Birdies in the Pin Box

[campbud]

Has anyone run across this? We are using an old license plate right now to keep them out ...anyone have any better ideas?

[Montana_2304]

Hang an aluminum foil pie plate near it.
Charlie and Sue

[Still_waters]

Yes, we too had that problem. I taped cardboard across the opening but like Charlie and Sue's idea better.

[Bill Hill]

My initial reaction was: What Problem? How nice it would be to have birds nesting nearby. But it sure would be a problem when you go to hook up. The birds may not be as enthusiastic about RVing as we all are! Especially if you travelled from the west coast inland, you could get in trouble for transporting gulls across state lines!

[kdeiss]

I block it with cut lumber and fill the area with packing material. Thanks for the reminder I have gotten them every year till I started blocking

[Bill Hill]

I guess we don't store ours long enough at any one time for this to be a problem. Besides, I wouldn't want to block the opening, it's where I store the cable that plugs into the truck bed when we're not hooked up.

[CRUZIN 2]

That must be a great place for birds I have them to, will have to work on keeping them out, checking out all ideas.

[BillyRay]

wind chimes or pie plates should do it. just something to make a little noise.

[Wordsmith]

There is a similar thread to this at rv.net. Some responses indicated things along the line of egg cartons or, I think, styrofoam.

[Glenn and Lorraine]

I have a Canadian friend who has a better use for the pin box. That's where he smuggles his cigarettes and whiskey when he crosses the border.

[DiananColin]

Glenn - he cannot be Canadian - you can't put enough bottles in the opening to keep any self respecting Canuck happy for very long - even a transplanted Brit like me with a liking for single Malts couldn't put enough in it!

[Countryfolks]

I covered ours with 1/8" hardware cloth, keeps mud daubers out also. Did the same with the bottom of the propane tank compartments. Sealed/glued the edges with silicon RTV. Results over 2 years, no wasps, no birds.

Skip

[Bob Pasternak]

While you're plugging holes, the furnace vent is a good one to put screens over. Had birds build a nest in ours while it was in storage last year. Had to take it apart to get it out.

[Parrothead]

We have had several bird nests. Once there was eggs and they broke. I was so sad. About 9 months ago we moved to this park. We had been stuffing the pin box with rags to keep the birds out and thought we had succeeded but when we went to move there was this little bird that flew along with us. When we went to hook up we found a nest with baby birds. They were in the bed of our truck and alive. Our cell phone wasn't working (ATT) so we drove down the road to call animal control. When we got out the little babies were dead. It was very, very sad. We had a wind chime hanging there and it did not deter the mother bird. Cover the opening completely - cardboard and duck tape works.

[Montana_70]

a couple of springs ago my Kingpin was the home and hatching place for 3 little Carolina Wrens.

Lucky for me and them I was not part of the the north bound migration taking place with the Florida Snowbirds and was able to let them hatch and be on their way.

This sent me on a hunt for some heavy wire screen to bend and place the edges inside the back of the pin. Unfortunately I was unable to locate such screen unless purchased on a large roll.

In the meantime I have used various things to block the opening but I would still like to find the screen. I figure the screen is lightweight, easy to store, and put back in place.

I often wondered how many little baby birds ended up in Canada for the summer.

[Iowafan]

We haven't seen the birdies but they left a beautiful, well-constructed nest in the pinbox last spring. Definitely a secure place for them....except for the humans who have to travel. Judy

[VanMan]

When I needed to get my TT safety inspected last year, there was a wren nest complete with eggs just inside the square hole in the bumper plug. I hurridly had it inspected and brought it back home, hoping the eggs would hatch before we were scheduled to leave on vacation. They hatched a couple of days before we were to leave. I placed a plastic lawn chair in front of the bumper to get mama used to going through the chair to the nest. I later placed the nest in a box with the same size square hole in the chair the same height from the ground. She found it and seemed okay with the move! Before leaving I decided to place a good sized flat rock on top of the box to foil predators (cats & foxes)and to keep the wind from blowing the box. After we got to our destination we called home - it had heavily rained and the box got wet and collapsed and the rock squashed the little guys !! Oh well, we tried !!

[countrygirl]

Speaking of the little birds....we have had little wrens to nest in our pin box each year. And, they love it....but you are right, when it is time to hook up the trailer, it isn't good for the little birdies....it doesn't take too long for them to build a nest...they will build in wreaths on doors , in fact we had that too. They are interesting little creatures. I haven't looked this year to see if there are any out there....I will have to check it out...
Countrygirl

[rames14]

Found out about this bird thing last fall from a fellow camper at our seasonal site. On other RV's, the birds can get all the way up inside of the unit from the pinbox and nest in the walls. However, he used tin from his printing business to keep it secure. I will probably use some of the screening material screwed into the edges. We just visited our Montana last weekend for the first time since Nov. 1. No mice, no bugs - seemed like everything was nice and secure. So, maybe I need to get right on the screening material.