Roosting Boxes for Our Feathered Friends

Roosting boxes are valuable at any time during the year, but especially during the autumn and into the winter seasons. The autumn can be a very busy time of year in your backyard. Travelers from the north may stop by at your bird feeders and birdbaths to refuel and refresh themselves as they migrate southward for the winter. Meanwhile some of our feathered friends are preparing to spend the winter with us. To provide wild bird shelters for these hardy birds we can do a number of things including building boxes for roosting.

Roosting Boxes for Wild Bird Shelters

Specially made boxes will provide a spot where wild birds can huddle together or singularly for warmth during the depths of a winter storm or deep freezing temperatures.

Although some boxes for roosting may look similar to a bird house there are dramatic differences.

• Instead, of an opening near the top of the front, the birds enter the box via an opening near the bottom. This “basement” entrance serves two purposes.
1. Wind cannot blow into the chamber and fill it up with snow like in a traditional birdhouse.

2. Heat rises and any heat created by the birds huddling together is trapped inside keeping them snug and warm.

• Unlike birdhouses, a box made for roosting does not have air vents, this keeps the body heat produced by the birds trapped inside the box.

• Wild birds will need a spot to perch inside the box. This can be achieved by inserting perches in a staggered pattern up each side of the inside of the box. Or small branches and twigs can be arranged inside the box to provide resting spots.

There are also features which are beneficial when building bird houses and roosting boxes for both to possess.

• Like a bird house, a roosting box should not have a perch located at the outside entrance. If you can’t resist installing a perch, attach a short, stubby one. Perches will only assist predators and a short stubby perch will be too small to assist most predators.

• Another important feature for a roosting box, as well as a bird house, is the ability to be able to clean it out from time to time. Making it possible to open one side, the roof or the bottom is a real plus.

A bird house should be cleaned out in the fall when nesting season is over if it is going to be put away until the following spring. But a roosting shelter can be left up all year. It will need to be cleaned out two or three times per year depending on the amount of visitors it receives. No doubt, from time to time it may be chosen as a location for nest building. This of course is not a problem. You may wish to set up another wild bird shelter in another corner of your yard for the “over-nighters”.

Locating Roosting Boxes in the Backyard

Mount them in a position in your yard in close proximity to your feeders. “Close proximity” in this situation is not closer than 10 feet. This enables our feathered friends to dart back and forth from their safe haven to find food to sustain themselves in the cold weather. But it provides a comfortable distance for the “sleepers” to not feel uneasy about the “diners” down the hall. .

Using Bird Houses

You can turn a bird house into a roosting box too. After nesting season is over when the autumn season is on, a bird house can be converted if it is going to be used as a roosting box. This renovation can be done by mounting the bird house upside down and sealing the air vents.

Bluebird style houses convert best for this purpose. Bird houses with over-hanging roofs cause a problem as they will collect rain when inverted and direct it towards the walls of the bird house. The front of a bluebird house usually has a little over-hang as well. But some are sloped downward when inverted, in a position that allows the rain to drain away from the bird house.

It will also be necessary to insert a few branches or twigs to provide perching venues for the birds when using an upside-down bird house as a place to roost for wild birds.

Of course bird houses will often be used just as they are as places to roost by wild birds. They are just not as efficient at holding the heat inside. Cleaning them out, plugging the air vents and inserting a few twigs will help.

Providing wild bird shelters rounds out the experience of observing wild bird behaviour. You will see them exhibit behaviour that will be fascinating and educational.

Need More Information on Providing Shelter for Wild Birds?

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