Bird House photos

Here are a few I made. I have someone locally make me the metal poles with a plate on top for mounting.

This one is made from old barn boards a friend gave me.

This is the favorite one all the birds like. I made a pine house, then split branches with my bandsaw and "sided" the house. I've sold quite a few of these too.

Those are very nice Goldfinch!

love your pine house Goldfinch! We just moved a month ago so we have been watching to see what birds are showing up. Yesterday alone we had wrens, bluejays cardinals, and we had at least 10 bluebirds out there & finches! Oh, and huge crows!!

I have friends that don't even feed the birds, but he makes birdhouses and has them all over their place. They last told me they had nearly 100 up.

I need to get my birdhouses up soon

Wow, that's amazing tigerlily! There is quite an art in making bird houses for some people.

Goldfinch, your birdhouses are wonderful! Each one is so unique! Do your birds have a favorite?

Thanks Lilyfantn. They like the cabin. I also have some others I've made that I don't have pictures of yet and a couple of those are always occupied too.

I love this thread. I am getting ideas for my DH and DS to possible make me a couple more houses this Spring. I may have to learn how to run the table saw myself. I am a fraidy cat around saws.

I don't blame you bluegrassmom - I know two men who are missing a finger due to a saw accident. One of them is our contractor and he was an adult when he lost it.

I think if you learned how to run a tablesaw yourself you would love it and end up building lots of things! My DH isn't into "crafts", so I'm the one that does all the woodwork. I have quite a few power tools (in fact, they are ALL mine-mostly gifts from my DH) but my tablesaw is the one I have the most respect for - it can do a lot of damage in a hurry. You just have to always keep in mind that safety comes first. Don't try to take short cuts or be in a hurry, wear safety glasses and ear plugs, read the manual, think about what you are doing when you use the saw and have fun!! Birdhouses are very easy to make, and if you make a little mistake the birds won't care!

goldfinch, you are very encouraging. I love crafts of all kinds. Painting, needlework, quilting, ect. I think it just a creative thing. I see so many cute houses and wish I had one. I might try it with supervision and see how it goes. Something simple, maybe another bluebird house. We have 5 acres, so I can spread them out.
Teresa

Teresa, Fantastic - be sure to post pictures!

Not a house but a roosting pocket.

Pelle - what a cute roosting pocket! I have three, but none so adorable! Have you seen any takers? I haven't seen even one, but then all three are sort of tucked into my evergreen shrub. I put some pieces of cotton in them today hoping they'll be taking it for nesting purposes.

Hi Murmur, Mine hasn't been up that long but I'll be keeping an eye out to see if anyone goes inside.

That's the cutest roosting pocket! Have you had any takers recently?

I was just looking through this thread thinking about putting up some new bird houses and wondering what might be attractive to the birds. Lots of good ideas here!

Hi tab, No unfortunately it was never taken. :-(

I don't think I've ever had any takers either, but I have put nesting materials inside and had them disappear. And I like the looks of them anyway.

Hi Murmur!!! So good to see you!

My Persian cats hair is quite popular when I put it out for nesting material.

I don't have a birdhouse to show yet, but isn't this stump just crying out to have one on top of it? I'm looking for ideas/plans.

Here's a little closer view. I'm thinking of a large octagonal house made from old boards with a rustic character. Maybe a copper roof, or some type of shingle, something interesting anyway.

The stump is large, like close to a foot diameter at the top, especially if you count that little branch nub sticking out to the right. I plan to cut it off flat about there to mount the house. Should I make something with multiple chambers, or is that only done with Martin houses? This isn't out in the open enough to be a Martin house. If multiple chambers isn't a good idea, I could make it with kind of a "porch" around it to cover the top of the stump and make the nesting chamber a little smaller.

I took the pics from our deck, which is kinda uphill from the stump so the birdhouse would be at about eye level when you're standing on the deck.

ooo, it sure is, Peeper!

So, how close can I put houses? We had a robin once nest under our patio, but we've since changed the configuration of the posts. So I built a robin's box, but the sparrows have taken it. I can't seem to get any but sparrows to nest now. I have three wren boxes up, and no takers. Just sparrows wishing they could get in the hole.

If they are house sparrows you can get rid of them. Other birds are reluctant to nest when HOSP are close-by. (Not safe for their babies.)

Peeper--your snag is a beaut. Maybe all you need to do is drill a nice hole in it for the woodpeckers. They are always looking for suitable old snags to nest in.

If you use your snag to support a bird house, be sure to include a predator guard in your plans. Unless you aren't bothered by squirrels, raccoons and other mischievous critters who love little birdy eggs.

If you google around on the internet you will find a variety of nest box plans to serve a different species. Sometimes the birds have pretty specific needs and wants in their domiciles!

Awww, RATS. Oh well. I'll have to just enjoy the sparrow broods. Which I actually do anyway. DH was so angry one year when the grackles were trying to get in a sparrow nest that he borrowed a BB GUN. Ha, not to worry. He never shot at one, but put a nice BB into the side of the garage, "just for fun." Kids will be kids!

I think we're not really supposed to discuss such an delicate and political topic here, but I'll post this link from the Bluebird site about passive ways to manage your House Sparrows (I'm NOT referring to native sparrow species) so that the other native birds have a better opportunity to nest on your property: http://www.sialis.org/hosp.htm

'House sparrows', HOSP, are not a 'protected species' under federal law but grackles are, by the way.

I CAN"T WAIT TO HAVE A HOUSE OF MY OWN!!! I want to be able to have bird houses and feeders!!!
I love the Bird bottle. That is so neat , Lilyfantn.
And I am going to be dogsitting for and elderly Siberian Husky next week, She blows out so much hair that all the birds in N.E. should have nice cushy nests...lol

Oh and PeeperKeeper... check out these Birdhouses on the woodworking forum. Maybe you can get some ideas from this guy! http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/568623/

I put some yarn scraps out the other day. I think they are all gone. The Mourning Doves are building something nearby.

Happy Easter Everyone!!

Wow, that's some sad reading, Tabasco. I had no idea and have not considered this a problem since I live "in town" with no bluebirds in the area. Guess I've got some thinking to do.