Yes they do, hubby made me a couple and there are swallows in them every year.

Make sure that they are not made out of pressure treated or chemical treated wood, nor painted with toxic materials. Oftentimes, the birdhouses made for decorative purposes are never intended to be used for living animals.

Please be careful, If you are not going to place the houses on a slick metal pole with predator baffles, plug the holes. You can just paint a small pice of wood black and put behind the hole, it wont disturb the look and it will keep the cavity nesting birds safer. If you do intend to be a nest box landlord, you should have a NABBS approved box and really do your homework. Visit sialis.org to see what is involved. Happy gardening
Lisa

thanks everyone for the suggestions. We cut a panel in the side (for a clean out door) and will be mounting it on a pole since my trees are still a little short for bird houses. (tallest one is 6' right now!) The pole has been acting as a support for an old climbing rose that has some partularly evil thorns on it. We have very few animals in our yard thanks to cyclone fencing that only allows things the size of a mouse through the gaps. But in case squirrels find their way in (and I have an old calico with a bad foot who couldn't climb to save herself) will the throny roses keep down predators like cats and squirrels? Raccoons can't get in unless someone has known them to climb a 6 foot cyclone fence. And if someone DOES know this HELP!

Please don't mount your birdhouses on trees. You set them up perfectly for predators. Please go to sialis.org as lisa suggested and read up before you decide to become a landlord for our feathered friends. I don't know what a cyclone fence is, but we had raccoons climb our cedar sided house up to the roof.

I did this as a project for my kids one fall and although it was fun it wasn't really fruitful. We got the plain pine houses from Michaels as well. We painted them with acrylics and then sealed them but the problem with these "cheaper" houses is that they are really made to be "decorative" and not to stand up to (at least) the weather where I live. Our little houses lasted on 2 years before they started warping and then literally falling apart at the seams. Real birdhouses are either glued and nailed or glued and screwed for proper...how do you say...standing up to the elements. These decorative birdhouses are just glued together and sometimes a few staples added (mostly the ones with round parts). After 2 years the glue is toast and the things just fall apart. This is ok if you are an avid crafter but in hindsight I won't do it again because in addition to crafstmanship, the house should also have the benefit of proper airflow as well as ability to open and clean it out (neither of which the craft birdhouses have).

I just think it's worth the extra 10 or so dollars to get a well constructed house and then do your crafting to embellish it if that's what you like to do.

For my kids it was ok for a first project. They were happy with how they looked and we put them up but from now on I will go with the bit more expensive house and do it up right.

Barb
southern Ontario, CANADA

Barb - I was hoping someone else out there had actually tried it and would let me know how it went. I will definitely keep in mind the glue and outdoor element issue. Thanks so much for the advice!

Please dont use those houses for actual cavity nesting bird houses. It is just NOT safe for the bids. You HAVE to educate yourself before becoming a landlord, or PLEASE block the holes!

Oh Well...

I guess I will continue to enjoy the craft project and accept that these are short term decorations for my yard...

my thought...

if the birds do not occupy these Michael's Craft Store Birdhouses... then the rules of birdhouse placement does not really apply...