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nest box material (1 Viewer)

pankhi

New member
Hello,
I have 6 wooden wren/chickadee nest boxes in my yard. Over time, the wood on the nest boxes has rotted and I am considering replacing them using store bought boxes. I am looking at the boxes made from recycled material in hopes that they will last longer than the wooden ones. I am finding conflicting information: the Massachusetts Audubon Society says not to use plastic nest boxes because they heat up too much while the National Audubon Society sells the recycled plastic nest boxes. So what is the verdict? I have searched the Nestboxes forum using the words "plastic" and "recycled" but have not come across the answer to my question above.

Also, if it is better to go with the wooden boxes, cedar boxes seem to be favored in this forum. But what about the oils? - Pet care information sheets usually warn against using cedar chips for bedding.

Thank you very much for your time.

Respectfully,

pankhi
 
Hi pankhi and a warm welcome to you from those of us on staff ere at BF :t:

My thoughts would be to stay away from the plastic nest boxes. I use the unfinished wood ones you can buy.

As far as nesting material, most birds will grab their own supplies from the flora around especially Chickadees. My wrens use the pine straw that is plentiful in my yard due to the 30 plus pine trees I have so you could possibly buy some pine straw from your local garden center and lay it around if you aren't around any pine trees. Dog hair (from brushing) could be hung on a clothes line and they will help themselves to that but whatever you do, do not use dryer vent materials as most is non cotton and is not good for a bird nest due to the dampness that the polyester fuzz continues to hold. Hope this helps.
 
Nest box material

Dear KCFoggin,

Thank you for your welcome and your reply.

Based on you advice, I am now planning on getting cedar nest boxes from Cedarnest.

Thank you again.
pankhi
 
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