I read that you are supposed to clean out bird houses in the winter. I started to do it around Thanksgiving and then saw a bird flying in to one of our houses.
We have a whole row of them.
This one was easy to do. It was built by a friend of mine from the library. He made a little Plexiglas window so you can monitor the birds and slide it down to clean out the old nesting material.
I think they need to be cleaned to keep mites and spiders from living in there. We did find some spiders and I wore gloves to keep from having problems with the mites. Then the wind picked up and blew bits into my face. I did not have a face glove and figure I must have eaten a few of any mites inhabiting the nests. yuck.
We also found some unhatched eggs, so those were good to get out, too.
Some of the bird houses did not have a back door to clean them out. We used a screwdriver and needle nose pliers to grab and push the debris out of the houses.
So now they are clean (mostly) and ready for the new inhabitants come spring.
And I am so ready for spring.
What a good birder you are. We once waited a little too long to clean our the nesting material, and dumped newborns on the ground. So heartbreaking. I'll never do that again. thanks for letting me purge my guilt :)
ReplyDeleteYou must have been horrified! I forgot to clean them out last year and then they were occupied again. Bad landlord.
Deletemiss having my bird houses, can't have them here. Good idea with the plexiglass.
ReplyDeleteThere is a downside to bird houses in a city. Bird leavings and all.....
DeleteAnd now so are your bird visitors ready for spring. Just like Gill commented we also can't have bird houses/feeders which is not a big disappointment for me. I did enjoy them in VA.
ReplyDeleteI have heard there are webcams where you can enjoy them remotely. Put an iPad in a window and pretend they are yours!
DeleteI would totally love having bird houses, but one of our dogs is a bird killer,so i hesitate on attracting birds to nest here. Yours look so nice all in a row.
ReplyDelete