Our three backyard, in the trees, birdhouses have been inhabited by
sparrows, according to SWMBO. I don't know if I should empty them of
the nesting materials or not, and when to do so. They don't seem to
be living in them any more, but have not gone south yet, if ever,
because I seem them a lot in the various shrubs we have around the
house. Suggestions?

On Nov 27, 3:03*pm, "hr(bob) "
wrote:
Our three backyard, in the trees, birdhouses have been inhabited by
sparrows, according to SWMBO. *I don't know if I should empty them of
the nesting materials or not, and when to do so. *They don't seem to
be living in them any more, but have not gone south yet, if ever,
because I seem them a lot in the various shrubs we have around the
house. *Suggestions?

Empty the bird houses out and rebuild them with proper sized access
holes so the sparrows will nest in the bushes. Check your bird feed
supply store for the right sizes in your area.
In our backyard we maintain a major bird feeding operation for our
amusement, sans birdhouses. In the future we may do wren sized
domiciles and we have a purple martin palace to mount, but the
goldfinches, cardinals, house finches, woodpeckers, bluejays and such
don't seem to need special housing.

Joe

hr(bob) wrote:
Our three backyard, in the trees, birdhouses have been inhabited by
sparrows, according to SWMBO. I don't know if I should empty them of
the nesting materials or not, and when to do so. They don't seem to
be living in them any more, but have not gone south yet, if ever,
because I seem them a lot in the various shrubs we have around the
house. Suggestions?
Hi,
I have quite a few BH at our cabin. I always clean them out after season
for next spring.

hr(bob) wrote:
Our three backyard, in the trees, birdhouses have been inhabited by
sparrows, according to SWMBO. I don't know if I should empty them of
the nesting materials or not, and when to do so. They don't seem to
be living in them any more, but have not gone south yet, if ever,
because I seem them a lot in the various shrubs we have around the
house. Suggestions?

Get some cats, outdoor cats.

On Nov 27, 3:32*pm, Tony Hwang wrote:
hr(bob) wrote:
Our three backyard, in the trees, birdhouses have been inhabited by
sparrows, according to SWMBO. *I don't know if I should empty them of
the nesting materials or not, and when to do so. *They don't seem to
be living in them any more, but have not gone south yet, if ever,
because I seem them a lot in the various shrubs we have around the
house. *Suggestions?

Hi,
I have quite a few BH at our cabin. I always clean them out after season
for next spring.

Thanks for the reply, two other folks have very bad senses of humor

"hr(bob) " wrote in news:25da73de-0d08-
:

Our three backyard, in the trees, birdhouses have been inhabited by
sparrows, according to SWMBO. I don't know if I should empty them of
the nesting materials or not, and when to do so. They don't seem to
be living in them any more, but have not gone south yet, if ever,
because I seem them a lot in the various shrubs we have around the
house. Suggestions?



My experience says to leave the houses alone, and let the birds decide what
to do with their contents. If your birds fail to re-nest in the houses,
it's probably because they smell cat or squirrel too close to them, and
don't trust the houses for safety. The presence of old nests won't be an
impediment to further habitation.

When I was a kid, we had a birdhouse on the end of a horizontal metal pole
about 12' up from the ground, the pole being part of a swing-set my father
constructed out of 4" iron pipe. This birdhouse was occupied each and every
year for 20-years, always by sparrows.

The /vertical/ poles proved impossible for cats and squirrels to climb,
which is probably why this house was popular with the sparrows.

We never went near the birdhouse, because my mother was convinced that any
fresh human odor would discourage the birds from nesting. Although that
fails to explain the original inhabitation...


--
Tegger

"hr(bob) " wrote:

Our three backyard, in the trees, birdhouses have been inhabited
by sparrows, according to SWMBO. I don't know if I should empty
them of the nesting materials or not, and when to do so.

I'm not sure if birds actually live (roost?) in bird houses in the
winter, or just use them to raise their young - which presumably they
don't do in the winter in your area (have young that is).

Cleaning them out can remove nasty viruses, mites and fleas (which is a
good thing) but I'd be careful not the breath any the dust as you clean
them.

On Nov 27, 6:33*pm, Home Guy wrote:
"hr(bob) " wrote:
Our three backyard, in the trees, birdhouses have been inhabited
by sparrows, according to SWMBO. *I don't know if I should empty
them of the nesting materials or not, and when to do so.

I'm not sure if birds actually live (roost?) in bird houses in the
winter, or just use them to raise their young - which presumably they
don't do in the winter in your area (have young that is).

Cleaning them out can remove nasty viruses, mites and fleas (which is a
good thing) but I'd be careful not the breath any the dust as you clean
them.

Good point about breathing any dust.

On Nov 27, 5:52*pm, Tegger wrote:
"hr(bob) " wrote in news:25da73de-0d08-
:

Our three backyard, in the trees, birdhouses have been inhabited by
sparrows, according to SWMBO. *I don't know if I should empty them of
the nesting materials or not, and when to do so. *They don't seem to
be living in them any more, but have not gone south yet, if ever,
because I seem them a lot in the various shrubs we have around the
house. *Suggestions?

My experience says to leave the houses alone, and let the birds decide what
to do with their contents. If your birds fail to re-nest in the houses,
it's probably because they smell cat or squirrel too close to them, and
don't trust the houses for safety. The presence of old nests won't be an
impediment to further habitation.

When I was a kid, we had a birdhouse on the end of a horizontal metal pole
about 12' up from the ground, the pole being part of a swing-set my father
constructed out of 4" iron pipe. This birdhouse was occupied each and every
year for 20-years, always by sparrows.

The /vertical/ poles proved impossible for cats and squirrels to climb,
which is probably why this house was popular with the sparrows.

We never went near the birdhouse, because my mother was convinced that any
fresh human odor would discourage the birds from nesting. Although that
fails to explain the original inhabitation...

--
Tegger

Well, we don't have any close-by cats, and are overrun with squirrels,
but these birdhouses are suspended by a thin wire from some heavy
horizontal Maple tree branches on the tree closest to our house in the
Chicago suburbs, and we've never spotted a squirrel even looking at
the birds, I may climb up a stepladder with flashlight to see what's
inside, if it looks fairly healthy, I'll leave it, if it looks totally
bird-crapped and nasty I'll remove the bottom and clean it out, That's
how I originally built them, out of scraps of TREK plastic wood left
over from when I built my deck,, so practically indestructible.

On Nov 27, 11:52*pm, Tegger wrote:
"hr(bob) " wrote in news:25da73de-0d08-
:

Our three backyard, in the trees, birdhouses have been inhabited by
sparrows, according to SWMBO. *I don't know if I should empty them of
the nesting materials or not, and when to do so. *They don't seem to
be living in them any more, but have not gone south yet, if ever,
because I seem them a lot in the various shrubs we have around the
house. *Suggestions?

My experience says to leave the houses alone, and let the birds decide what
to do with their contents. If your birds fail to re-nest in the houses,
it's probably because they smell cat or squirrel too close to them, and
don't trust the houses for safety. The presence of old nests won't be an
impediment to further habitation.

When I was a kid, we had a birdhouse on the end of a horizontal metal pole
about 12' up from the ground, the pole being part of a swing-set my father
constructed out of 4" iron pipe. This birdhouse was occupied each and every
year for 20-years, always by sparrows.

The /vertical/ poles proved impossible for cats and squirrels to climb,
which is probably why this house was popular with the sparrows.

We never went near the birdhouse, because my mother was convinced that any
fresh human odor would discourage the birds from nesting. Although that
fails to explain the original inhabitation...

--
Tegger

With very few exceptions birds have no sense of smell.
They have a very short life, so if they disapear, it's because they
have died.

"hr(bob) " wrote in message
...

Our three backyard, in the trees, birdhouses have been inhabited by
sparrows, according to SWMBO. I don't know if I should empty them of
the nesting materials or not, and when to do so. They don't seem to
be living in them any more, but have not gone south yet . . .

1. Bird houses are used only for nesting. Parent birds do not
rest or sleep there when the young have vacated the nest.
2. Bird houses should be emptied after use. Some nests
nourish parasites which can survive from one season to the next.

--
Don Phillipson
Carlsbad Springs
(Ottawa, Canada)

Find the nests & make birds nest soup


"hr(bob) " wrote in message
...
Our three backyard, in the trees, birdhouses have been inhabited by
sparrows, according to SWMBO. I don't know if I should empty them of
the nesting materials or not, and when to do so. They don't seem to
be living in them any more, but have not gone south yet, if ever,
because I seem them a lot in the various shrubs we have around the
house. Suggestions?

Either I've been cloned, or I took up drinking again. Wow, I
sure don't remember writing that.

--
Christopher A. Young
Learn more about Jesus
www.lds.org
..


"Stormin Mormon" wrote
in message ...
Find the nests & make birds nest soup


"hr(bob) " wrote in
message
...
Our three backyard, in the trees, birdhouses have been
inhabited by
sparrows, according to SWMBO. I don't know if I should
empty them of
the nesting materials or not, and when to do so. They
don't seem to
be living in them any more, but have not gone south yet,
if ever,
because I seem them a lot in the various shrubs we have
around the
house. Suggestions?

Don Phillipson wrote:

1. Bird houses are used only for nesting. Parent birds do not
rest or sleep there when the young have vacated the nest.
2. Bird houses should be emptied after use. Some nests
nourish parasites which can survive from one season to the next.

Didn't I already say that?

A few days ago?

On 11/28/2011 10:54 AM, Stormin Mormon wrote:
Either I've been cloned, or I took up drinking again. Wow, I
sure don't remember writing that.


I suppose your admirer who said you are a troll is having fun playing
games. A blind man can see it's not your posts.

I had thought of that. Of course, I've attracted attention.
Such is life.

--
Christopher A. Young
Learn more about Jesus
www.lds.org
..


"Tony Miklos" wrote in message
...
On 11/28/2011 10:54 AM, Stormin Mormon wrote:
Either I've been cloned, or I took up drinking again. Wow,
I
sure don't remember writing that.


I suppose your admirer who said you are a troll is having
fun playing
games. A blind man can see it's not your posts.

On Nov 27, 8:47*pm, "hr(bob) "
wrote:
On Nov 27, 6:33*pm, Home Guy wrote:

"hr(bob) " wrote:
Our three backyard, in the trees, birdhouses have been inhabited
by sparrows, according to SWMBO. *I don't know if I should empty
them of the nesting materials or not, and when to do so.

I'm not sure if birds actually live (roost?) in bird houses in the
winter, or just use them to raise their young - which presumably they
don't do in the winter in your area (have young that is).

Cleaning them out can remove nasty viruses, mites and fleas (which is a
good thing) but I'd be careful not the breath any the dust as you clean
them.

Good point about breathing any dust.

Dust mask.
Gloves
Clorox wash
Rinse
All smells gone, all viruses gone, sadly nesting material is gone and
they'll have to start over, or you can supply fresh from petstore.

Whatever happened to that avion flu epidemic that wiped out all the
'outside' birds sweeping across the globe?