Yellow-bellied Sapsucker Birdhouse
for Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers & Eastern Bluebirds
Make a 5″ by 5″ floor (inside dimensions) and a 12″ floor to ceiling height (inside front). Drill a 1 1/2″ diameter entrance hole located 10″ above the floor (to top of hole). Cut or drill ventilation openings in the floor and under the roof.
Drill countersunk pilot holes in primary work pieces. Drill regular pilot holes in secondary work pieces. This reduces a tendency for wood to split. It also makes for easy assembly in minutes with a power or hand held screwdriver.
Installations out of reach and much further should be installed and maintained by professionals: carpenters, electricians, line workers, etc. with the right equipment and experience.
The Sapsucker often excavates new cavities (often in the same tree). Fill the box with wood chips, or half full. It’s debated.
On fence lines mount boxes on the sides of posts facing the next post. The recessed position helps avoid cattle or other large animals that like to rub against them. Make a “bluebird trail” of several houses about 100 yards apart; further in wide open expanses and closer in clearings of wooded areas.
Monitor the boxes for unwanted squatters. Deter predators with steel posts or sheet metal wrapped around wood posts. Avoid shade, but also avoid prolonged direct sunlight through the entrance if possible.
Tree swallow nest boxes placed between bluebird nest boxes invite good neighbors that will help defend against sparrows, but these bird houses also invite sparrows, so monitor the swallow houses as well as the bluebird houses.
Chickadees, Nuthatches, Titmice, Wrens, Tree and Violet Green Swallows (and sparrows!) may use this nest box.
Birds that Nest in this Birdhouse
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker Birdhouse
for Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers & Eastern Bluebirds
Make a 5″ by 5″ floor (inside dimensions) and a 12″ floor to ceiling height (inside front). Drill a 1 1/2″ diameter entrance hole located 10″ above the floor (to top of hole). Cut or drill ventilation openings in the floor and under the roof.
Drill countersunk pilot holes in primary work pieces. Drill regular pilot holes in secondary work pieces. This reduces a tendency for wood to split. It also makes for easy assembly in minutes with a power or hand held screwdriver.
Installations out of reach and much further should be installed and maintained by professionals: carpenters, electricians, line workers, etc. with the right equipment and experience.
The Sapsucker often excavates new cavities (often in the same tree). Fill the box with wood chips, or half full. It’s debated.
On fence lines mount boxes on the sides of posts facing the next post. The recessed position helps avoid cattle or other large animals that like to rub against them. Make a “bluebird trail” of several houses about 100 yards apart; further in wide open expanses and closer in clearings of wooded areas.
Monitor the boxes for unwanted squatters. Deter predators with steel posts or sheet metal wrapped around wood posts. Avoid shade, but also avoid prolonged direct sunlight through the entrance if possible.
Tree swallow nest boxes placed between bluebird nest boxes invite good neighbors that will help defend against sparrows, but these bird houses also invite sparrows, so monitor the swallow houses as well as the bluebird houses.
Chickadees, Nuthatches, Titmice, Wrens, Tree and Violet Green Swallows (and sparrows!) may use this nest box.
Birds that Nest in this Birdhouse
Birds | Birdhouses | Plans | Forum
Birds | Birdhouses | Forum