farmquilter

My birdhouse is on a 4" metal pipe set in cement, have one of those dog neck cones at the bottom of the house. This morning my Callie was setting ON the house, went and found the 4 eggs are gone. Callie is the cat that seems to be 'spring loaded' and always gets up high.
Should I put a piece of wood on the back of the house and stick it in the pipe to raise the box higher. Do not want it too high for other birds to set up house and scare off the blues.

Any hints that are easy to apply or install is greatly appreciated. I really like the birds and they usually set a second time.

marge954

Try using heavy duty aluminium foil. If you fold and glue 3 to 4 layers together. Then glue to a thin sheet of plywood that extends slightly beyond the edges of the birdhouse. Tack the plywood to the top of the birdhouse. Aluminium foil freaks my cat out. She doesn't even try to get on the patio table anymore after several times of skidding across the foil. My neighbor used it on his tables and counters tops and said it worked on all of his cats.

toverly

You could also try a "collar" around the pole. I have heard that cats won't jump where they can't see.

madamekelly

Smear a nice thick coat of Vaseline on the pole below the bird house. Cats hate to touch greasy things. If that does not thrill you, then wrapping wide packing tape around the pole sticky side out for a our 2-3 feet, securing the ends under pieces of tape right side out at the top and bottom, again, cats hate touching it.

farmquilter

Vaseline might be the quickest thing for me to try. She has scratch marks on the pole on the back side of the bird opening. She has got to be jumping that high to catch the top edge of the pipe. Will put the vaseline in that area and where ever I see scratch marks.
Guess me putting the clear dog cone collar on it is just not working well enough for her.
I did mention she is spring loaded and loves anything up high.
So tonight it is the greasy vaseline for starters.


I do have a black trash can lid but would need to saw at it to make it work under the box. Should do that soon so the birds will not be afraid of it if they come back to try again.

Just might do the tin foil as my number three, want to make sure she does not get up there.

Thank you for the help

farmquilter

Have the vaseline smeared on the pipe, the dog cone and also on the sides of the nest box. Used a disposable glove and was done in no time and I am not a mess.
Will keep an eye on it tomorrow to see how Callie acts when she sees or smells the vaseline. They are in the garage overnight so will see her go to visit the area.
So plan A is in place, in hopes plan B or C is not needed.

Battle Axe

Are you sure it was the cat? Snakes like eggs, but cats generally need something moving. Bluebirds are tough to raise as they have a lot of predators and don't nest too high off the ground. Your pets will see you paying attention to a bluebird nest and get jealous.

Lena1952

If there was no evidence of the eggs, my first guess would be a snake ate them, not the kitty. And I don't have a fix for that issue -sorry.

Kitsie

If not a success, use a collar that is not see through. Good luck!

maviskw

We were given a talk on bluebirds just last month. She had a bluebird house with a "cage" mounted on the front. It was a piece of chicken wire with about a half inch or so mesh. A piece of that about 6 in. by 26 in. was folded into a square box with the sides being 6 in. and 7 in. There is no top or bottom to this box. The wire box was mounted onto the front of the house so that the bluebird had to fly through it in order to get into the house. She said the birds had no trouble doing this, but coons could not reach in to get the eggs. I'm sure that would keep cats out, too, and maybe even snakes.