Birdhouse for Black-capped Chickadee (1 Viewer)

[hong]

I am wondering if any experts could take a look at the birdhouse, and let me know if its location, hole size (1 1/4"), design is appealing to Black-capped Chickadees.

I have seen many Black-capped Chickadees checking it out by sticking their heads into the hole, but they have never entered. I have seen as least one of them pecking the edge of the whole seeming to try to enlarge it. I thought 1.25 inch diameter was appropriate for Black-capped chickadees.

Thanks in advance.

Hong

 

[emmadog]

I'm by no means an expert but I've read from several websites that 1&1/8" is fine for these birds and helps to keep other birds out. I've got a new pair of this species in my birdhouse and the hole is 1&3/8". I built it before I read about the smaller diameter.

 

[noakesy21]

still havent seen a black cap yet ,, need to get a pic for my tic list

 

[hong]

Thank you for the information.

 

[Peter C.]

I think the hole size is probably a good for chickadees.

I have a question though - did you put anything into the cavity before you put the house up? I've been told that chickadees are die-hard renovators - much prefer a house that they can work on. So, the advice goes, fill your birdhouse about up to the level of the hole with sawdust, and watch them excavate.

 

[hong]

No, the box is empty.

Thanks for the tip. I heard that too. I am going to try that.

 

[DownyWP]

I have a question though - did you put anything into the cavity before you put the house up? I've been told that chickadees are die-hard renovators - much prefer a house that they can work on. So, the advice goes, fill your birdhouse about up to the level of the hole with sawdust, and watch them excavate.[/QUOTE]

Sorry to the OP, however, you don't want to put sawdust in the box, they prefer fresh wood shavings.

 

[DownyWP]

1 1/8 is a good size for Black-capped Chickadees.

Please consider mounting that box on a metal pole with a predator baffle. I am including a link to the Sialis site, it is the most comprehensive collection of information regarding cavity nesting birds:

http://www.sialis.org/chickadee.htm

 

[hong]

Thank for the tips. The Sialis page is extremely informative and solid.

I noticed the following:
"Initially they MAY not be attracted to a box with a hole smaller than 1.5."

 

[BlueBird09]

We have a birdhouse that we bought a couple of years ago, maybe. I don't know how big the opening or "Door" is but it's definitely not big enough for much else to be able to find their way into it. I doubt if a finch could use it. It looks just like a little wood house with a rock chimney. This year, we actually had a little chickadee family move into it and hatch babies. They've never really shown a whole lot of interest in the birdhouse before, so we're thinking that maybe it just needed to acquire a somewhat different smell to it before they found it appealing enough to use. This is the first year that anything has actually used it and like I said, we got it and put it out in our yard on a tall birdhouse/feeder pole maybe two years ago. Maybe they just don't really like "brand new" houses?

Something else we found to be a bit strange was that they filled it full of cat hair. We watched them bouncing around our porch and collect all the cat hair that they could find, every day, and taking it back to the birdhouse. There was so much cat hair in their nest by the time they finished with it that we could see the cat hair sticking out of the "door" from our porch and the birdhouse is several feet away from our house. It might be a good 50ft. away.