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Simple beginner bird house - PEP BB dimensional.sand.birdhouse

BB dimensional lumber woodworking - sand badge

Jennifer Markestad

Posts: 183

Location: Tacoma WA

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posted 1 year ago

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Gunnar Gebhard wrote:I put on a birdhouse building activity for our home school group (any tips on how to work that into a community BB?).

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J Garlits

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Posts: 514

Location: Wabash, Indiana, Zone 6a

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posted 1 year ago

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Submission flagged incomplete

This is a long and meandering post, with a short video! Bottom line, I built this birdhouse... then rehabbed it, then hung it. Verification is below...

Back in 2010, while living in Alexandria, VA, I took a fancy to building birdhouses. A lot of birdhouses. Luckily, I wrote a blog about it back then, and still have several of them which I am placing around my property for the birds coming this spring:

https://jimgarlits.wordpress.com/2010/07/03/for-the-birds/

Here's a YouTube video of a couple of the birdhouses sitting on my fence in the middle of a rain storm in 2012:

And finally, here is a less than 2-minute video of me fixing the roof on one birdhouse that I personally made in 2010, rehabbed and hung on a tree in my permaculture playground in 2024. I hope this suffices because I put a lot of effort into building and repairing it!

Thanks...

j

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Staff note (gir bot) :

Timothy Norton flagged this submission as not complete.
BBV price: 1
Note: These look great but not sufficient enough for this BB. Please add photos/video of the lumber you started with and midway during construction. Great birdhouses you have there, maybe make another?

J Garlits

gardener

Posts: 514

Location: Wabash, Indiana, Zone 6a

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posted 1 year ago

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Approved submission

Second try on basic birdhouse, with faux-snarky beginning because the first was rejected:

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Timothy Norton approved this submission.
Note: Well done! Great video.

Jay Baker

Posts: 25

Location: Lincoln, NE

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posted 9 months ago

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Decided to use some of the wood that's been laying around in the barn since who knows when. I used the "5 minute" video for reference, but I also did some research on what the local birds will actually use. If I did well, this house should attract a House Wren: 4x4 floor, 1" entrance hole near the top. No perch, since they can be used by predators. I also put a small hole in the bottom for drainage.
Since it's mystery wood, I gave it a coat of linseed oil. The plank I used definitely felt hard to cut, so I think it's hardwood, but I figured better safe than sorry! I hung it up at the edge of the woods with some rawhide.

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Gunnar Gebhard approved this submission.
Note: Looks pretty good! It can be good to build in access panels for fall clean out.

Laura Quick

Posts: 77

posted 8 months ago

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Mike Haasl wrote:This is a badge bit (BB) that is part of the PEP curriculum. Completing this BB is part of getting the sand badge in Dimensional Lumber Woodworking.

Birds are nice, let's build a house for them!

Warning - This video is exceedingly optimistic about what you can do in under 5 minutes.

To complete this BB, the minimum requirements are:
- build a simple beginner bird house
- a bird might want to live in it (maybe a really ugly and desperate bird)
- It won't kill the bird
- Made from wood, nails and/or screws - no glue
- 5" wide or greater
- Weather resistant design - for the bird and for the longevity of the house

To document your completion of the BB, provide photographic or video (<2 minutes long) of the following:
- Wood you're starting with
- Bird house under construction
- Bird house installed in its final location

Clarifications:
- A bit tung oil or linseed oil on the exterior is acceptable. Using rot resistant woods that don't need protection is about ten times better than using lesser wood treated with oil.

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Gunnar Gebhard approved this submission.

Jessica Michell

Posts: 70

Location: Central Ohio

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posted 8 months ago

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Built this bird house today which started as working on this dimensional lumber bit when realized I could do one better and really get into making it for a specific bird and put some more thought into it so I'm hopeful it can also count for animal care, where I have submitted it as well. It meets the requirements of both.

I used cedar planks I had leftover from the playhouse I built earlier this summer. Planks were 5.5" wide so it fits the minimum dimension requirement and is made of naturally weather-resistant wood. I did not seal or oil it at all. Nailed together which was a fun change of pace for me - I generally exclusively work with screws. Nails were a nice change especially for something like this.

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Staff note (gir bot) :

Gunnar Gebhard approved this submission.
Note: Good idea to include clean out access. 2-4-1 is awesome when you can get it, it SHOULD count in animal care as well! WooHoo

Alexandra Malecki

gardener

Posts: 512

Location: 6a; BSk; Suburbia; 0.35 acres

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posted 6 months ago

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I followed the posted video and used an untreated cedar fence panel, 5 1/2in wide, and SS screws. I treated it with linseed oil, installed a SS eyebolt, and mounted it to a tree outside my daughter's window. I'm realizing now that I overdid it -- I didn't need to oil it since I used cedar.

To complete this BB, the minimum requirements are:
- build a simple beginner bird house
- a bird might want to live in it (maybe a really ugly and desperate bird)
- It won't kill the bird
- Made from wood, nails and/or screws - no glue
- 5" wide or greater
- Weather resistant design - for the bird and for the longevity of the house

To document your completion of the BB, provide photographic or video (<2 minutes long) of the following:
- Wood you're starting with
- Bird house under construction
- Bird house installed in its final location

Clarifications:
- A bit tung oil or linseed oil on the exterior is acceptable. Using rot resistant woods that don't need protection is about ten times better than using lesser wood treated with oil.

wood-I-m-starting-with.jpg

birdhouse-under-construction-1.jpg

birdhouse-under-construction-2.jpg

Bird-house-installed-in-its-final-location.jpg

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Staff note (gir bot) :

Rebekah Harmon approved this submission.
Note: love it!! I think your extra oil will just increase the house's longevity

Kathryn Cesarz

Posts: 14

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posted 5 months ago

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Much like the textiles weekend I had with my mom earlier this year when I made my dishcloth and patchwork pillow, I took the holiday visit at my parents' this week as an opportunity to do a woodworking project with my dad - my first birdhouse! At least, my first that I can remember.

I copied an Audubon design from other birdhouses my dad had already made up. I used a cedar fence board that was on hand, and I worked with some inherited hand saws and the Balinese scoop knife I'd gifted him.

The bottom has some air holes for circulation in warm weather, and in addition to making the side rotate for easy cleaning, I also put a little "peg" nail to help keep it shut when the birdies are at home. The hole is sized for a wren. We'll see if some show up!

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