A dark cavity, which is what they are looking for.
A dark enclosed cavity is what triggers nesting behaviour. That is exactly what you want if you are breeding deliberately, and exactly what you do not want otherwise.
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Why you'll love it
Budgies, cockatiels and most garden hole nesters will not build in the open. Without an enclosed dark space they simply do not breed, and in a garden they move on to someone else's box.
A plastic box condenses inside and chills eggs and chicks. Untreated timber lets moisture through the walls, which is why every serious nest box is made of wood.
Adding a nest box to a cage with a pair usually triggers breeding, and that is a decision with consequences: eggs, chicks and the homes they will need. For a single bird it is just a dark place to sit.
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Hole nesting birds respond to the availability of a suitable cavity. Providing one is a signal, not a neutral piece of furniture, and hens will often begin laying within weeks of a box appearing whether or not a male is present.
Unfertilised laying is the risk people do not anticipate. Producing eggs draws heavily on calcium reserves, and a hen that lays repeatedly is at real risk of egg binding, which is a veterinary emergency. If you are not breeding, take the box out and offer a covered sleeping perch instead.
Research the specific species before fitting anything. Entrance diameter, internal dimensions, nesting material and even the time of year all vary, and a box that suits one species can be unusable or unsafe for another. Both birds should also be in good condition, of appropriate age and unrelated.
Have a plan for the young before there are any. Hand rearing is demanding and often goes badly for an inexperienced keeper, and finding homes for a clutch is harder than most people expect. Breeding without that plan is how surplus birds end up in rescue.
Outdoors the calculation is different and entirely positive, since natural cavities have become scarce. Face the box between north and east so it avoids the strongest sun and the prevailing wet, tilt it slightly forward so rain runs off the front rather than in, and site it two to four metres up.
Keep it clear of a busy feeding station, since queuing birds attract predators to the nest, and well away from anywhere a cat can reach or wait. Put boxes up in autumn or winter: birds prospect for sites long before the breeding season, and one erected in April has usually missed that year.
The entrance hole determines which species can use it. A smaller hole admits blue tits and coal tits while excluding house sparrows and starlings; a larger one opens it up to more species and also to competition. Fix the box with a screw rather than a nail, and never through the trunk of a living tree if you can hang it from a branch instead.
In the box
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The details
In the UK it is legal to clean out a garden nest box between the first of September and the end of January, and only then. Remove old nesting material, which harbours parasites, and rinse with boiling water rather than any cleaning product. Let it dry fully before rehanging.
Never disturb a box in use. Beyond the legal protection wild nesting birds have, a disturbed nest is frequently abandoned. Check from a distance, and leave any inspection until you have seen no activity for several weeks.
Loved by real pet parents
Put it on the fence at the end of the garden in March and there was traffic in and out of the round hole within two weeks. The bark effect finish means it genuinely vanishes against the timber once it has weathered a bit. Solid little box for something that only weighs 400 g.
Hung it in the aviary corner and the cockatiels were investigating the entrance the same evening. You cannot see a thing inside once it is up, which is exactly what a cavity nester is looking for. Paulownia is light enough that it hangs off one hook without complaint.
Good box and the timber is properly solid rather than the thin ply I have had before. The round hole is on the small side for my cockatiel and she squeezes through rather than walks in. She still uses it, so I have left it alone rather than opening it up.
I had a plastic box years ago that ran with condensation every cold morning. This is timber and the inside has stayed dry right through a wet spring on a north facing wall. The 17.5 by 16 footprint suits the small birds that come to this garden.
Nothing wrong with the construction and it feels sturdy on the wall, but a full season has gone by and nothing has nested in it. That may well be where I have sited it rather than the box itself. I am moving it somewhere quieter and hoping for better next year.
The first went outside on a trunk and the second is hanging inside the aviary. Both have held up and the polished paulownia has not warped at all in the damp. Worth thinking hard before you put one in with a pair though, because it does tend to start things off.
It is only 400 g but it takes up a surprising amount of space, so clear a decent spot before you fix it up. The box itself is well put together and the hole is neatly cut with no rough edges on the inside. It sits on the shed wall and looks like part of the timber.
I have a single bird so there was never going to be any breeding, and I bought it purely as somewhere dim for her to retreat to. She goes in for an hour most afternoons and comes back out when the room quietens down. Simple box, does the one thing I wanted.
Six months on a garden post and the bark effect finish has gone a soft grey that looks like it has always been there. No splitting at the corners despite a horrible winter on the coast. The entrance is still clean edged.
Good questions
With a compatible pair, very likely, as a nest box is the usual trigger. Do not add one unless you intend to raise and rehome chicks, and take it out again if you do not.
Two to four metres up, facing between north and east so it avoids the midday sun and the wettest wind, and clear of anything a cat can climb from.
Yes, once the season is over, because old nesting material carries parasites. In the UK, garden boxes are best cleaned between autumn and midwinter when nobody is using them.
It may well trigger it, which is the point of a box. A lone hen can also start laying unfertilised eggs, which drains calcium and risks egg binding. Only fit one if breeding is the intention.
Two to four metres up, facing between north and east, tilted slightly forward so rain runs off. Away from feeders and out of reach of cats. Put it up in autumn or winter.
Yes, but only between 1 September and 31 January in the UK. Remove old material and rinse with boiling water, never a cleaning product, and let it dry before rehanging.