Saturday, October 15, 2011

Chat Back for October 15

Responding to comments left since the last time I did Chat Back.

Anonymous asked . . .
Hi When do you clean out your bird houses? In the spring, or before frost? I have a little bird, really tiny, but not a hummer, who builds the nest with sticks only. It looks like so much work I hate to take it down. She scolds me when ever I walk by and I enjoy her so much, I want to encourage her to come back.

Sounds like you have a wren. They're little birds, very opinionated, and they fill a nest box with sticks. Assuming you live in a climate that has winter there's no hurry to clean the box out.

During nesting season I usually wait a week after the little ones leave the nest because sometimes they come back to roost in the nestbox at night. But occasionally another bird pair will start building a nest right over the top of the empty one before I get it cleaned out and then I leave it alone. My boxes are often used 2-3 times a season.

Once nesting season is over, I'm lazy about cleaning out the nest boxes, but it's good to clean them out before the nights get chilly because the birds to sometimes take shelter in them at night.

The picture below is a wren nest built on top of a bluebird nest. The wrens were in a hurry and I didn't get a chance to clean the box out before they claimed it.





Dorothy asked . . .
So do I want to know what you do regarding the potty during the daytime?

The wild paths on the back three acres are very private this time of year. The goldenrod is done blooming, but it's still standing at the level of my head.

I HATE porta pots. This was much cheaper and smelled a whole lot better.





Dorothy asked . . .
Did you remember to take "before" pictures?

I did not take before pictures. I don't want to remember.

The company that did the remodel did take before pictures. One of the reasons I went with them is the nasty before pictures they have on their website. Somehow it made my bathroom less embarrassing knowing they had seen worse.


Marcia asked . . .
Did you make the rug Pappy is resting on?

Nope. It's a cheapy rug from Meijers.


4 comments:

  1. Ha! Ha! I'm almost sorry I asked. SO glad we had close neighbors when our potty was out of order. They should be done soon, though, right? At least before the first snow. I don't even want to think about that!

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  2. Common practice when we had our 40 acres in the bush. However, no one warned one woman about the nettle!

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  3. Just noticed your time difference. You have (9:57 pm. Down here it's a glorious spring day with a temp about 20°C and it's almost 1:00pm with daylight saving.

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  4. THe woods make a fine potty.......!!!

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