Carolina wren houses

The box

NestWatch’s Carolina Wren design is a partly open box, 5 in wide and 6½ in front to back inside, and 7 in deep. Instead of a round hole it has a slot 5 in wide and 2½ in high. Do not drill a 2½ in round hole in its place.

NestWatch’s placement table also gives this wren a 1½ in round hole, the bluebird’s size, as an alternative to the slot; the drawing shows the partly open box.

The slot’s height above the floor is not in our sources: take it from NestWatch’s plan for the box.

Where to put it

Fix it to a building, 3 to 6 ft up, in a sheltered, partly enclosed spot near shrubs. It can face any direction. Keep Carolina Wren boxes 330 ft apart.

Guarding a box on a wall

A pole baffle does nothing for a box fixed to a building. Look at what could climb to it or reach it from a ledge, a railing or a roof, and choose a spot they cannot reach. A 5 in roof overhang makes reaching in from above harder.

Other wrens

Most round-hole boxes sold as wren houses are made for the House Wren, which is not one of the feeder birds this guide covers. NestWatch’s placement table gives the House Wren a 1 in round hole, 5 to 10 ft up; its House Wren page has the full box.

Feeding Carolina wrens

At feeders they take suet, mealworms, peanut hearts and hulled sunflower.