[WoodFrog]

I was looking for a nice birdhouse box, that I could try to attract bluebirds with for next season. I found this one, put out by the North American Blue Bird Society, and decided to give it a go.

***Clicky Here for Plans***

Sorry, I did not capture step-by-step pictures this time, save for one before I put in the biscuits and clamped it, but here are some nice shots of the finished project. :thank_you2:

I finally got tired of trying to find decent wood at the 'big box' stores and found a really nice local, and family owned, lumber yard. Result: Much, much nicer quality of Cedar which was super nice to work with.

My goal was to build it without any screws or nails for a super clean look. The only hardware showing is the grip end of the threaded bolt to secure the door for cleaning out the box. I recently picked up a DeWalt biscuit joiner at an estate sale and had never used one before, perfect chance to learn!

Next up, my Mom wants a birdhouse for sparrows, thinking of doing this one! Plans are in metric, luckily I am bilingual. :wink:

Sparrow Next Box

Cheers,

Gavin

 

[DesertRatTom]

That is really nice, I particularly like the little ladder on the inside so the chicks can get out when it's time. Deep nest placement keeps the little chirpers safe from marauders. I feed birds because I love to watch them flit about. I found hulled sunflower seeds in 50 lb bags for about $40 at a feed supply house. Lasts about a month and no mess.

 

[old55]

Nice job Gavin.

 

[JOAT]

Nice, but I'm thinking a cat wouldn't have a hard time making it up that wood pole. I would go with a metal cat guard if I was doing a wood pole, but I'd rather opt for a metal pole.

 

[sreilly]

Looks like a solid house Gavin. I need to get going on replacing mine as they've become slum house of late. The cedar looks great. We have a large variety of song birds, humming birds, and blue jays are among them. We see them late winter and early spring looking for their new homes. Thanks for the link to the plans. You local jays will be thrilled with the new digs.

 

[Herb Stoops]

Good job,Gavin, and a good write up on how you built it. We don't have blue birds where I live, the blue jays are here though. I am not sure what kind of nest they like, We have lots of trees and brush for them. The last bird house I made the hornets took over and I had to torch it.
Herb

 

[Jimmy Dee]

Nice job Gavin. I have also built Bluebird houses for several years and I use some left over shingles to cut a peace to go over the top of the bluebird houses. It prolongs their life significantly, especially if you let the shingle protrude over the top about an inch on all four sides. Also, I live in a wooded area and was having problems with owls and hawks reaching in and pulling the little ones and even the parents out and eating them, so I wrapped a peace of chicken pen wire around the bluebird houses, which stopped that problem.

Don

 

[roxanne562001]

Nice plan looks like a project I will have to make for next year too. If you don't mind me stealing
Thanks for sharing Gavin

 

[WoodFrog]

Thanks for all the likes and comments. I am probably going to wrap a band of some sort of sheet metal around the pole, after I put it up, to reduce predators from climbing up it. No squirrels here, but plenty of other predators as I am in a pinon/juniper forested area.

 

[WoodFrog]

I made 2 more bird houses, once my family saw the house they all want one for Christmas! Not worth a new thread, so I am going to add some pictures here of the other 2.

This one with the angled air holes on both sides is based on this Wren nest box plan, but I made the hole 1.5" to accommodate some bigger birds, like Finches. We don't have all the Sparrows around here to worry about, maybe I should have gone smaller, but I think it will work for what my sister has in her yard. It will mount by screws into a post, wall or fench. The upper/lower back board has extra length to use, but of course drill pilot holes first.

I like the wooden peg to hold the swinging side closed, I used the plug from the hole cut in the front and added the dowel and sanded it down a bit!

 

[WoodFrog]

Birdhouse #3 is based on the first Bluebird box, but I made a flat roof of my own design for it. The roof comes off to clean the box out, attached using the routed channel and wooden pins in the back. The pins in front are not attached to the roof, it just sits on them to maintain the proper gap for air flow.

I spent some time hand matching the wood on this one, cherry picking the best of what I had available. I think the grain is gorgeous and the flow from piece-to-piece is really organic.

Gavin