Shopsmith Forums

Every spring I make plans to build a batch of bird houses to place around the farm. I also often advise that birdhouses are a great way for beginners to start woodworking at any one of several levels.
Somehow The weather ends up turning nice and I get too busy with other spring activities and don't get it done.
Its been several years since I built any and the oldest ones are rotting apart.
This year I'm going to get started early. I have a lot of short pieces of oddball boards handy and what ever I make will be very simple and a quick build, no two alike and some guaranteed to not really even look like a regular bird house.
Many of us have read books or articles about exactly how each bird house should be constructed. I learned many years ago that none of the birds here on the farm have read any of those instructions and seem to care little if housing meets "code".
I have a "lot" of soft sheet aluminum and plan to put a metal cap on them so that they will last longer. Some will go in a couple of small woods but other will be out in the open along the horse trails. The ones out in the open will get some thermal break insulation right under the metal cap to avoid toasting the little birdies.


.

I've been making birdhouse since I was about 6 years old. I started by helping my brother put them together. Some birds can be fussy about the nest box but others take what ever they can get or think they can get.

This past summer I had the opportunity to see a male sparrow claim a wren house. He sat on top and kept all males and any other birds away from his nest. There was a slight problem in his plan. Neither he or any potential mates couldn't get in the nest box (hole size was too small by design intent). He must have done this for more then a month! Then a wren came and took over and the box ended up with 4 batches of baby wrens.

Not sure what the sparrow ending up doing but if he was that dumb it is quite possible he had no offspring's....

I have a fence that is falling part, well the posts are anyway. I've been thinking may be it was time to harvest the boards and make a bunch of nesting boxes. Might even sell them really cheap so I can afford some other $$ wood for a couple of other projects. Yep rustic birdhouses for sale, haven't done that since I was about 16 years old.

Anyway I do also have intentions of the nest box build project again this year, now if I could only carry through.

Ed

robinson46176 wrote:Every spring I make plans to build a batch of bird houses to place around the farm. I also often advise that birdhouses are a great way for beginners to start woodworking at any one of several levels.
Somehow The weather ends up turning nice and I get too busy with other spring activities and don't get it done.
Its been several years since I built any and the oldest ones are rotting apart.
This year I'm going to get started early. I have a lot of short pieces of oddball boards handy and what ever I make will be very simple and a quick build, no two alike and some guaranteed to not really even look like a regular bird house.
Many of us have read books or articles about exactly how each bird house should be constructed. I learned many years ago that none of the birds here on the farm have read any of those instructions and seem to care little if housing meets "code".
I have a "lot" of soft sheet aluminum and plan to put a metal cap on them so that they will last longer. Some will go in a couple of small woods but other will be out in the open along the horse trails. The ones out in the open will get some thermal break insulation right under the metal cap to avoid toasting the little birdies.


.

I made bird houses last winter with some scrap wood I had left over from backyard fencing project. I had all these ceder 2x4 end cuts. I hollowed out the pieces of differing lengths using a carriage plane as pictured below. However, you could do the same thing with a cove cut on the table saw.

[ATTACH]24146[/ATTACH]

Once hollowed, waterproof glue the two sides together with a spacer in the center to give the inside hollow more room. Drill your hole. I used a 1-1/4" fostner bit. I used a 1/4" dowel as a support outside the hole. I then cut the top off at about 10 degrees so the roof will shed water and put on a bottom with left over ceder fence plank cuttings. A little sanding, paint to your desire if so inclined - I don't think the birds care, but I do - and you are good to go. They really used these this past Spring and Summer.

[ATTACH]24147[/ATTACH]

I also experimented with some scrap pine I had, making eight sided bird houses. Eight sides required an edge miter of 22.5 degrees. Glue using rubber bands. The birds liked these too.

[ATTACH]24148[/ATTACH]