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Spring time projects: Bird House Repair

reible

I have made some bird houses out of PVC trim boards they sell. The idea was no painting, no rot, and easy to clean out.

However the local squirrel didn't get the message about these being a long term use item thus lowering the cost of materials over time.

No idea why but this winter the squirrel decided to taste the PVC and found a nice place to chew, right at the entrance. Maybe it thought there would be something worth while inside to eat or thinking it could fit inside to stay warm???

In this next image you can see the nesting materials and the cavity where the actual birds reside. This is a wren nest so the hole is only 1-1/8" and the cavity is as far from the opening as possible. Trying to keep safe from prying paws and beaks of other birds that few inches isn't much....

It is nice to see that they, the wrens still have not gotten into putting bits of scrap plastic in their nests. They do like to bring in spider webs which seems odd to me???

I didn't feel like setting up a router for the cross hatching so I just went with a plain front. I can change that later if I want.

rpd

Nice bird box, and repair. :)

The plain front is probably better for the wrens, they don't need a perch, and the grooves give predators a better grip while raiding.

garys

Squirrels are rodents and rodents will chew anything their teeth can cut through. If you want to make them squirell proof, weld them from steel. They can't chew that up. Or, put up a squirrel feeder that the birds can't get into and fill it with rat poison.

Hobbyman2

The squirrel is telling ya she wants one to ?? nice job .

rpd

To help prevent future damage of that sort, you could make, or buy, something like this.

https://www.leevalley.com/en-us/shop/garden/wildlife/houses-and-habitats/67399-birdhouse-portal-protectors

reible

A few FYI's. I have a whole collection of these PVC birdhouses. I built a total of 8, one of which I gave to one of my brothers and the other 7 are here and all are out available. One is a two story version and so far no interest in that one. None of the houses has been chewed by the squirrels until this past winter when this one got damaged. I've been leaving them out 24/7/365 to see how they would fair. So why the interest in this one? And yes I have looked at the other that I have and no damage.

The squirrels have their own home:

I did have major damage to my roosting house a while back. It is made of cedar so it was easy chewing. To solve that issue I added a ring from a shower rod, the fixed end.

That has work well. I have thought about getting the lee valley items but have yet to do so. Perhaps I will add a few to my next order.

reible

Getting ready to hang the repaired birdhouse and wanted to add a metal ring to protect the hole. I also have another birdhouse in the works so I figured I would just add a ring to that one as well. Found a source where I could get a collection of sizes and went with that. Will no doubt get some from Lee Valley at some point when I have other things to order from them.

One I get one mounted I will get a picture. Have to decide how I will cut the metal to fit at the top since there isn't much room up there for these disks. Well another project for another day.

tom85

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reible

No wrens for a while yet but wanted to get the house ready to put back up for when they do arrive. Should pretty much protect the hole from the squirrels and we will see how this works out.

Hobbyman2

Looks like it may work , nice job on the houses .