Installing birdhouse poles with bird house feeders in your yard will certainly invite a flock of birds. Birds often visit houses to take a rest from flight. Mostly, they do it on trees. It would be a treat, if they chance upon a place where water and birdseeds are available.
If this is your first time to use bird house feeders, the birds may not immediately go to your place. It will take days, even weeks before birds know about your preparations.
Even then, you cannot guarantee that birds will make your house a regular place to visit. However, there is no need to worry as this is normal. Birds will take time to realize just that. If you continue to refill your birdseeds and water container, birds will soon visit your house more than once.
If they live just within the locality, expect that you will have frequent visitors. Sometimes, birds are in constant flight. They move from one place to another, and it may be that the birds that pecked on your seeds and drank water on your container are nomads. Hence, you may not see them often. Maybe when they return to their path, they may visit your place again.
Bird house feeders are made of different materials. Some of them are plastic, steel, and wood. Among these three, the wood is for certain, the best material. It is durable, and has excellent insulation system, so heat and moisture cannot dwell on the birdhouse pole. For the choice of wood, two of the best options are the 3-quarter inch thick red cedar and bald cypress. You can use a pine and exterior grade of plywood, although you do not have to expect for perfection.
It does not matter whether the wood has rough-cut finish, or a slab. What matters is the interior, which should not be treated with preservatives or stains. Fumes from such chemicals are sure to harm the birds. Both the cypress and red cedar woods do not need a painting job. On the other hand, plywood houses and pine are sure to last longer when coated with water-based latex paint on their exterior portion.
Depending on the birds you wish to serve, the color of the paint varies. For purple martin, the houses are generally painted white. For other birds, the choices include tan, gray or dull green. If you use dull light colors, the predators may not notice them easily as these colors reflect heat. Remember that the interior side of the birdhouse is not painted.
In selecting the wooden birdhouses, ensure that all the joints are glued before they were nailed, as this can extend the life of the bird house feeders. Moreover, this ensures that the galvanized or brass shank nails, screws, and hinges resist rusting, and make the boxes to hold together more tightly as years passed.