How to Hang a Bird House

Source: wikiHow

For bird lovers across the world, birdhouses are a great way to give birds a safe place to lay their eggs and rear their young. A well-located birdhouse also lets you keep an eye on the parent birds as they feed the young, and you may be lucky enough to catch a glimpse of the fledglings!

When you hang a birdhouse, aim to keep the birds safe from predators and to situate the birdhouse at an angle you can easily observe. Purchase a birdhouse from a local hardware store, or pick up a few supplies and make your own.

1. 1 Mount the birdhouse on a metal pole for complete protection. No predator on the planet will be able to climb up a metal pole and eat the eggs out of the birdhouse. So, situating the birdhouse at the top of a metal pole (which you can purchase at a hardware or home-improvement store) will keep the birds safe.^[1]
   • Mounting the birdhouse on a metal pole gives an additional benefit. Since you can drive the pole wherever you like in your front- or backyard, you have complete control over the birdhouse’s location.
2. 2 Place the birdhouse on a brick surface if one is near your home. If you have brick siding on your home or, for example, an old brick wall nearby, try hanging the birdhouse on this surface. Brick is difficult for predators to climb up since it’s quite hard and resistant to their claws. Unless the brick wall is lower than 3–4 feet (0.91–1.22 m), birds will be safe in a house mounted on brick.^[2]
   • In most cases, you can drive nails directly into brick without causing structural harm.
3. 3 Hang the birdhouse on smooth wooden siding for a convenient option. If you don’t have any brick surfaces near your home and prefer to keep things simple, hang the birdhouse on a section of smooth siding on your home or a shed. Predators like skunks or weasels won’t be able to scamper up the siding, and the birds and their eggs will be safe.^[3]
   • A downside to this approach is that it may be difficult to see the birds if the birdhouse is hung on a wall with no windows nearby.
4. 4 Locate a birdhouse with a small entrance hole on a fence post. Unless they are very smooth, fence posts are relatively easy for lightweight predators to climb up. However, you can work around this problem by only hanging birdhouses with an entrance hole smaller than 1.25 inches (3.2 cm) in diameter on fence posts. Even the smallest of predators will find it challenging to slip through this small of a hole.^[4]
   • Be aware that this size of hole will also prevent larger birds from building a nest in the birdhouse. Smaller birds like nuthatches and chickadees will have no problem fitting in the hole, though.
   • This may be a good option if you live in a rural area with many fences, or if you don’t have any wooden siding or brick walls near your home.
5. 5 Situate the birdhouse on a tree if you have no other options. Driving long nails or screws into a living tree can cause serious damage, so avoid hanging a birdhouse on a tree if other options are available. If you have no other choices, use as few screws as possible to hang the birdhouse. Find a tree with a diameter larger than 4 inches (10 cm), and remember to dispose of the screws if you decide to take down the birdhouse.^[5]
   • While hanging a birdhouse on a tree will damage the tree, it will still provide a safer nesting location for birds than if they had to make do with a natural nesting location.

1. 1 Hang the birdhouse between 5–12 ft (1.5–3.7 m) above the ground. If the birdhouse is mounted too low, it may be vulnerable to predators; too high, and many species of bird won’t want to live in it. Mounting the house 5–12 feet (1.5–3.7 m) high will attract a number of bird species, and also allow you to watch the birds without having to strain your neck.^[6]
   • Smaller birds often favor lower nests. For example, if you’re hoping to have wrens, chickadees, or nuthatches nest in your birdhouse, hang the house at exactly 5 feet (1.5 m).
2. 2 Situate your birdhouse so it faces east to keep it warm. In nearly all climates, having your birdhouse face east is best for the birds. If you don’t know which direction is east where you live, use a compass to find out. If facing the birdhouse east isn’t a possibility due to the location of your house or yard, facing the birdhouse to the south is the second-best option since south-facing birdhouses will receive more sunlight than…

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