The chicks use the horizontal grooves to hold onto then when they get older the hold onto the hole. Those marks are normal.
Ok. I just thought you weren’t happy with the wood being gouged out like that. If you had some hardware cloth around the hole, maybe they’d grab that and your wood would last longer.
The board is made of 1/2” cedar. The gouges give it character. Will take 10 or more to wear all the way through.
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I already have a nest. Might have an egg in a week or so. To keep sparrows from attacking the eggs, I put a ‘sparrow spooker’ above the bluebird house. The actual design would not work with my bluebird house set up. The idea is to hang this above the bluebird house once the first egg is laid. This scares the sparrows but not the bluebirds.
Had to adapt but it does the same thing. The red Mylar strips have to touch the top of the bird house.
https://www.etsy.com/listing/815819856/
My version
