I live in Virginia on a farm with animals and an orchard surrounded by woodland. My house is pretty private is it is at the edge of a long dirt road. I am considering buying and putting up several bird houses around my yard. Here are my questions: 1) What kinds of birds in Virginia will nest in man-made boxes, so what kind of bird houses should I get? 2)Where sould i put the houses (please tell me for each different species)? 3) How high should I put them and how far apart? 4) what is the most number of houses i can have in my yard (8 acers)? 5) I have several feeders near each other that there are always birds on, but I've read not to put houses near the feeders. How come? 6) If I attach houses to the side of my barn, will they nest in them? Also, will robins and swallows nest on perches inside my barn? Any advice you have would be greatly appriciated. Thanks!!!

We added several new home built bird houses this spring. We didn't get any purple martins or blue birds, but swallows, finches and some wrens happily built nests. Should we clean out the houses before next spring, or will that discourage the birds from using the houses again. The barn swallows keep returning to their nests in our barn and we never touch those nests.

I have a few bird houses to hang in my yard. My questions are: How far from bird feeders and bird baths should I hang the houses? Should I put any kind of bedding as a starter in the houses? I live in Michigan, so most of the birds that would nest in these houses are common finches and maybe other small birds. Thanks. Add any usefull tips if you can think of anything else.

im doing an assignment for class and i need to find more info about how bird houses would help the community.