In a previous post I mentioned my dear wife had seen a bird house that resembled an outhouse and wanted one. Well here it is.
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The grooves in the wood were made on the router table using a 1/8" straight bit, about 1/8" deep. The door opens to allow for cleaning by removing the pin on the left side. I can't take credit for the painting as my dear wife took care of that.
All three bird house I made were sized for chickadees or wrens, but they don't seem to like my accommodations as all three remain empty. But as my wife says, "they look nice".
Very nice looking birdhouses. The birds in your area obviously don't recognize deluxe accomodations when they see them!
Actually, I may know why no birds have moved in. You pre-fabbed the birdy-door hole, and I don't think that they like that. The birds in my neck of the woods prefer to subcontract the entry-hole work to a woodpecker. I know this because of the perennially active birdhouse in my bedroom wall. A woodpecker originally bored the hole in a cedar half-timber, and later the wrens moved in.
A few years ago, I plugged the hole very nicely. This was no mean feat, as the hole is up under a second-story eve, nicely centered on a 45 degree corner, in rough-textured cedar boards. No matter, come next spring, the woodpeckers had bored it right back out.
I eventually made my peace with baby birdies cheep-cheeping me awake on spring weekends. But I still wish they would quit pooping on my deck down below.
BuckeyeDennis wrote:Very nice looking birdhouses. The birds in your area obviously don't recognize deluxe accomodations when they see them!
Actually, I may know why no birds have moved in. You pre-fabbed the birdy-door hole, and I don't think that they like that. The birds in my neck of the woods prefer to subcontract the entry-hole work to a woodpecker. I know this because of the perennially active birdhouse in my bedroom wall. A woodpecker originally bored the hole in a cedar half-timber, and later the wrens moved in.
A few years ago, I plugged the hole very nicely. This was no mean feat, as the hole is up under a second-story eve, nicely centered on a 45 degree corner, in rough-textured cedar boards. No matter, come next spring, the woodpeckers had bored it right back out.
I eventually made my peace with baby birdies cheep-cheeping me awake on spring weekends. But I still wish they would quit pooping on my deck down below.
We live along a wooded river in a two story house sided with redwood - the real stuff you can't buy anymore. The woodpeckers - and we have many different kinds such as the giant Piliated, the Snowy, Hairy, and Flicker - have done their share of damage over the years. The best luck I have had keeping them from looking for food by boring out my redwood is keeping a suit feeder stocked with suit all year long. I know they will bang siding to advertise for a mate, but since I started feeding them I have had much less activity high up on my siding.
And on another note, such holes may be nice for other birds seeking a home, but it is also a way for mice to get in. Just ask my wife as she got the jolt of her life when she found the little critters in her shoe closet.
"... and it was after long searching that I found the carpenter's chest, which was indeed a very useful prize to me, and much more valuable than a ship loading of gold." Daniel Defoe, Robinson Crusoe, 1719
I have a special love of birdhouses and I really enjoy see all the variations and expressions woodworkers have.
That is a unique and wonderful birdhouse, if I had a stamp of approval I send you one to stick on, not that it needs it because one only needs to look at to know.
We are now just getting our wrens, about a week or 10 days ago I heard the songs and then gone for a few days but back to sing up near one of my houses the last few days. I've seen activity at the house so it shouldn't be long now before stuff starts happening.
I want to make a few more but too much gardening and yard work piled up. It is OK cause the wrens often have 3 or 4 broods over the summer(could be other wrens in the same house?). Looking forward to some more shop time soon.
We have a few woodpeckers around but so far they have restricted themselves to my tasty apple tree and the suet feeders.
The original house had a crescent moon cut into it. I suggested my dear wife paint one on but she declined, and well, you know who is the "boss" in these situations.
