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weeks.=A0 I&#8217;d never hea --=_2838068924f87fcbbea9a76ce460785a Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8 Hi Fritz; I've made my swallow boxes with a hole 1 1/4 in. height and I used a rasp to widen it to 1 1/2 in. This at least keeps out House sparrows. It might work for squirrels as well. Billy On 06 May 2019 13:07, Fritz McEvoy wrote: > Hi All, > I finally finished cleaning out my Tree Swallow boxes yesterday and have some interesting findings. > There were 30 boxes checked this spring but only 25 were available for nesting last year. Five boxes were left as is last season because they had either active flying squirrel nests or were near active squirrel nests. This year I was able to clean out and remove four of those boxes for repair and relocation to a better location. The fifth box contained a red squirrel and was again left as is for now. > The 25 other boxes were cleaned out, repaired and relocated where needed. Twelve of the boxes contained Tree Swallow nests with breeding evidence. Two of these nests had egg shells and none had dead chicks. There were no partial nests. There was 1 flying squirrel nest, 1 partial flying squirrel nest and 1 contained a red squirrel and roost/nest (I observed the squirrel bring nesting materials into the box). The box left was left as is for now. > June 2018 was a frigid month here and the tree swallows did not did not construct nests or breed during that period. They left the area in late June but returned in mid July when weather conditions were warmer. They then proceeded to build nests and breed in Mid to late July. This is when the 12 nests mentioned above were constructed. I've never seen this behavior before but it is interesting. > Last season I made and mounted 25 predator guards (3"x 3" x 1/4" plexi with a 1 1/2" hole) on the boxes not left as is for the flying squirrels. The results of this experiment were positive but mixed. None of the guards showed any sign of squirrel damage but three had either red or flying squirrel roosts/nests and in one I observed a red squirrel entering a box with nesting materials. This tells me that squirrels (both red and flying) have no problem entering a nest box through the 1 1/2" hole that is accepted as standard in the nest box literature. Whether a squirrel can use the box for breeding seems unlikely (a pregnant squirrel would be pretty big for an 1 1/2" hole) but it seems using it has a roost or for predation could be possible. I'll check the box in a couple of weeks a to confirm if its a nest or roost. > I can't find much info on whether a smaller hole size will keep tree swallows from using the nest box or how small a hole is required to keep out squirrels. All the commercial predator guards I saw on line had 1 1/2" holes and I saw no reports of them not keeping out squirrels. It's all a puzzle to me. All the best. > Fritz McEvoy > Sunrise Valley (near Dingwall) --=_2838068924f87fcbbea9a76ce460785a Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Content-Type: text/html; charset=UTF-8 <!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN"> <html><body> <p>Hi Fritz; </p> <p>I've made my swallow boxes with a hole 1 1/4 in. height and I used a ras= p to widen it to 1 1/2 in. This at least keeps out House sparro= ws. It might work for squirrels as well. </p> <p>Billy</p> <p>On 06 May 2019 13:07, Fritz McEvoy wrote:</p> <blockquote type=3D"cite" style=3D"padding-left:5px; border-left:#1010ff 2p= x solid; margin-left:5px; width:100%"><!-- html ignored --><!-- head ignore= d --><!-- meta ignored --> <div style=3D"font-family: Calibri,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; c= olor: #000000;">Hi All, </div> <div style=3D"font-family: Calibri,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; c= olor: #000000;"> I finally finished cleaning out my Tree= Swallow boxes yesterday and have some interesting findings. </div> <div style=3D"font-family: Calibri,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; c= olor: #000000;"> There were 30 boxes checked this spring but o= nly 25 were available for nesting last year. Five boxes were left as is las= t season because they had either active flying squirrel nests or were near = active squirrel nests. This year I was able to clean out and remove four of= those boxes for repair and relocation to a better location. The fifth box = contained a red squirrel and was again left as is for now.</div> <div style=3D"font-family: Calibri,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; c= olor: #000000;"> The 25 other boxes were cleaned out, re= paired and relocated where needed. Twelve of the boxes contained Tree Swall= ow nests with breeding evidence. Two of these nests had egg shells and none= had dead chicks. There were no partial nests. There was 1 flying squ= irrel nest, 1 partial flying squirrel nest and 1 contained a red squirrel a= nd roost/nest (I observed the squirrel bring nesting materials into the box= ). The box left was left as is for now.</div> <div style=3D"font-family: Calibri,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; c= olor: #000000;"> June 2018 was a frigid month here and = the tree swallows did not did not construct nests or breed during that peri= od. They left the area in late June but returned in mid July when weather c= onditions were warmer. They then proceeded to build nests and breed in Mid = to late July. This is when the 12 nests mentioned above were constructed. I= 've never seen this behavior before but it is interesting.</div> <div style=3D"font-family: Calibri,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; c= olor: #000000;"> Last season I made and mou= nted 25 predator guards (3"x 3" x 1/4" plexi with a 1 1/2" hole) on t= he boxes not left as is for the flying squirrels. The results of this exper= iment were positive but mixed. None of the guards showed any sign of squirr= el damage but three had either red or flying squirrel roosts/nests and in o= ne I observed a red squirrel entering a box with nesting materials. This te= lls me that squirrels (both red and flying) have no problem entering a nest= box through the 1 1/2" hole that is accepted as standard in the nest box l= iterature. Whether a squirrel can use the box for breeding seems unlikely (= a pregnant squirrel would be pretty big for an 1 1/2" hole) but it seems us= ing it has a roost or for predation could be possible. I'll check the box i= n a couple of weeks a to confirm if its a nest or roost.</div> <div style=3D"font-family: Calibri,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; c= olor: #000000;">&nb