black-capped chickadees not using nextboxes twice.... (1 Viewer)

[Starzz]

I have 3 nestboxes around the yard. The chickadess have built in all of them once, and thats it. We've cleaned them out after they use them, but they still don't nest in them again. Any ideas why??

Sue

 

[amkid247]

i think i read that putting some wood shavings or sawdust in the box will help attract them as it mimics a hole in a tree.

 

[J Huff]

Hi Sue,

Wood shavings are a great idea.

Just a thought, what are you using to clean them?

John

 

[Starzz]

Hi!

I use hot water with a few drops of beach added, then rinse them off really really well.

 

[amkid247]

ok try the fine woodchips/ sawdust and i think black capped chickadees like mosses!
so try this
Materials: 12 ounces beer (can substitute 1 ½ cups buttermilk), 4 to 6 cups garden moss (purchased from a nursery, or found in shady, moist areas of a yard or garden), ½ teaspoon sugar, blender, paintbrushes.

Instructions:

1) Start by tearing the moss into smaller pieces and placing them into the blender.

2) Add the other ingredients and blend mixture to the consistency of a smooth and creamy milkshake.

3) Now locate a suitable spot for painting, one that is damp and shady.

4) Paint the mossy mixture into whatever design you wish. The moss milkshake can be applied to many different textures like brick, rock, wood, steel and clay, to name a few.

5) Return from time to time to check the area to see that it is keeping moist.

try painting the moss mixture right onto the birdhouse and they might like that better.

 

[do re meep meep]

I have 3 nestboxes around the yard. The chickadess have built in all of them once, and thats it. We've cleaned them out after they use them, but they still don't nest in them again. Any ideas why??

I seem to recall a study saying that in the wild, chickadees do not reuse their own nesting cavities (although they do use old woodpecker cavities sometimes). Perhaps they want to avoid parasites, perhaps they want to avoid predators that in the mean time have come to know about the nest cavity, who knows what is going on in a chickadee brain.

But be that as it may, you may want to try giving your nestboxes the appearance of a new nest cavity by moving them a few feet away from the old location, by rotating the entrance hole in a different direction, by painting the outside of the box in a different colour (don't paint the inside of the box as you surely know), etc.

Keep us posted, and the best of luck!