Eastern Bluebird Information

 Habitat & Houses     

Blue Birds will not normally nest within city limits though not impossible depending on your area.  Farmlands or open fields with short grasses, sparse trees and nearby fence posts or wire lines for perching are preferred.  Houses should be placed in pairs 10-20 feet apart, 4-6 feet above ground with entry facing away from direct sunlight to prevent over-heating of the nest area.  A Northeast direction for entrance is recommended.  If your area permits more than one pair of houses you should place them about 100-200 yards apart. 

There are many birdhouse prints or charts of information about the proper entry hole size for the Blue Birds.  Most recommend it should be an 1-1/2” hole diameter but we have never had successful results with them.  We learned along time ago from an old friend, an avid bird watcher and enthusiast, to make them with our unusual elongated entry.  Taking his advice, with a bit of doubt, we placed our first birdhouses out and to our surprise within a very short time had our first pair of Blue Birds and yet another right after.  They also nested again later in the season.  This experience made believers of us and we never wanted to change what we found to be tried and true in results. 

Always remember to clean your birdhouse out when fledglings have left the nest so you too can experience the enjoyment of watching more pairs nesting, sometimes as many as three in a year.  Access to feed and water supplies are equally as important to the birds if you want to keep them coming to your backyard sanctuary.  Blue Birds typically eat mealworms but also enjoy currants, raisins and berries. 

As a final note we do not recommend painting these houses, a wood sealer with light stain would be more suitable.  If you choose to stain or paint them do not paint or stain the interior or opening , use light colors that will not cause house interior to over heat in summer and allow ample time for their odor to subside before mounting them.

We at Buyforthebirds hope you found this information helpful.