Bird boxes

rick

rick

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A question for you - because I can't make up my mind what would be best.
I'm going to make a house sparrow 'terrace' of 3 nest boxes in one. I've seen designs that have 3 boxes but just one hole so that means, in that design there must be partitions between nest 'boxes' that they can fly/hop over to get to all three. I've also seen designs with three holes, one for each nest, which suggests three competently divided boxes (but maybe not.)
I've read that they like to nest communally, will even lay the occasional egg in a neighbours nest but are also very defensive of their own nest. With one hole then one female would be getting a lot of traffic to the other nests in the row.
What do you think? Would they prefer to be in the same space but with half height partitions and one hole, taller partitions that exclude inter-nest hopping with 3 holes, or three separate boxes that just happen to be joined together?
I know you can mount three or four separate boxes next to each other but what would they really prefer?
Just out of interest, whatever the answer, would the same go for starlings (with bigger holes?)
 
Ours have 3 holes that go into 3 separate nest boxes. Bit like a Sparrow terrace. Rainham Marsh has several all next to each other of this design. They all get used. I think they like being next to each other, but not actually able to access the neighbour.

Not sure if it would work for Starlings, but they do nest closely, we have some trees near us with every hole having a starling in, the trees look like a Starling high rise. Worth a try, if it doesn't work you could always make the hole smaller for sparrows
 
Hi Rick we have a sparrow box with 3 compartments under one fixed lid, an screwed-on front panel, and three holes. I can’t see the point of only having one hole when it is so easy to make one per nest. Our box has been up for 15 years and fully occupied each year. It faces East so gets morning sun and the end compartment with the side facing South gets sun more or less all day, which you’d think would be too hot but they do use it. Yes they do like to nest communally but I’m pretty sure they also like their own space.
Our other, 2- compartment sparrow box is on our N-facing wall, as we thought they might like the shade in very hot summers, but so far this one hasn’t been used in the 3 years it’s been up. Which aspect do yours face, BYM?
 
Our house sparrows nest in our pantiles. Yes, pantiles sound unlikely for the Outer Hebs - but they are heavy and stay on during 50- 80 mph winds. The birds do nest mainly on the north side as prevailing wind from SW. We also have tree sparrows but they nest in our shrubs. Cute little things. Endangered nationally but we've got plenty.
 
Cheers all. That's settled then - 3 holes to 3 separate spaces. Our house is a terrace and we only really have a north face and a south face (back garden to the south.) Going to try under the eves on the front first of all.
I had to look up pantiles. I read it wrong at first and was picturing polka dot bloomers on the line full of sparrows!
 
rick said:
Cheers all. That's settled then - 3 holes to 3 separate spaces. Our house is a terrace and we only really have a north face and a south face (back garden to the south.) Going to try under the eves on the front first of all.
I had to look up pantiles. I read it wrong at first and was picturing polka dot bloomers on the line full of sparrows!
Click to expand...
:-)08 :-)08 :-)08

After I posted it I thought it looked like 'panties'!
 
Our boxes at home are right under the eaves as well. I should add one nest box has bats in as we have seen them coming out of one hole in the evenings
 
This is what it ended up looking like. Its on a pair of peg like hooks so hopefully I can hook it off and on again with the pruning pole for cleaning.
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IMG_5303.JPG
 
We also have a dunnock visiting but I understand that they nest in a similar way to robins and our place has little in the way of low trees and bushes. Still the must be finding places along the street because both regularly show up. ... actually, I've secretly planted ivy which has a bad press around here but that was because there was a ship-lap fence that it effectively destroyed. Now there is a brick wall which can be repointed without it being a write off to repair. It will take a while though before it gets back up into the crown of the old pear tree.
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IMG_5306-1.jpeg
 
I'm going to try moving some of these from the country stores (where I get the chicken supplies.) They have a lot of nest boxes but most of what Ive seen have been thin-ish ply and somewhat silly designs.
Its a universal small box based on the BTO pattern. 3 hole sizes, high, med and low open front. with a baffle that doubles as the high and low front part.
Thinking is: if you dont have luck with blue tits you can reposition it in the hedge and try robins etc.
I'm chuffed with it! :)
IMG_5338.JPG
 
They look good.
One problem with commercially produced nest boxes is that they aren't deep enough so the fledglings can fall out before they're ready to fly. I used to love watching the blue tits appear at the hole for couple of seconds as they got strong enough to flutter up and peep out.
Something else that's started appearing on next boxes is a metal ring around the hole, apparently to deter predators, but I once watched a blue tit spend hours patiently pecking at the hole to chamfer the edge. I could clearly see the light coloured ring from about 20 feet away when it had finished. Presumably done to make entry at flying speed easier and more comfortable.
 
Yes, we use the metal hole protectors on our boxes. They’re intended to protect against predators or bigger birds such as woodpeckers that might chew their way in. One and one eighth inch metal hole allows birds up to tits and nuthatches to get in to nest but nothing bigger.
That wood looks very soft - what might be a safe sort of paint fur the outside? Would it be worth covering the top with something waterproof before putting them out?
Of course if you make your own simple boxes from scrap wood, so they don’t cost you anything, you can just put them up untreated and replace them when necessary.
 
I did wonder about hole plates. They are an additional cost (about £3) and without serious tooling up I doubt I could make them much cheaper so they can be added if squirrels and woodpeckers seem likely to be attracted. The baffle is a bit of extra protection as it increases the amount of work required to open the hole up far enough to get in or reach in with a forearm. It did occur to me that only a 32 mm plate would be needed (around a 25mm hole) as that is clearly too small for a squirrel or woodpecker to take advantage of otherwise there would be no point in adding one to a sparrow box. Its made of 20mm pine.
 
You can always re-use them if and when you replace boxes, they never wear out. We got ours in the 1970s when OH was ringing a lot of bluetits etc in a local woodland and they’re still going strong. That’s why I gave the measurement in inches, mm weren’t invented then. No idea where you get them from, but Google will know.
 
Sorry, I didn't really explain what the project is properly. Partly because it may seem like I'm looking for brownie points which I'm not - just sharing making it and being pleased with it.
I have another 8 of them in parts waiting to go together and the reason is: A couple of months ago I contacted Warwickshire Wildlife Trust to volunteer. They weren't taking on volunteers. I work part time and dont have any need for more income but the big house projects are done and I'm at a bit of a loose end. So I thought 'make and distribute nesting boxes at material cost price.'
It may be a crackers idea - what I hadn't thought about up till now is I will have to make some profit in places to cover losses in others without grinding to a halt (like giving the labour part of them away which, basically, is the whole point!) It was a surprise to realise that moving them through an outlet like the country stores, which already carries stock that is making someone a living, has to be thought about somewhat so as not to cause upset.
Things like fairs and craft dos are really difficult at the moment but I'm hoping that some time they will be back on and it will be a good excuse to get out there.
I've never been very good at business so its a bit of a class 101 seeing if a £100 material float can be sustained by activity.
 
Do you have any local environmental groups on Facebook, Rick? Where I live, a post on Wildlife of Whitchurch about locally made bird boxes would soon shift a few.
 
That's a good thought Marigold. I dont think there are similar local groups like that around here. I did have a look at one time without success. Nextdoor might be better around here. I quite like the idea of putting them in local shops and piquing the interest, maybe, of people who are not so normally wildlife minded but if that falls flat...
 
Is it enough to only predator-proof the front? We've had several nest boxes predated by squirrels chewing a hole in the side of the box. We now wrap them in chicken wire before we put them up.
 
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