Birdhouses are a great way to attract birds to your yard, and watching them nest and nurture their young can be a fascinating experience. Many people may ask whether it would be helpful to put anything inside the birdhouse, or whether it would be too much interference?
Is it necessary to put anything in my bird box?
It is a good idea to assist birds in identifying your birdhouse and making their nesting experience as easy and effective as possible. However, in terms of nest construction, many wild birds are very well capable of building a nest inside a box without your assistance. It’s a delicate process establishing a nest location in the wild, requiring time and labour to shape the nest exactly how the birds want. And many birds tend to quite picky in their nest construction. Your intervention may not be exactly to their favour.
Some wild birds will accept human assistance: owls, woodpeckers, and willow tits readily accept humanitarian aid. But all materials should resemble the natural materials that they would use in the wild as much as possible. Most birds will begin by using twigs, leaves, grass, bark, or woodchipping as a foundation; and most materials may be easily gathered from the wild. But when adding anything to your bird box, ensure that it covers just the floor, does not extend past the entry hole, and does not obstruct ventilation or drainage openings on the base.
Should I Put Food In The Birdhouse?
Birds, like any other animals, are very protective of their young, and would hate to have human giants intruding their property and not giving them the privacy they need. Saying that, it is important to provide birds with a regular supply of food, so the best thing to do would be to put food outside of the bird-box in the garden, in a bird-feeder.
Other things to ponder on when constructing your nesting birdhouses
- A bird-friendly garden: There are various types of nesting materials that birds like, so if you want to encourage a lot of birds to visit your yard, you can place some birdhouses around the property with this type of nesting material. Birdbaths and bird feeders for giving clean and fresh food and drinking water are the easiest ways to attract birds to visit your garden.
- Keep the birdbox clean: Bird droppings can rapidly make a birdhouse smell terrible and can become a health issue, so wipe them down with soap and water before introducing fresh nesting material. This is usually after each brood.
- Location: Birdhouses should be placed in an open location where they will be protected but still visible, so that birds will feel confident landing on the roof and entering the birdhouse. Maintain your birdhouse by ensuring that it has adequate ventilation and that it is placed in an area where it will be protected from bad weather and predators.
