When do I clean out my bird house?
August 18, 2010 Bird House Feeder
I live in south east ohio. is it too late to clean out last years nests in my outside bird houses? when is a good time to clean them out? fall? winter? spring?
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Comments (2)
Hummingbirds are fun, entertaining, full of energy and it’s easy to attract hummingbirds.
Birdhouses should be cleaned out and taken down at the end of the breeding season.
"Quick Tips: Clean out nestboxes as soon as the baby birds fledge, or at a minimum at the end of the nesting season. Avoid inhaling dust/detritus! Dispose of the nest far away."
http://www.sialis.org/clean.htm
There is no reason to leave them up over the winter, as birds do not live in birdhouses, in spite of the name. Think of the birdhouse as a nursery, not a bedroom or house. The parent birds build a nest inside the birdhouse. They lay their eggs, hatch them, care for the babies until the babies fledge (leave the nest), then they are finished with the birdhouse (unless they lay another clutch of eggs) until the next breeding season.
If you leave the birdhouse up over the winter, you are liable to find some unwanted residents in it come spring – mice, chipmunks, squirrels and other mammals will often winter in the snug birdhouse, and they may be reluctant to turn it back over to the birds in the spring.
We do ours at the end of winter. Some birds will actually use the old nests to live during the winter. We wait til around early Feb to clean ours out.