Black-Capped Chickadee House Plans: Dimensions, Cut List and Mounting

How to read the black-capped chickadee house plans sheet

The sheet shows the box twice and then lists its parts. The first drawing is the front panel from outside. The black disc is the entrance. The long dashed line is the level of the floor inside, a little above the bottom edge because the floor is recessed. The dashed frame around the hole marks the band in which the hole’s center may sit, and the number at its left is that band’s height above the floor: 6 to 8 inches for this box.

The second drawing is a side section. It marks the interior depth from floor to the underside of the roof, the width of the side panel and, as two dashed lines, the thickness of the walls. The cut list underneath gives width and length for the front, back, two sides and the floor, with the board each part is cut from.

The inches and millimeters switch converts every label at once. The design is the same in both; only the unit changes.

Sourced dimensions for a chickadee box

The shared figures for several species are tabulated on the birdhouse plans and placement page. The figures for this box, and where each one comes from:

• Entrance hole: 1 1/8 inches, round. NestWatch’s species page gives 1 1/8. Oregon State lists 1 to 1 1/8, and NC State lists a wider 1 1/8 to 1 3/8 for chickadees, titmice and nuthatches. Oklahoma gives 1 1/8 for the closely related Carolina chickadee.
• Floor: 5 1/2 by 5 1/2 inches. NestWatch. Oregon State gives 4 by 5 1/2 and Oklahoma 4 by 4, both minimums that a 5 1/2 inch floor meets.
• Interior depth: 8 inches. NestWatch labels it “Nest Box Depth (inside)”. Oregon State and NC State also give 8 for the box height or depth.
• Mount height: 5 to 15 feet. NestWatch. Oregon State’s 6 to 15 sits inside it.
• Setting: forest, open woodland or town, on a building, pole, post or tree, per NestWatch.

NestWatch does not define “inside depth” further. The sheet reads it as floor to roof underside, which is how the side section draws it.

Entrance height above the floor: three answers

Here the sources give three different statements. NC State Extension’s table has a hole height of 6 inches. Oregon State lists the entrance height above the floor as 7 inches. Oklahoma’s plan gives a span of 6 to 8 inches. NestWatch gives no height for this box.

The two single figures, 6 and 7 inches, both sit inside Oklahoma’s span, and that is the band the dashed frame shows: 6 to 7 inches. Oklahoma’s upper end of 8 inches is left out because NestWatch’s interior depth is 8 inches, and a hole centered 8 inches above the floor would sit at the ceiling of the box. The sheet does not pick 6 or 7, and neither does this page. Builders who want one number can take the source they trust or ask a local nest-box program.

Features every box needs

These apply to every box on the plan sheets and come from NestWatch’s features page.

• No perch.
• At least four drainage holes in the floor.
• Ventilation near the top of the side walls.
• A hinged side or removable panel for cleaning and monitoring.
• A floor recessed at least 1/4 inch from the bottom of the walls.
• Walls at least 3/4 inch thick; a board sold as 1 inch is 3/4 inch thick.
• A roof overhang of 2 to 4 inches at the front and 2 inches at the sides.

Hole diameters for ventilation and drainage are not stated on this sheet. The agencies named above disagree with one another about them, and a figure from one would contradict another.

Cut list and assembly order

This section describes how the cut list was laid out. It is not taken from the sources. The layout puts the side panels between the front and back panels, so the front and back are 7 inches wide, the 5 1/2 inch floor plus 3/4 inch for each wall, and the sides keep the full 5 1/2 inch width of a 1x6. The floor, 5 1/2 by 5 1/2 inches, sits inside the sides, recessed 1/4 inch from their bottom edges.

Panel height is the 8 inch interior depth plus that 1/4 inch recess, or 8 1/4 inches. Before saw kerf the box takes 22 inches of 1x6 and 16 1/2 inches of 1x8. Rip the 1x8 pieces to 7 inches; the plans overview lists the actual board sizes.

Working in order: cut the parts, drill the entrance, drill the drainage and ventilation holes, set the floor between the sides, join the sides between the front and back, make one side or the roof openable, and fit the roof last. The roof is not dimensioned on the sheet.

Placement and mount height for a chickadee box

NestWatch’s range of 5 to 15 feet is wide because the bird nests in forest, open woodland and town. The box can go on a tree, post, pole or building wall. NestWatch also advises placing about an inch of wood shavings in the box floor. A box on a pole gains the option of a predator guard, discussed on the main birdhouse page with the other placement questions. The same 5 1/2 inch floor also appears on the house wren plan, which differs in hole and mounting height.

How these figures were set

The entrance hole, floor, interior depth and mount height come from the Cornell Lab NestWatch black-capped chickadee page and were checked against Oregon State, NC State and Oklahoma pages. Lumber widths come from the Southern Pine Inspection Bureau. Panel sizes and lumber lengths are arithmetic on those figures for one standard construction: sides between front and back, 3/4 inch boards, floor recessed 1/4 inch. The roof is not dimensioned. Conflicting sources, such as entrance height, are shown as the range in which all of them fit. Limits: regional differences exist, and a local nest-box program should be consulted. Reviewed 2026-10-06.