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Although treated wood is used to make swing sets for
children and backyard decks across America, all
birding organizations advise against using treated lumber for birdhouse
construction.
Wood is treated by adding toxic chemicals that make
it unfit for insects and microbes that cause wood to rot.
Birding organizations have taken a firm stand against
use of treated lumber based on common sense. No studies have been
conducted to examine the tissues of birds to determine if birds that are
raised in birdhouses made of treated lumber are adversely affected.
And, even though many people have had birds fledge from birdhouses made
from treated lumber with no apparent side effects, it just makes sense
that there is no point in exposing birds to poisons.
Curiously, the same birding organizations commonly
recommend using cedar for making birdhouses.
Cedar contains highly poisonous natural substances
that also make the wood unfit for insects and microbes that cause wood to
rot.
Natural does not mean safe. Poison ivy, rattle
snake venom, some wild mushrooms and many other natural substances are
extremely poisonous.
The natural insecticides in cedar have been used for
centuries to protect clothing in cedar chests.
A simple internet search for plicatic acid, one of
the poisons in cedar, will reveal that cedar is a major contributor to
occupational asthma in humans. Such a search will also reveal that
many pet industries now recommend against using cedar shavings for bedding
materials.
Plicatic acid is present in both Eastern Red Cedar
and Western Red Cedar.
It took us more than two hundred years
to prove smoking had negative health consequences for human beings.
How long will it be before the necessary scientific studies are complete
that will show whether or not the poisons in cedar are harmful to birds
that draw their every breath for the first 19 days of their lives from
inside a cedar birdhouse sitting in the sun, especially when no studies
are even yet underway?
An industry has grown up around cedar
nest boxes, and, those defending the practice of using cedar are quick to
mention that pine contains resins that are dangerous as well. But,
not only are the properties of the resins in pine not nearly as dangerous,
but they also disappear quickly when the wood cures while those poisons in
cedar remain indefinitely.
Therefore, Real Bird Homes believes that
both treated wood and cedar, two materials that contain poison, should
never be used for building bird houses.
In addition, because the source of much
Western Cedar is old growth forest, using this cedar seems
especially counterproductive to the conservation movement.
Trees in old growth forests grew very
slowly so you can usually determine if a birdhouse manufacturer is
promoting the destruction of old growth forest. Simply look at the
end grain of the wood on the bird house. If you count 10 or more
annual growth rings over a distance of one half inch, that means it took
10 or more years for the tree to increase one half inch in
diameter.
When you buy bird houses made from wood
with these characteristics, you are promoting the destruction of old
growth forest and the cutting of the few remaining ancient trees.
Use your own judgment, not the claims of
those selling cedar nest boxes !
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