Common questions, real answers.

Recycled PETG (rPETG) — the same plastic used for water bottles, food containers, and medical packaging, but recycled and re-extruded into 3D-printer filament. It's UV-stable, weatherproof, food-safe, and certified for outdoor use. Crucially, it's not made from cedar, pine, or redwood — the trees birds actually need in the wild.

Yes — and more so than most paint-treated wooden boxes. PETG is the same material used for medical implants and food packaging because it's chemically inert and doesn't off-gas at typical outdoor temperatures. It contains no BPA, no phthalates, and no toxic preservatives. By contrast, many wooden birdhouses are treated with stains, sealants, or pressure-treatment chemicals that are harmful to nestlings.

It's the most common worry, and we engineered specifically for it. Every Fledge body has eave-shielded ventilation slits cut into the top of the side walls, the slab roof overhangs by 15 mm on every side to shade the body, and PETG itself reflects more sunlight than dark-stained wood. Internal temperature in summer testing stays within 2–3°F of ambient — comparable to or better than a wooden box of the same dimensions.

20+ years of outdoor exposure with no degradation. PETG doesn't rot, warp, or fade meaningfully under UV. By contrast, the average cedar birdhouse rots out in 5–10 years even with annual sealing. One Fledge house outlives roughly four wooden ones — so the life-cycle environmental footprint is dramatically lower even before you count the trees.

Yes — that's the core of the system. Each kit is four parts: body + plate + colour panel + roof. The colour panel carries the species-specific entrance hole. Swap panels to change which species the house is sized for. Same body, new bird. Each drop ships new panels designed around seasonal birds, themes, or specific conservation causes.

Depends entirely on the species. We list a recommended height range on every species page in our Birdhouse Guide. As a fast cheat-sheet: bluebirds 5–6 ft, chickadees 6–15 ft, screech owls 10–20 ft, robins (open shelf) 6–15 ft. The Kit Finder also gives you the right number per yard size.

Facing east or south is best in most of North America — birds get morning warmth without afternoon sun-baking, and the entrance points away from prevailing weather. If your yard has strong wind from one direction, point it perpendicular or away from that.

Pole mount, almost always. Trees give predators (raccoons, cats, snakes) easy climbing access to the box. A free-standing 1″ metal pole with a predator baffle (a smooth metal cone or stovepipe baffle) blocks 95 % of climbing predators. We sell predator baffles separately and recommend them with every cavity kit.

Eight M3 × 10 mm self-tapping screws, pan or button head — that's it. Four secure the plate to the body, four secure the roof. Stainless steel for outdoor longevity. We include them in every kit. For wall mount: one #10 wood screw or 1/4″ lag bolt with washer through the back tab.

Use the Kit Finder. Enter your location, yard size, and a few details about your yard, and it'll cross-reference what's actually nesting near you (via eBird) with our compatibility data. You'll get a custom shopping list of kits ranked by fit.

Most boxes get prospected within the first nesting season; some get used in the first month. If your box sits empty after one full year, it's almost always a placement issue (too low, too exposed, too close to feeders, wrong direction, no nearby cover). Check your species' page for placement guidance and try a new spot.

That's why our entrance hole sizing matters. The Small body's 1⅛″ panel physically excludes House Sparrows and European Starlings while still letting wrens, chickadees, and small bluebirds through. For larger species like Eastern Bluebirds (1½″), monitor the box weekly during nesting season — if sparrows start, our advice is at NestWatch's bluebird page.

Yes. Domestic cats kill an estimated 2.4 billion birds per year in the US alone — they're the single largest human-caused source of bird mortality. If you have outdoor cats, please consider keeping them indoors or use a Catio. At minimum, mount nest boxes on free-standing poles with predator baffles and 6+ ft from any climbable structure.

Wasps love un-occupied cavities. Two preventatives that work: rub a thin layer of bar soap on the inside of the roof underside (wasps won't build on it), or check the box every 2 weeks during nesting season and remove any starter wasp nests before they're established. Don't use sprays — they're toxic to the birds.

Once between broods (mid-summer for species that raise multiple broods), and once again in late fall after all nesting activity is done. Remove the panel, brush out old nesting material, rinse with mild soapy water, dry thoroughly. Don't use bleach during the active season — residue can harm chicks.

No — leave it up. Many species (chickadees, nuthatches, screech owls) use nest boxes as winter roost cavities to survive cold nights. A clean dry box on the wall in January can mean the difference between life and death for a 0.4-oz bird in -10°F weather.

Reach out via contact with a photo and we'll send a replacement part. Modular replacement is the whole point — you don't need a new house if a panel cracks. We're also working on a take-back program where damaged parts are ground and re-extruded into new kits. More on that soon.

Our first commercial drop is targeted for spring 2026. Sign up for the drops list and you'll be the first to know — subscribers get 24-hour early access to every drop.

Domestic US shipping via USPS or UPS Ground, packed in 100% recycled-paper packaging. International shipping is on the roadmap but not at launch — we want to get the US logistics dialed first. International birders can join the drops list anyway and we'll update you when we open up.

If a kit arrives damaged or defective, we replace it free, no questions. For other returns within 30 days, we'll refund or exchange — though we'd rather you tell us what didn't work so we can improve the design. Drop your kit back in the same box and ship it back; we cover return shipping.

It varies by drop. Standard drops contribute 5% of revenue to a partner organization (typically Audubon, American Bird Conservancy, or Cornell Lab of Ornithology). Save-the-Species drops — releases tied to specific threatened species — contribute up to 15%. The exact percentage and partner is on every drop page when it goes live, with annual reporting on totals donated.

Single-use plastic is bad. Plastic that replaces a tree-cut wooden product, lasts 20 years, and is itself recycled out of waste streams is genuinely a net positive. The math: every Fledge body diverts roughly 12 plastic bottles from landfills and prevents the cutting of cedar/pine for backyard décor. Lifecycle analysis favors recycled-plastic durables over single-use wood for objects meant to last decades outdoors.

Yes — the source code, STLs, and species data are all in our public GitHub repo. The repo's read-only at the moment (you can browse and clone), but the parametric generator is there for you to run. If you print one and it works, send a photo via contact — we'd love to see it.