I was recently walking in my yard, looking at the birds in my garden. Then I started to think about the birds, their habitat, and their form of housing and living and wondered what kind of housing they like and prefer. I was thinking of adding birdhouses to my garden and started researching it.
Birds, in general, are not very fussy about where they live and nest, but they do, however, find hanging birdhouses more inviting if you take good care of them and if the environment where you hang the birdhouses are inviting and bird-friendly and you make it look attractive to the birds.
Birds want a house that will be comfortable for them, and it must be warm and welcoming. To the birds, it’s not about a pretty ornament in your garden, It is about having a space they can make their own and about being protected and feeling safe as well as making a nest for them, and if they have a family, they can have some form of privacy as well.
Do Birds Like Hanging Bird Houses?
Birds don’t tend to be fussy about where they live or where they nest. But they do however find it more inviting to move into a birdhouse.
Hanging birdhouses will attract them if you create a beautiful environment for them, surrounded by trees and just a peaceful setting. In this next section, we will talk more about how to make a birdhouse more likable for birds.
Create a lot of different environments with scenery and an atmosphere that will lure birds to the garden. Birdbaths and water fountains can also be added to create a serene feeling, and it is also calming and relaxing for the birds. Making all these changes to your yard creates a beautiful garden.
Ensure the area where the birdhouse is hanging is a safe environment for the birds, so they feel they will be safe in the garden and there are no immediate threats in the area surrounding the garden.
That the birdhouse itself has to be a beautiful feature that looks like it blends in with the environment and with nature, it’s always better to have a birdhouse from wood or from natural materials so that they will feel it will be safe for them and it still gives them a feeling of being at home in nature.
Where And How High to Hang Bird Houses
Experts advise that the birdhouse must be placed and hanged 5 feet or more from the ground and approximately 20 feet from bird feeders and birdbaths.
Just plan the surroundings around the area where you plan to hang the birdhouse in your garden, make it safe and inviting for them and also difficult for cats and critters to access the birds in their hanging birdhouse once they set in.
What Do Birds Want from Their Bird Houses?
Choose a spot in your garden without a lot of foot traffic and with limited disturbances so that the birds can experience some form of privacy and will also feel more safe and secure. According to experts, most birds prefer safely anchored homes.
However, it’s not exclusive, and some tend to settle in hanging birdhouses. Place the hanging birdhouse so that the entrance of the house faces the east; that way, the birdhouse will be facing away from prevailing winds.
Be patient with the birds making the hanging birdhouse that you placed in the garden their home; for most birds, it takes more than a season to find their roots in a new home.
So don’t give up and don’t get impatient if you find the birds, don’t immediately move in because so lucky bird families will make the hanging birdhouse that was put up their home.
How Do You Make the Bird House Safer and More Inviting?
The birdhouse can be attached to the trunk of a tree. If the birdhouse is made from aged wood, it is a very good idea, most cavity-nesting birds like it if the birdhouse blends with the environment in which it will be placed. Making it from natural materials is a very smart way to attract the birds to the hanging treehouse.
Aged wood is a very good material because it still looks natural and it blends well. This can serve as a form of camouflage protecting the birds from Predators in the garden and can give the birds a feeling of safety.
Another factor is when the birdhouse is more natural, the birds will automatically be more drawn to it.
Creating a Natural Look for the Hanging Bird House
Birds, in general, seem to be avoiding a new birdhouse in the beginning; they tend to feel more trusting after it shows some age and when it seems older.
An unvarnished wooden birdhouse will be more attractive to the birds in the garden than a beautiful and maintained birdhouse. Birds seem to be settling in faster if the birdhouse is made of natural raw materials.
They feel more at home as it also makes them feel safer as the treehouse blends in more with a natural look than with other materials, which is almost as if the birds created the hanging birdhouse themselves.
Extra Factors to Consider When Planning a Hanging Bird House
Ventilation and drainage are important factors in making your feathered friends happy in the new home that has been hung for them. By adding materials like moss, soft grasses, shredded bark, small pieces of fabric, or even feathers to create a nest for them.
These are ways to create an inviting environment for birds and might help birds claim the hanging birdhouse as their new form of habitat sooner. If you create a warm, welcoming feeling for the birds, they will feel safer and more trusting.
When Is the Best Time to Hang the Birdhouses?
According to leading experts, the best time to hang birdhouses or do maintenance on your existing birdhouses is during fall and winter. The reason for this is to give the birds enough time to locate to your birdhouses before breeding season.
Birds want a peaceful and attractive environment, where they will feel secure and will be protected and warm. Doing yearly maintenance on the birdhouse will keep them coming back.
You can do this by taking the house down, cleaning it out and removing the old nest, and scrubbing the inside of the house thoroughly with a stiff brush and some mild bleach and water to kill mites and parasites.
When the birds return to the birdhouse, it will be clean and fresh on the inside; you can again prepare the inside of the nest with materials that will make the birds feel at home, creating that warm feeling that birds usually do with creating their own nests.
How Can I Attract Birds to Live in a Hanging Bird House?
Make sure that you have the birdhouse ready for occupation early in the spring season. Before the beginning of the birds breeding season, otherwise, the birds might only occupy the birdhouse the following year.
The environmental area surrounding where the hanging birdhouse is placed also plays a large factor with regards to the birds it will attract.
There are multiple ways to attract birds to the garden other than birdhouses. Creating a peaceful and tranquil environment for them is also a good way of attracting birds to the garden.
If you plant a wide variety of trees, flowers, and shrubs, having a clean water source like a birdbath or water fountain also helps.
Other sources of attracting birds to the garden are encouraging insects by not using unnecessary pesticides and creating a warm, welcoming, friendly environment for birds. Ensuring that you create a viable environment for the worms and insects that birds live on will go a long way to attract birds to your yard and birdhouse.
Can You Hang a Bird House from a Branch?
It’s important not to hang a birdhouse on a branch from a string, cord, sling, or rope. As the tree gets older, it will grow around the string, and it will cause choking or girdling of the tree’s cambium. The cambium is the regular flow and pathway for fluids and nutrients.
It will cut this pathway off and damage the tree. The best way is to put the birdhouse on a stand-alone post or use some stainless steel wire to avoid damaging the tree’s cambium.
Why Hanging a Bird House Is Important
Hanging a birdhouse can turn any garden into a nesting birds’ paradise. But it needs to be done correctly to really benefit and attract the birds in the garden.
With how things always develop and transforms, it can become important to create spaces and environments for the birdlife as their natural habitats are constantly being developed for whatever reasons.
So hanging birdhouses and creating spaces for birds in the garden, you are also creating a safe haven and an environment for them in which they can relocate and create a safe environment for them and where they can relocate themselves.
Final Thoughts
Birds will move into the hanging tree house in and around the garden. But there are some factors you need to consider when putting up the house.
Experts advise that you make the house look and feel as natural as possible as if the birds created the house for themselves. Also, when placing the hanging birdhouse, you must keep in mind that the birds want to feel safe and secured.
The environment must be quite protected against predators and factors, in general, that might be a threat to the birds, and for the birds to claim the birdhouse as their own, you must study the best-suited area to place the hanging birdhouse and camouflage it as naturally as possible.
Ben has a bachelor’s degree in construction engineering. When not constructing or remodeling X-Ray Rooms, Cardiovascular Labs, and Pharmacies, you can find him at home with wife and two daughters. Outside of family, He loves grilling and barbequing on his Big Green Egg and Blackstone Griddle, as well as working on projects around the house.
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