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Re: [SHADEGARDENS] Wrens & Slugs

In a message dated 98-03-14 19:27:52 EST, Dean Sliger writes:

<< The books usually say that wren houses should be 8-10 feet off the ground.
 The traditional "wren house" is a squat pentagon shape, with a slide out
 bottom; these can be hung from a branch -- in a large shrub or small tree --
 by a wire (not hanging on the end of a wire, just hooked to the branch).

 The trick to a wren house is that the hole needs to be the right size.  As I
 recall, a nickel is the correct size for a wren.  >>

To Dean's comments on wren birdhouses,  I would like to add a couple more
taken from the MN DNR book "Woodworking for Wildlife":

   "This is the only kind of birdhouse that can be free-hanging from an eye-
screw.  All
   other birdhouses need to be firmly anchored......Don't put a perch on the
nest
   box.  Perches invite sparrows to try to use the nest box.  If you have a
perch on a
   wren house, take it off."

   Also, this book gives the entrance hole diameter as 1", but can be 1 1/8"
if you
   want to use it for chickadees too....and still be too small for house
sparrows to
   enter.  (Is that about the size of a nickel?)   According to this book,
wrens
   sometimes take over the nests of tree swallows, chickadees, and eastern
   bluebirds after puncturing their eggs with their bills.  Oh well, there's
always
   something....I think the slug control and bubbling songs of the wrens
outweigh
   the egg predation problems, but then, they aren't my eggs getting
punctured.

Cindy Johnson
White Bear Lake, MN
zone 4a
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