Homes for our feathered friends

I like to make birdhouses, or nesting boxes as some call them. I've made simple birdhouses and a nesting platform out of dimensional lumber before and my wife always enjoyed them. My wife's 50th birthday is this week so I thought I would try to be a little more creative and make something special for her and the bluebirds, so I made a log cabin birdhouse. The logs are cut from cedar tree limbs from a few cedars I needed to clear last winter. The logs are all fastened to each other using trim screws. I did use a piece of 3/4" dimensional cedar as the roof deck, and I have several bundles of cedar shake singles leftover from building our own home a two years ago. I trimmed some of the shakes and split them to make tiny shake shingles for the birdhouse and they're attached with small 1/4" crown staples. I capped the roof ridge with some copper sheet I had laying around which is fastened with little copper plated brads. The right side of the roof is attached using two trim screws and is removable for clean out.

That looks awesome, James, well done! I think you had a lot of fun building that.  

Thanks Artie! I really did have a lot of fun making it and found the process and outcome rewarding.

What a beautiful build, James! I'd love one like that in human size! :-)

I made another birdhouse as a Christmas gift for my wife this year. Birdhouses are generally what I make for her for Christmas. I got the inspiration and design from the book Natural Birdhouses by Amen Fisher. The log I used is red oak, and next time I will use a soft wood species. I used a forstner bit in a drill press to remove the bulk of the material and now I need to look into resharpening forstner bits. I then used a chisel to clean things up a bit. Some pieces of pine bark and a few pine cones dress up the exterior along with a cedar branch. It looks pretty good now, but I imagine in a few short years the pine cones and flakes of pine bark will be in poor condition from the elements. I do think mushroom of some sort, perhaps turkey tails will grow from the oak if I put this birdhouse in a shady location.

What amazing quality!

I can make a simple birdhouse, but I aspire to make something to this level one day.

Excellent! I can see myself sitting in the waiting room at the emergency room with a smashed thumb if I tried to make this birdhouse. I'd need much more explicit instructions, probably a kit where all the pieces and parts were cut to measure. with and a tiny pack of nuts and bolts used to put the thing together.

You know, I'm like that bad joke about having all the equipment but only looking great in the bar. I think I"d saw my thumb off if I tried to use one. I'm adequate in the kitchen, but a project like this is probably well beyond my range at the moment.

Put me on your list of people who need the plan on how to actually make a birdhouse. But thanks! I love the pictures. I'd love to have these kind of bird houses in my yard.

Then again I think grouse would need quite a bit larger birdhouse. I have a photo of my neighborhood grouse, but can't attach it right now.

Well..I made one recently. Glued rocks and twigs on silicone mat for the roof. I like building them

James Freyr wrote:Thanks Artie! I really did have a lot of fun making it and found the process and outcome rewarding.

Hello, James! Did you ever see or hear birds in it?

Hello,
Thank you for the inspiration.
Made a nest box a couple weekends ago. Will it join the bat boxes that are waiting to be placed in the right location.
It’s a long wait, I confess.
In the meantime, wrens constructed moss nests in nets hanging from the terrace ceiling( ceiling downstairs, floor upstairs). Whatever!
And members of the tit family, installed themselves in a silencer + exhaust that are resting whilst I decide what they might be used for other than feathered accommodation.

It’s t-shirt and shorts weather during the day, with eerie mists at dusk.
Skies are wonderfully clear, caught some shooting stars a couple of bights ago.

Not fun, rat squatters too close to the door. Hmm urgent action needed.
They are toofamiliar with traps and have been invited to leave.

Blessings to us all
M-H

I do love all of the inspiration going on here. The one thing that I’ve learned is that many birds are partial to having a “perch” just outside the opening to their home. The like having something to stand on before taking off or landing.

I enjoyed the info about birdhouses. We had put some on fence posts for decorations, but I tried to use dimensions favorable to the local birds in our area. They are low to the ground but we live in a neighborhood so-they are somewhat protected from unfriendly critters. I live in central Texas so our world is different from your areas, so some of the things you guys do don’t work here. We are currently are in extreme drought and it’s really depressing. But, I enjoy reading the stuff I see on your sites and threads. At least I can think about green things and water. Love the simple semi self reliant articles. I say semi self reliant because you rely and share helpful things with other.
We painted the bird houses kinda bright but the birds don’t seem to mind. Most fun is watching the wrens raise their little ones. Sometime, if I’m lucky ,I can catch the young coming out for their first flight. Keep up the good work.
Jim

Wow, that’s awesome - both the idea and the execution. Using cedar limbs and even mini shake shingles is such a cool touch, sounds like a ton of detail went into it and it looks super amazing.