blue tits

[fulhamphil]

Could i expect bluetits to visit my garden for longer than just 5 minutes?

[Wild-Woman]

Originally Posted by fulhamphil

Could i expect bluetits to visit my garden for longer than just 5 minutes?

Now is the time to put up a nice little nest box that they may get interested in before mating season. That will keep them in your garden. A nice nut feeder too, will keep them hanging around.

[leon-b]

ive just made a bird box but have not yet put the hole in i have made a fairly large box, is this any good or shall i make this one starling size
leon

[Wild-Woman]

Originally Posted by leon-b

ive just made a bird box but have not yet put the hole in i have made a fairly large box, is this any good or shall i make this one starling size
leon

Blue tits need a very tiny hole to get through.Perhaps your box would be better suited to robins or sparrows. Good for you leon-can we see the finished item when you put it up?

[Elizabeth B]

Originally Posted by leon-b

ive just made a bird box but have not yet put the hole in i have made a fairly large box, is this any good or shall i make this one starling size
leon

The RSPB give lots of info about boxes here:
Nestboxes for small birds - The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds

However, we feel that their recommended sizes for the holes are rather small. Our bluetit boxes have 28mm holes, but when a great tit was desperate to use one of these in 2005, it didn't go inside until the hole was enlarged to about 32mm. You can read how we helped him to make the box his own if you go to 9th April 2005 in our bluetit diary.

Malcolm & Elizabeth's Bluetit Pages

[Gill Catton]

Originally Posted by Elizabeth B

The RSPB give lots of info about boxes here:
Nestboxes for small birds - The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds

However, we feel that their recommended sizes for the holes are rather small. Our bluetit boxes have 28mm holes, but when a great tit was desperate to use one of these in 2005, it didn't go inside until the hole was enlarged to about 32mm. You can read how we helped him to make the box his own if you go to 9th April 2005 in our bluetit diary.

Malcolm & Elizabeth's Bluetit Pages

Presumably though a great tit can out-compete with a blue tit for a box, being a larger bird and a smaller entrance measurements prevent the great tits from doing this and give the blue tit's the edge on a nest box?

[Elizabeth B]

Originally Posted by Gill Catton

Presumably though a great tit can out-compete with a blue tit for a box, being a larger bird and a smaller entrance measurements prevent the great tits from doing this and give the blue tit's the edge on a nest box?

I'm not sure who would win a "battle" for a box. Bluetits are feisty little things though - they often see off a robin from the window feeder where we offer mealworms.

According to the RSPB site, the hole in our box was big enough for a great tit, but it never went inside, in spite of many visits when it just peeped in. Once the hole had been enlarged (and the mess left by the roosting bluetit had been removed) the great tit was in there within half an hour - and the next day the female brought in enough moss to half fill the box.

[nightshade]

Your post made me watch the tits in our garden ,they are checking out nest boxes
but there are field mice in mine
The only reason a bird (or anything else for that matter) is that there is shelter and food
Food only means they fly back to shelter provide both..........

[leon-b]

i have a 28mm and a 32mm drill bit, what size shall i use for the blue tit ?
leon

[nightshade]

Hi Leon 28mm,see previous post by ElizabethB post