Newbie question on blocking entrances

[Joe W]

Hello! A quick question on ways to block my entrances till the Martins arrive. I have SREH openings on both my gourds and the house openings. I have the gourds blocked with the plastic clip on's that came with them. The question is for the SREH holes on the house, I want something effective but easy to remove. Right now I'm using Duct tape!

Several pairs of House Sparrows have been evicted and openings are covered with tape. Any advice is appreciated.

Joe

[Mhoover]

Use the spring loaded clothespins. Clip one on each side of the hole. that is what I have used.

[apundt-TX]

I use one of the kids left over pool noodles or some of the pvc pipe insulation.
Pretty cheap fix.

[jr 2]

I use duck tape;;;;duct tape is hard too get off but I have used it before;i use it too cover the top of my poles so water won't get in when I take houses down for winter;;jr2

[kehunter]

I grabbed a discarded "coroplast" advertising sign (election or some such) and cut plugs to fit. If you cut the coroplast with the "face" sheeting hanging out a bit past the corrugations, they snap securely into place on a thin-wall house door (such as my plastic S&K house).

[Anthony Neira]

Every reply I've ever read sounds great. I just get lazy & get cheap Blue Painters tape and put one low strip horizontally & another above & OVER LAPPING Slighting the first. I get the tape from either the 1$ store or the crafts store that has the 50% coupon that comes hidden deep in the Sunday paper, but you can ONLY use it Mon. - Sat. Because they are the Only store that Still stays closed on Sunday ! Just like the "Good 'ole Days ", When people HAD to go do something OUTSIDE on Sundays ! Good Luck!

[Emil Pampell-Tx]

I suggest that now is the perfect time to trap the house sparrows. You are wasting your time if you evict the house sparrows, they will come right back when you open the housing. Really, I am serious, the sparrows are so easy to trap, leave the holes with traps set open where the sparrows can go in and get trapped. It depends upon how many sparrows you may have, but you can nearly stop them from coming to your housing by trapping them early. Use any of the suggestions above to close the holes that do not have traps.

[John Miller]

The pool noodle pieces work great. Cut off about a two inch section and stuff in the hole. A lovely lime green looks cool. It's hard to find off season, but surely not near Panama City.

[Dave Reynolds]

Joe ----- I used to use clothespins, but switched to short pieces of pool noodles... They work great....

Dave

[Joe W]

WOW! Thanks to everyone for the huge response. I now have plenty of options to block the entrances while I wait for the Martins.

Thanks again!

Joe

[tonyg]

I have 126 gourds...I've always used a strip of the thicker gray duck tape..cheap and works for me...

[Vern1]

Initially, I just left them open.
Later after I switched to gourds with crescent openings, I used a pair of clothes pins in a criss-cross pattern to keep birds out.
I switched to short pieces of foam pipe insulation because it closed the hole better and helps keep wasps from entering and building nests.

Before I did a modification on my first rack where I had the winch mounted too high on the pole, you had to use a ladder to check the top row of gourds.
There is nothing quite as exciting as removing a clothes pin and peering inside at the exact time an angry wasp is coming out because you disturbed the gourd and watch them land on your nose and let you have it, not once but three times....all while standing on a small step ladder a few feet off the ground.

The wife witnessed the whole incident and was quite amused as she went to get the sting stop and wasp spray.
Let me tell you, that was NOT a "Happy Dance" I was doing!

[Chuck4]

Initially, I just left them open.
Later after I switched to gourds with crescent openings, I used a pair of clothes pins in a criss-cross pattern to keep birds out.
I switched to short pieces of foam pipe insulation because it closed the hole better and helps keep wasps from entering and building nests.

Before I did a modification on my first rack where I had the winch mounted too high on the pole, you had to use a ladder to check the top row of gourds.
There is nothing quite as exciting as removing a clothes pin and peering inside at the exact time an angry wasp is coming out because you disturbed the gourd and watch them land on your nose and let you have it, not once but three times....all while standing on a small step ladder a few feet off the ground.

The wife witnessed the whole incident and was quite amused as she went to get the sting stop and wasp spray.
Let me tell you, that was NOT a "Happy Dance" I was doing!

Last year as I was cleaning my gourds, two of them had wasp nests in them! I had left them up until November, and the wasps had moved in sometime after the martins left. Fortunately it was cold, and I had gloves on. They were in a state of torpor.

[krushing]

The pool noodle pieces work great. Cut off about a two inch section and stuff in the hole. A lovely lime green looks cool. It's hard to find off season, but surely not near Panama City.

I cut off about a 2 inch section and then cut it in half so it fits the SREH perfectly. Tight enough to hold on in the wind and easy enough to pull right out without leaving the sticky residue duck tape can leave.

[Billy Stephens]

I use a 5 ounce Dixie Cup. It has ridges on it that firmly seat when you push them in. Sometimes if I don't want to lower the rack to remove them, I will use my telescoping pruner I have and pull them right out. Never had a problem with them coming out even in pretty high winds.

[Chuck4]

I use the covers that came with my gourds.

[Bulldog1]

I use foam pipe insulation pieces. Easy to use and reuse every year.