair of bluebird houses at least 100 feet away from each other. You’ll want to do this immediately, since bluebirds often raise as many as three broods in one nesting season. We aslo have more information and plans on ourbluebird house plans andEastern Bluebird pages.
It is also best to buy wooden bird houses that are made from untreated woodthat is not coated with any kind of chemicals. The roof or one wall should be hinged,so the box can be opened and cleaned after use, and there shouldbe small drainage holes in the bottom. Because the birds have more space than recommended, it probably doesn'tmatter if the depth were 6 1/2inches instead of 7 inches, but I chose to simplyattach the floor on the outside. After I shaped the top to match the roof, I realized that the nest logbarely had the minimum 7 inches from hole to floor. Since the log to be covered was 10 inches wide, I cut 14 inch lengths ofthe cedar fence picket so the roof would lap 2 inches over on each side. If you are considering making a nest log, I calculated thesize log needed to create the minimum cavity area required for several cavitynesting bird species.
They onlyhung aroundfor a day or two after they fledged, and it was very confusing when other adultsand possibly other young birds came to the box. I also used a very long (x inch) drill bit to drill holes from one end ofthe log to the other. If the nest log wall is 1 1/2 inches thick, the minimum requirement is met withan 8 3/4 inch log. If my log was 10 inches diameter, then the radiuswas5 inches. If I left two inches of wood all the way around, the radius of theopen cavity was 3 inches.
There should also be holes for drainage and the wood, if used, should beuntreated and thick enough to provide insulation both from cold and hottemperatures. Similarly, Barn Swallows will use an unroofed shelf under the eave of abuilding. The wood should be at least 3/4 inches thick to provide insulation from heatand cold. So if you want to attract a certain species to your box, keep in mind theirnatural habitat when looking for a location. I simply drilled a few drain holes in the bottom and an entry hole on theside. It is one thing to be able to squeezethrough a small hole in a thin 3/4 inch wall, but it is more difficult to squeezethrough the same size hole in a 1 1/2 inch thick wall.
Or, if mounting to a pole or T-Post, you can align the top to the back, to the top of the sides. If you are worried about cutting straight, then I’ve got good news. This saw cuts on the pull stroke, making it way easier to cut a straight line!
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