Side by Side Comparison of: Woodlink

We ordered this house and hung it up in May last year - no takers. We left it up through the fall and winter and at the beginning of May this year a wren appeared in our yard to investigate. They had two broods in the house this summer and we enjoyed seeing all the activity. The wren house faces east / southeast and is hanging from a tree branch about 6 feet from the ground, at the edge of the woods (we live in north central MA). Until this year, we have never seen wrens in our yard so we are very happy.

Well built and cute! I did apply two coats of polyurethane varnish on mine before putting them out. They come unfinished, which would probably be fine but I wanted mine to last.

I purchased two of these nice-looking little wren houses early in the spring. Before I purchased them it was clear they were constructed from pine wood and would need to be sealed against moisture for them to last long term. I stained them on the outside to give them a finished look and then coated them inside and out with SPAR polyurethane. I also sealed the crew holes on the roof with dabs of silicone sealant. I hung them both in small tress about 10 feet high facing to the southeast, one in the front yard and one in the back. It wasn't long before both were being used by wrens. It appears both families did well and now are out and about. I will be cleaning the nests out soon so they will be ready for next year. Although these houses require some extra work, the price is right. I am very happy with these wren houses.

The item is made well. Very cute and natural look. I hung it in our tree out front and it's great to see that a bird has nested in it. (There are twigs sticking out through the gap in the bottom.)

Made beautiful want it ti age naturally. Had one bought second one here one two three I had it. Roof beautifully put together real brass screws used perfect size little bigger than looks here.

In one day a cute little wren had built a nest in it and was sitting on the top begging for a mate. Very good cedar and well-built.

We've bought two. These are well made, and easy to hang (but you'll need a long screwdriver so you can screw it into a tree using the top hole -- you have to go through the circular opening.) The bottom hole is easy to access as the front flips up.We got a tree swallow in the first. My wife read that this is a common issue, and one way to defeat it is to get a second house placed near the first as a second tree swallow will not come into the same territory, but a bluebird will.

I bought these for bluebirds and tree swallows and they are very well constructed. I mount these in a field by attaching a conduit footer (hardware store) to the bottom of the box with four wood screws that do not go through the floor. I get electrical conduit pipe and cut it into 6 foot lengths. This gets placed in an old paint bucket of concrete, which is buried in my field. It's pretty simple really. Once the concrete is buried you attach the box. As you can see in my photos I add perches which they seem to like.A note about house sparrows. This box is NOT sparrow resistant, none of them are. I've tried PVC and slot-type boxed and house sparrows with attempt to use them all. They tried nesting in these as well but I trapped them with an in box trap and removed them (Google Van Ert traps). House sparrows are a non-native invasive species that will attack and kill our native bluebirds, chickadees, and tree swallows. They are not protected by law. Once the house sparrows have been removed tree swallows and bluebirds moved right in! They've built nests and once the female starts egg sitting I will attach a sparrow spooker which helps deter sparrow "invasions". I remove this after the little ones have fledged. If you're not prepared to take these steps you might just end up with house sparrows or end up with in box carnage.UPDATE: I've added a picture of the box with a "sparrow spooker" attached to it. These can ONLY put be put up after egg laying begins and must be taken down after the young ones leave the nest. Google for proper directions.As you can tell being a bluebird landlord is quite a bit of work but it's only one month a year and it's rewarding to help our native species. Feel free to ask any questions.

We got this house around noon and glued it ( with fabulous E6000 glue) to a fence post. By 6PM we had a pair of bluebirds checking it out and by this morning, the lady bluebird was building a nest! The house is well built and sturdy. It has what looks like a tiny hole, but it is just the right size for the birds to get in and out. It comes with two long screws and no other hardware. I was hoping it would come with a bracket so we could hang it from our eve's but it didn't and what we did by putting it on the fence post was apparently acceptable for the birds. It comes with instructions and some information about bluebirds, altogether one back and front sheet of 8.5 x 11 paper. The cost was fabulous! We couldn't be happier with this purchase.

I bought this to add to my backyard that already has a much loved bird feeder (see other review), bird bath, and summer raspberry patch. A hung this on a young magnolia tree (trunk is only 4-6" wide), and used and old phone cord to hang it through the roof holes securely to the trunk next to a branch that's about an inch thick. Within less than 10 minutes the resident chickadee pair that frequents the popular hanging feeder spotted it, but they ultimately did not move in....UPDATE as of 3 weeks later: A male sparrow was spotted trying to coax female sparrows to nest inside, but was unlucky. Finally, a male wren has been diligently adding twigs for weeks. I opened the box and he had woven a gorgeous thick twig burrow with a quarter-size entry, but lazy house sparrows came along and destroyed it! At nearly double the size as him, they collapsed his structure and wanted to nest on top of the 4 inches of twigs inside. I saw them bullying him and felt so bad for all of his work, so I "hatched" a plan to keep the sparrows away....I took a strong outdoor bumper sticker and cut a much smaller quarter-size 'wren' size hole in the middle....left the paper on the sticker except for 1/2" of each edge, so that the wrens won't get 'stuck' to the sticker adhesive...i stuck this over the original entry hole to the box, leaving 1/4" of the original wood entry hole exposed for gripping at the bottom. It worked! The sparrows could not fit into the hole and within a day have gone to the other neighbor's yard with the other feeders...The male wren is very happy now and has been re-building his nest inside and singing all day to attract females...I like that he is not territorial with the nest box like the chickadees that were chasing others from the nearby feeder when they thought they might move into the box....UPDATE AS OF 3 MONTHS LATER: House wren male has successfully coaxed the same female to nest in the box TWICE in rapid succession. I opened the front and cleaned it out, spraying the inside with a hose, and left it open for a few days to air out....within a week, the same territorial, effervescent male house wren returned to re-build the nest. The female, about 3 weeks after her 1st clutch fledged moved back and it happy as ever. I water proofed the house more by adding bathroom caulk around where the room meets the back (there was a gap that led to rain getting inside). I still continue to use a sticker to make the front door smaller to prevent sparrows from killing the wren babies.

Purchased this product the first time in May 2011.The blue Birds loved them ( purchased two) they had babies in both .This year , two more pair came back, so I purchased two more .Theytook to them right away. Looks like I may be purchasing more next seasonThey seem to be perfect in every way.Very satisfied with my Amazon purchases

Very well made for this price. Materials used are perfect and they easily opened for cleaning after nesting season. They are attractive on the trees where I put them and I'm now in the process of ordering two more.....and or course the Birds love them too! The Label in the picture is just stapled on for easy removel. I like that as so many labels are nearly imppossible to get off and detract from the appearance. Someone was thinking about the customer this time.

hopefully the nuthatch will try it, might have to get the one that is for nuthatch's

A good wren house and not expensive. These last for years in my northeast weather. Not hard to clean.

Nice birdhouse, but might be a little too small of an opening for larger species of wrens. We had a nesting pair show up on our deck, but have not yet seen them try out the house. It hasn't been a week yet since we hung it, so maybe a right-sized pair will eventually move in.

We purchased two different types of wren houses at the same time in hopes that the wrens would adopt at least one of them. So far, no luck, but they were hung up late in the season, so perhaps in the spring the wrens will move in. Well made little house. No complaints.

Arrived on time, with none of the manufacturing defects encountered by a few other purchasers. The only reason it doesn't earn five stars is the difficulty in cleaning. Dismantling it is going to be a bit of a chore that could have been avoided by a small change in design. Otherwise, it's excellent, and I'm happy to support Audubon. Unfortunately, the birds haven't found it yet, so it would have been great if it had come complete with a nesting wren couple ...

I like this wren house. Solidly built. However, I'm probably not going to like having to unscrew bottom to remove the old nest. Would have been better with a hinged bottom for easy cleaning.

This is a very nice birdhouse and was pretty easy to install - so far no residents, but in the instructions it says that it may take awhile for that to happen.

The description states that it was built with a 5"X 5" base, however the actual floor base is only 4 1/4" X 4 1/4".I'm using this birdhouse for blue/green swallows that need a 5" X 5" floor base to properly develop their wings before leaving the nest.Otherwise the birdhouse is built very well.Do you offer one similar to this that has the larger floor base?

For Southern Maryland Bluebirds.In the past we have bought Walmart Cedar boxes and they are still up. The Walmart boxes are 4 inches square wide and stapled. Nothing wrong with them other than size. I wanted something larger this year.The Woodlink wooden box is not cedar and when you tighten the screws you have to be careful not to push through the wood. You can solve that by using a washer. I added a washer to the birdhouse door on both sides to allow us to open it up occasionally without killing the box. For the price, if it lasts a season or two and we are successful, it was worth it to me. We have 6 up now and I got them ready for the winter. Last year we had bluebirds in all our boxes to shelter from the cold. Talk about worrying over them. I started throwing berries and nuts feed on the ground all winter last year because of a birds. Just another dependent.

First purchased a bluebird house from a local store that had to be put together. Husband is a seasoned carpenter and found all sorts of things lacking in that. Purchased this Woodlink as a "spare" in case "other" little birds built nests in the first. Low and behold we now have a pair of bluebirds "nesting" in this Woodlink box and it wasn't up nearly as long as the first! Only gave it 4 stars versus 5 because husband had to add an extension on the roof over the opening. Everything we read and other bluebird folks said the roof "porch" needed to be a certain distance over the opening and this one didn't come that way. All fixed and soon we hope to be "grands" to our bluebird friends!

I really like this bird house and the material it is made of but there are a couple of issues. Since we have racoons,my husband mounted this on a metal inch and a half pole and used lug bolts rather than screws to mount it. At this time he realized that if he used the pilot holes drilled through the back of the house that although they were close, they were not actually plumb (straight up and down). If he had used these the bird house would sit crooked on the pole. Therefore he drilled his own plumb holes for his bolts. Also, as other reviewers have said there is a sticker that is glued on top and there was a small amount of residue left after I got the sticker off. This and the pilot holes can be seen in the images that I have uploaded. In addition to the paper sticker, there was another paper stapled with very strong wood staples to the front of the box. I didn't get a picture of the bottom of the box before my husband mounted it but he has assured me that there is a big enough crack in the bottom for drainage. I do not mean to imply that the wood is cracked but rather that the bottom is not water tight, which is what you need for a bird house. The house comes with a sheet in it that tells you all about bluebirding and where you should or should not put the house up. Although, I have lots of birding books, I still found the sheet very informative. I'm just waiting for the bluebirds to find it now. We saw some before we ordered the house and have seen others not to far away since.This would have been five stars if it had not been so hard to get the sticker and front paper off and if the pilot holes had been plumb. The sticker is a "made in the USA" sticker so that does make it a little more acceptable for me. Plus, if you see the image I posted of the residue left I figure a few good rains outside and it will be gone anway. If this or any other persons review has helped you please click that it has been helpful below the review. This feedback helps people know if their reviews are useful.

I wondered what was different about this one vs. the ones at Lowe's or WalMart, so I bought both to compare. This one from Amazon/Woodlink is made of 3/4" cedar. The one from the box stores is only 1/2" cedar. This one uses long, strong construction screws to hold it together. The one from the box stores only uses narrow staples. I will give credit to the model from the box stores for being made of smooth, red cedar -- the color of a typical cedar chest. This one was more rough, unfinished, white cedar. The only reason I did not give this 5 stars was because the roof was cracked and a piece fell off. I chose not to return it because I was able to glue the piece back on by myself.

Not worth the price but a cute little birdhouse

This actually seems to be fairly well-made, and is exactly as described. The only drawback is the hole is so small that the finches in my area can't fit inside of it.

It is a nicely built little wren house. Will just have to wait now and see if it attracts wrens. As a kid our family had a painted wren house that lasted for years and had wrens every year. This wren house is just wood. I hope it will last.

This is not a kit. The description doesn't mention a kit but when searching for a birdhouse kit for my nine year old this item was prominently displayed so I just figured it was a kit to assemble without looking carefully.It's of decent construction, but I just wanted to alert others that might be looking for a DIY birdhouse kit.

It items is well constructed but unfortunately I failed to take note of other customer's reviews and take note there is no access for cleaning.

NOT MADE IN THE USA as it says it is..... Mine came with a "made in china" sticker on it. The main reason why I bought this was because it specifically said made in the USA.I also had bought 2 houses. Guess I lucked out there since one came broken.

Wrens got in it before the bluebirds.

Good seller. Product is ok....will buy more for my Bluebird trail.

I like having places for birds to go to be safe and to have their eggs. I lost one of my nesting boxes and purchased another. The only thing that I can say about the one I purchased from Kay Home Products is that it is too difficult to hang - it is too difficult to drill from the box to the tree. I am going to need a couple more, but I am afraid that this one is just not going to do.

Buy this premium version for much longer life in sun and rain. The wood on this is smooth and high grade. That copper roof should outlast all the rest. The cheap on will rot out sooner. I bought that too but went to HD and bought one piece of asphalt shingle. Cut into 1" strips to match roof lines and width then silicone a composition roof on. Too much trouble buy this premium version.

As others have commented, the tags are an annoyance: the stapled one shown in the picture, and a glued-down one that isn't. Latter required a hair dryer to soften the glue for removal. In fairness, the maker probably sells in brick-and-mortar stores, where such self-promotion is common.A bigger shortcoming is the absence of a predator guard (obvious in the picture) and a piece of screen inside to help minimize parasites. Latter is pretty important for successful bluebird breeding. Former is absolutely necessary in most placements. Both are easy enough to make in a home shop, but should have been included.IMO, overall appearance and build quality are both fine. Same box with those two features included, even with price a couple of bucks higher, would be an easy 5-star.

This birdhouse looks okay, and I'm sure it will last a while, but there were several cracks at the screw holes. A little bit of pre-counter sinking could have made a big difference in this item's appearance. I'm sure the birds will like it once they discove its location. I hope it holds up to the test of time.

String broke in 2 months

Everything is permanently in place, so it has to be dismantled to be cleaned out. This is only my second birdhouse purchase, so I'm no expert, but it seems like much more thought was put into the other one I purchased elsewhere.

Very cute house, cheap hanger, made in China. Crimped metal area of hanger broke before I even got it on the tree. Would never hold up to winter or strong breezes! Back it goes.

In spite of being an "Audubon" product, the floor is not far enough away from the hole for the wrens to build their nest and safely raise their young. There should be at least 4 inches' distance from the floor to the hole. Sadly, I will need to return this product.

We have had lots of wren houses before and thought this looked cute and so did the wrens. They had their first brood there this spring but as soon as the babies got the least bit active - they would come to the hole screaming for food and fall out. I saw it happen on one baby and was able to get him back in and mom was happy. But we had already lost one two days before and felt terrible. They were not mature enough to fledge but old enough to hop around inside. With the nest material it just was not deep enough to be safe. When we unscrewed the house (only way to clean it out) to inspect after they left - the nest material was just not very deep and still the babies fell out. It was sad. We have gone to the deeper wren houses and we have two broods that have fledged happily.

This product is beautiful solid cedar, but the company sloppily staples a piece of advertisement paper to the smooth front surface. Leaving jagged holes and marking up the otherwise perfectly smooth surface. I don't want to be irritated by this but I am. What's wrong with a sticker or placing the paper aside?? Come on now!

Product seems fine but the bluebirds wouldn't nest in it.

The bird house looks nice but the top pre-drilled hole which attaches the bird house to the fence is inside the bird house and is not easily accessed with a drill motor. The drill has to be drilling at an agle and it makes it hard to install. But I kept it and worked around that. Otherwise the front of the house opens to clean out the birdhouse. Good product but they should rethink the top pre-drilled hole. When the company saw my review they offered to take it back but it is not enough of an issue to have to prep it to send back. Just know that you will need to pre-drill a hole in the top to use on a fence as the top inside hole is just not practical to use.

Hanging strap broke off this wren house with a family of baby wrens inside. Babies are lost.

Hung it up and birds have ignored it. Suddenly realized why - there is no perch post so they can't land on it! Am going to have to drill a hole and Doctor it before it can be used. Disappointing!

Huge knot hole on the front! Looks horrible

Hung it up just like directions said. No birds.

I hate to give thumbs down to any product unless there's a very good reason, but in this case that's exactly why I'm writing this. I got this house on April 18th because our other houses were already taken and we had a nesting pair of Carolina wrens in need of living quarters. Unfortunately we were too late to accommodate them but I left the house hanging on a shepherd's crook for future use. Needing to take the shepherd's crook for a change in its base, I took the house off and walked toward my work shed when, lo and behold, the hanging wire pulled loose from the ferrule! Today is September 16th, so this house failed to last 5 months before needing repair, not a very good track record in my opinion. I can fix the ferrule but I shouldn't have to do so for at least one year...

Cute but no bird has approached it

More like a wren box

Birds hated it! Bought different one and had birds in it in two days!

This may be a great bird house, but it was advertised in the product description as "front slides down for checking the progress of nesting birds". I was looking for a bluebird house that opened in a way that would not intrude on the birds, so I ordered this one. It came today, and the front absolutely does not slide down. The front pivots open just like most birdhouses do. I had trusted Amazon to provide accurate product descriptions. This will be returned.

No blue birds will go in it. No birds of anykind will go in it.

squirrels ate this apart in one day.

I bought several of these Bluebird Houses in time to put them out mid-March the way we're supposed to here in the northeast. Although they seem every bit to be the product described here, and there's no reason to complain about the worksmanship, the reason I'm giving a bad rating to the product is those damn Made In USA stickers that were attached to the roof of every one of the little houses. Not tiny stickers, but huge red white and blue ones, stuck on with a glue that you can't remove without spending several minutes scraping with a knife. And even when you've removed most of the sticker, you've inadvertently scrapped the wood beneath which leaves an ugly scar. I've got nothing against Made in USA pride, but I doubt the birds care much. And it certainly mars the appearance, even at a distance. Very frustrating to confront and deal with this stupidity.