Many from early childhood know how to make a birdhouse. After all, our dads and grandfathers taught us this. They made these wonderful boxes and hung them on trees, thus wanting to instill in the child a love of all life and arouse interest in work and creativity. Further there were tool kits, all kinds of designers, puzzles. However, birdhouses creep into memory and remain there forever. It is impossible to extinguish these memories. Now there is a great opportunity to return to childhood and make a birdhouse with your own hands. This can be done without the help of parents, teachers, grandparents, and thereby attract flocks of birds in your garden. If you place these structures on trees, then the birds will gladly settle in new dwellings. Read more about this below.
Construction Features
From the first time to build birdhouses for birds on their own is not an easy task. However, it is completely solvable. This text will detail how to make a birdhouse. By following the instructions below, you can easily understand the features of the process. You can also pick up the tool and material and go to the active phase. With the right approach, you can build a birdhouse in a few hours. However, for this it is necessary to deal with the material that will be used for the manufacture of birdhouse. You can use wood, plastic, plywood, even paper. However, any material requires pre-treatment. And for this, certain devices are needed.
Necessary tools
In this regard, everything is pretty simple. Before you make a birdhouse, you should make sure that you have various necessary tools. We list the main ones. In this case, you have to use:
- Joiner's hammer.
- Chisels of different widths.
- Hacksaw on wood.
- Wooden mallet.
- Ruler, pencil.
- Drill, drill.
Types of birdhouses
First you need to determine the size of this building. The type of birdhouse will depend on this. There are several types of such houses. Namely:
1. Birdhouse standard.
In this case, its dimensions will be as follows:
- length - 16 cm;
- width - 15 cm;
- height - 40 cm;
- diameter of letka - 5 cm.
2. Titmouse. This is a little birdhouse. It will become a wonderful home for birds that are no bigger than a tit in size. This construction is suitable for different species of birds. Perhaps it will be sparrows, redstart, pestle. Or the tits themselves.
In this case, the dimensions will be as follows:
- width - 12 cm;
- length - 10 cm;
- height - 30 cm;
- letok - 3.5 cm.
3. Wagtailman. This view has a protrusion in front of the taphole. Here will be the following sizes:
- height, width - 15 cm;
- length - 30 cm.
4. The triangular birdhouse. This is a house for ordinary pikas. The hole in it is through. It has such dimensions:
- width - 15 cm;
- height - 25 cm;
- letok - 3x6 cm.
If you just want to make a birdhouse for the forest or have no idea what kind of birds are in your garden, then make the standard type. You just need to remember that, for example, tits prefer small comfortable houses more. In large, they feel uncomfortable. But starlings can not fit in the titmouse. This is important to consider.
How to make a birdhouse out of the box?
Such a construction is very simple, it can easily be done in a couple of hours. Its disadvantage is that, of course, it is not very reliable and will last only one year.
This house can be made from any small box. To do this, carry out the following actions:
- Glue the lid to the box itself. It must be securely attached.
- Cut a notch with a diameter of about five centimeters in the lid. The hole should be located no higher than 20 cm from the bottom. For complete convenience, the taphole should be round. For this, you can glue several times the edges of the hole with wide tape. And he will serve longer.
- The back wall of the box should be very durable. After all, it is the basis. It would be nice to stick plywood on it. Wooden planks are also suitable in this case. Instead of glue, it is generally better to use small screws or brackets for fastening.
- To the birdhouse was protected from moisture, you need to paint it with paint. It is desirable that it be odorless.
- And the very last. Wait for it to dry. Then the product should be fixed to the base.
You can make a house out of cardboard in the same way. Only with it there will be more trouble. You have to sweat to connect all the parts and give rigidity to the cardboard itself. You can try to make a birdhouse out of paper. However, it is unlikely to be reliable.
Birdhouse from the bottle
The manufacture of such a product does not take much time. Maximum hour, or maybe even less. To do this, you will need a plastic bottle with a volume of five or three liters. It all depends on the size of the birdhouse you need. Such a house is very similar to a feeding trough. All of them were made in childhood. But there are still slight differences.
In such a birdhouse you have to make a standard letok. And everything else needs to be done as described above. The only, but significant minus is that the bottles are often transparent. But the birds need comfort and privacy. So in this case, the birdhouse will either have to be painted or glued over with paper. You can mount this product by the handle of the bottle just on a tree. About care of these facilities will be described below.
Wood Birdhouse
Such a design will take much more time, knowledge and strength. But the result of your work will be a long-lasting and durable birdhouse, which will serve as a bird for more than one year. In this case, the main desire. Although a wooden birdhouse is much more difficult to make, however, the efforts made will not be wasted. In addition to the set of tools that are listed above, in this case, you will need certain materials:
- Aspen or birch uncouth dry boards.
- Flavourless paint.
- Wooden planks for reinforcement.
- All kinds of consumables.
When everything is already assembled, you can begin to design a house. This requires the following:
1. Create a birdhouse design on paper. This is quite significant. You need to measure the birdhouse correctly. A drawing of the designed product in this case is necessary. You should also calculate the amount of materials.
2. Then all sizes should be transferred from paper to material. Cut out the necessary parts with the tool. Referring to the drawing, we connect all the details with the help of nails or self-tapping screws. We will get a durable and comfortable box. In order for this house to be very reliable, after the connection, no part should stagger.
3. Then we make a ledge for the birds in front of the “entrance” to the birdhouse. This device serves the convenience of birds who want to get into their shelter. And it usually consists of a small bar. Birds really like to rest on such a ledge. It must also be fixed with nails.
4. The next stage. It consists in the manufacture of mounts for installation or suspension of a birdhouse. Most often it is a special hole on the back of the house. It can also be other fasteners - a clamp or clamp.
Features of work on the specified structure
Making a birdhouse with your own hands is not a particularly difficult task. You just need to follow certain rules and listen to the advice of specialists:
- The ideal material would be wood, as it is a fairly durable material.
- You need to use special wood. Birch, aspen, alder, can be other deciduous trees.
- Fiberboard, particleboard and OSB is not recommended. Firstly, they are toxic, and secondly, they are not durable.
- The smell of paint does not attract birds. So its use is optional. If you still decide on this step, then use odorless paint.
- Inside you can not do a perch. But the protrusion outside is better to attach.
- Inside the birdhouse should be rough, so that the birds were comfortable moving. If the board is smooth, you will have to put notches on it. This can be done with a chisel.
- It is better to make the letok round so that the birds do not get injured.
- The roof of this product can be made removable in order to make it easier to care for the birdhouse.
- It is also advisable to make the roof sloping so that moisture does not accumulate. Smooth she will not last long.
Birdhouse Installation
This is an important process. Making a birdhouse, the photo of which is provided in this text, is half the battle. This does not require much experience. And then it needs to be placed correctly. After all, if you poorly attach this house, and even in the wrong place, then it can turn over or, worse, fall.
You should listen to a few tips about this:
- It is necessary to seriously approach the choice of place. For example, it can be the end of the house, a strong pole, a tree, a pole and much more.
- To establish a birdhouse is better not less than three meters from the ground. And be sure to in a place where a small predator like a cat, marten or affection cannot reach.
- Birdhouse should be strengthened under a slight bias. That is, it should be placed so that drops of rain do not fall into the summer.
- You can fasten the birdhouse with the same nails and self-tapping screws. But if you decide to hang the house on a tree, it is better to use clamps, do not hurt the tree itself.
Tip
In principle, you can install bird houses during the entire warm season. In any case, the birds will settle there. However, the ideal time is early spring. After all, the bird family needs to have time to settle down and have offspring.
How to care for a birdhouse
There is nothing complicated in this regard. After you have made and installed a birdhouse yourself, you, of course, will want it to serve as a feathered bird for as long as possible. And for this you need to constantly take care of the house. How to do this? The answer to this question is quite simple. This does not require any unnecessary costs or extra time. Everything is done quickly and easily. You just need to clean the bird house from dirt and feathers at the end of the season. It is also necessary to treat it from parasites and keep it in a dry place until next spring.
Conclusion
Doing something with your own hands (a feeding trough, a birdhouse, various garden structures and much more) is a very exciting activity. It’s not a pity to devote several hours a week to this work, and even a month. After all, you are going to do very useful things. After you make a beautiful decorative birdhouse yourself, the desire to create further will undoubtedly wake up. Such crafts will not only create the comfort of your garden living creatures, but also significantly decorate the interior of your summer cottage. After reviewing the above, everyone will be able to figure out how to make a birdhouse. But exactly how it will look - it depends on the individual desire. The main thing in this case is hard work, scrupulousness and patience. All in your hands!