Four Tips for Choosing a Bird House

It may be surprising to many but many bird houses on the market are not really suitable to birds. On the contrary, not only they do not attract birds but they can even be dangerous for the feathered creatures. There are some basic guidelines that should be followed when considering buying a wild bird house.

?The most important things that need to be considered are the dimensions of the bird house. Different species of birds have requirements when it comes to space in the house. So it makes sense to look at the interior of the structure, the size of the entrance hole and the height of the hole from the floor. The entrance should be near the top of the structure and proportionate to the size of the species that is going to inhabit it.

?Secondly, the structure must have good ventilation and drainage to prevent little birds from overheating or drowning inside their homes. If the bird house is acceptable in all areas except drainage and ventilation, it should, at least, be able to withstand the drilling or sawing in order to create slots and drainage holes.

?The home should provide easy access for cleaning and monitoring purposes. This is usually accomplished when one wall of the structure is set on hinges or lifts out. Bird houses that do not provide easy access for cleaning or monitoring are not considered very good housing.

?Lastly, the material used in building the structure is very important. Care should be given that the building material is not toxic if ingested by the birds. Also, using metal material could cause the house to overheat. Therefore, metal domiciles should be hung in the shade.

Bird houses should be practical before beautiful. This is why stability in the structure should always come before beauty. Houses that are simply stapled, nailed or glued together should be avoided. Joints should be glued before they are nailed with rust resistant nails, hinges and screws.

When all of these criteria are met and birds still seem to snub their human-provided homes, the answer may be nothing more than moving the structure to a different location in the garden. Making the environment for those finicky aviaries beautiful and safe will make bird watching for the landlords a most pleasant experience.