- ck birdhouses.jpg (326.86 KiB) Viewed 2445 times
Ed
News from my brother retiring from bird house making
Moderator: admin
Re: News from my brother retiring from bird house making
Seventy-two more birdhouses ready. That and work some puzzles and balsa wood model air planes means he is still staying busy.
They were at -14 when I last checked, not all that much colder then we have here in IL where I'm seeing -8. My shop didn't get used today and it shows, just 38 degrees out there now. Have to see how I feel tomorrow as to weather and if it will be worth trying to heat it back up again.
Ed
They were at -14 when I last checked, not all that much colder then we have here in IL where I'm seeing -8. My shop didn't get used today and it shows, just 38 degrees out there now. Have to see how I feel tomorrow as to weather and if it will be worth trying to heat it back up again.
Ed
{Knight of the Shopsmith} [Hero's don't wear capes, they wear dog tags]
-
Ed in Tampa
- Platinum Member
- Posts: 5834
- Joined: Fri Jul 21, 2006 12:45 am
- Location: North Tampa Bay area Florida
Re: News from my brother retiring from bird house making
It seems your brother builds one basic design and then dresses them up to make each unique.
Is the basic design a proven bird attractor? Assuming it is what species of birds does it attract?
What is the basic design? I have built many bird houses but. Never have had much success attracting birds to them. I have far better success with bird feeders.
Is the basic design a proven bird attractor? Assuming it is what species of birds does it attract?
What is the basic design? I have built many bird houses but. Never have had much success attracting birds to them. I have far better success with bird feeders.
Re: News from my brother retiring from bird house making
Yes he will make a bunch of same design, if you are going to make hundreds of them you save on time in the long run and can cut stacks and stacks of like parts to assemble later. Over the years he has done hundreds of different designs and models. In any given year there might be 20 basic design and then variations on those. Very few are actually identical.
The other factor is finding free wood, you have to work with what you have rather then designing and then finding wood to match. Doing a lot of processing of the wood like resawing is not practical so it is used as it is.
This is a sort of free form art. A few years back I got a deal on a bunch of golf tees and gave then to him. People loved the golf tee perch and they sold like hot cakes. He has customers who come back every year to see what new things he has created. Some people come and get a whole bunch of them to take and resell at a higher price at flea markets etc. One lady was buying them to use a tole painting class she taught. Some were sold for use in a movie (scenes of the birdhouses were cut but they were blown to bits in a gun fight).
Birds are remarkably adaptable, even unlikely houses with odd shapes and leaky sides. In fact he has to take a few off line every year when birds decide to nest in them while on display. Even had a flying squirrel in one a couple of years back, he and I were out looking at them and noticed one house moving around. When to look in a a flying squirrel popped out! Sometimes he has blocked the holes to keep them out.
I have had almost no problem with his or my houses getting birds in them. One of my houses was built and then stored in the shed where a mouse family decided to move in. In the spring when I found it and emptied it out the smell remained. I used several made for wood soaps and tried to clean the smell away, it was gone for me but it took 3 years for the birds to except again. This last year a wren nested in it. I figure he will be back again next year, he builds 3 or 4 nests each year and we have had 3 or 4 batches each year. Not all the nests are used each year but he builds them and sings up a storm. One nest box was used three times the year before and this past summer not used at all, no nest materials inside??????
Well enough on birdhouses. One year I'd like to make a couple of hundred and sell them for $3 or $4 to cover expenses but basely to give them away so people can enjoy them. Got a pile of old cedar fence that would work if I could find the time.
Ed
The other factor is finding free wood, you have to work with what you have rather then designing and then finding wood to match. Doing a lot of processing of the wood like resawing is not practical so it is used as it is.
This is a sort of free form art. A few years back I got a deal on a bunch of golf tees and gave then to him. People loved the golf tee perch and they sold like hot cakes. He has customers who come back every year to see what new things he has created. Some people come and get a whole bunch of them to take and resell at a higher price at flea markets etc. One lady was buying them to use a tole painting class she taught. Some were sold for use in a movie (scenes of the birdhouses were cut but they were blown to bits in a gun fight).
Birds are remarkably adaptable, even unlikely houses with odd shapes and leaky sides. In fact he has to take a few off line every year when birds decide to nest in them while on display. Even had a flying squirrel in one a couple of years back, he and I were out looking at them and noticed one house moving around. When to look in a a flying squirrel popped out! Sometimes he has blocked the holes to keep them out.
I have had almost no problem with his or my houses getting birds in them. One of my houses was built and then stored in the shed where a mouse family decided to move in. In the spring when I found it and emptied it out the smell remained. I used several made for wood soaps and tried to clean the smell away, it was gone for me but it took 3 years for the birds to except again. This last year a wren nested in it. I figure he will be back again next year, he builds 3 or 4 nests each year and we have had 3 or 4 batches each year. Not all the nests are used each year but he builds them and sings up a storm. One nest box was used three times the year before and this past summer not used at all, no nest materials inside??????
Well enough on birdhouses. One year I'd like to make a couple of hundred and sell them for $3 or $4 to cover expenses but basely to give them away so people can enjoy them. Got a pile of old cedar fence that would work if I could find the time.
Ed
Ed in Tampa wrote:It seems your brother builds one basic design and then dresses them up to make each unique.
Is the basic design a proven bird attractor? Assuming it is what species of birds does it attract?
What is the basic design? I have built many bird houses but. Never have had much success attracting birds to them. I have far better success with bird feeders.
{Knight of the Shopsmith} [Hero's don't wear capes, they wear dog tags]
-
Ed in Tampa
- Platinum Member
- Posts: 5834
- Joined: Fri Jul 21, 2006 12:45 am
- Location: North Tampa Bay area Florida
Re: News from my brother retiring from bird house making
There must be some magic trick to getting a bird to use a bird house. I have built many some even to Audubon specs with no luck. I have painted them and left some plain I put them at the exact height of Audubon spec and I have put them higher and lower no luck.
I have built them from Apple wood to zebra wood. All I ever got to move in was a wasp nest.
I have built them from Apple wood to zebra wood. All I ever got to move in was a wasp nest.