Taking a family of birds under your wing is a noble and pleasant task. And the first step towards this is the construction of a bird house. You can easily make a birdhouse familiar from childhood with your own hands, but for each type of bird there are design and placement features that must be taken into account before inviting new neighbors to the site.
Classic wooden birdhouse
A birdhouse of the simplest design consists of a square bottom with a side of 13-15 cm, side blanks 30-35 cm high with a slope in the upper part are cut end-to-end to the size of the bottom, the end and back parts should be 2-4 cm wider for fastening.
The difference in length between the back and front walls of the birdhouse should be calculated so that the slopes fit tightly to the lid. Another piece is cut to size and attached to the inside of the removable roof, providing a seal and the ability to open the birdhouse for cleaning.
Another option is a house with a pitched roof. Two identical blanks are overlapped on the trapezoidal façade and rear wall. Such a roof should not be nailed tightly to ensure access to annual cleaning and disinfection.
A round entrance hole is made with a distance of 5-6 cm from the top edge and a diameter of 4-5 cm. There should be sufficient space (10-15 cm) for the nest in the lower part of the structure, protected from the wind.
The birdhouse parts are fastened together using nails or self-tapping screws and wood glue.
The roof slopes protect from excess moisture; they should protrude slightly from the sides to protect the walls as well. The joints should fit neatly, without gaps, adjacent to each other. It is necessary to avoid unnecessary decorative elements on the walls and facade, which can become a place for moisture accumulation.
The building material used is boards of pine or deciduous trees with a thickness of 2 to 4 cm. Fibreboard and chipboard are not recommended, since the smells of the chemicals contained in their composition can scare away birds.
For the same reason, the internal surfaces of the birdhouse are not treated with varnishes or paints. The outside can be sanded and made into a waterproof coating.
Wooden birdhouses are a good object for realizing creative abilities. They can be painted and decorated, but it is better not to use glass or other light-reflecting materials. Photos of ready-made birdhouses of different styles will help you choose the most suitable option.
Duplyanka
In order to cut a birdhouse from a wooden block, it is more convenient to use a chainsaw. Brief instructions for creating such a birdhouse are as follows.
To begin work, you need to firmly install the deck in a vertical position. The proposed cut is divided into three equal parts: the upper one for the roof slopes, the middle one for the hollow and perch, and the other third for the nest.
First, the upper slopes for the roof are cut at an angle of 45 degrees. Then, as smoothly as possible, the core is removed along its entire height and an entrance hole is cut. And only after this the birdhouse is cut off from the deck along the bottom line.
Bird houses made from scrap materials
Boots, bags, lamp shades, similar-sized containers with necks, dried pumpkin - can become building material for a bird house.
Before you make a birdhouse with your own hands, you need to remember to maintain the correct proportions to accommodate the nest.
You also need to take into account that the entrance hole should allow the inhabitants to pass through, but not be too large, for the sake of their safety. A homemade house should provide protection from moisture and wind.
Birdhouse installation
The ideal place for a birdhouse is a tree trunk free from branches. A wooden beam or pole of triple length is attached to the back wall, which is fixed by wrapping it with wire.
Then you need to give the birdhouse a slight forward tilt using a small piece of wood placed between the trunk and the house. This will protect the chicks from falling and make it difficult for enemies (cats and crows) to get to them. The entrance, and as it is also called, the entrance, should face south or southeast to avoid cold winds.
Another option is to attach it to the facade of buildings. But you should not hang or place the house on the branches; it must be stable and securely fastened. For comfortable living, you also need shade to protect from direct sunlight. 
The bird house must be mounted at a height of 2.5 to 5 meters, out of the reach of cats and other hunters. It is worth taking care that there are no steps or branches that will help them get to the nest.
Often, a traditional perch in low-mounted birdhouses becomes a support for unwanted guests to enter. 
Photo of a birdhouse with your own hands
To combat insects and their larvae, it is absolutely not necessary to use powerful chemicals; it is enough to simply attract birds, which will destroy the pests much faster and more efficiently. This is easy to do by building a birdhouse with your own hands and installing it on your summer cottage. From this publication you will learn about the varieties and design features of houses for birds, get acquainted with the drawings and various technologies for creating birdhouses yourself.
Design features and materials
In the classic design, a homemade house for feathered inhabitants is a rectangular structure (box) with a single or gable removable roof, a solid bottom, a hole (entrance) and a perch in the front part of the house.
There are more original types of birdhouses:
- hollowed out from a single log (duplyanka);
- wicker;
- assembled from bars in the form of a log house.
Old shoes or an ordinary cardboard box can be a good place for hatching and raising chicks. As practice has shown, for birds the appearance of their home is completely unimportant. The main thing for birds is convenience and safety. Based on this, the important parameters of such a dwelling are: dimensions of the structure, diameter of the entrance, length of the pole.
Natural enemies of birds and their nests in suburban conditions are cats and woodpeckers. The main protection against predators is the roof overhang, the length of which varies from 5 to 10 cm. An effective protection against woodpeckers is a metal cover on the entrance, which will prevent access to the eggs.
What to make a birdhouse from at home? To create a proper bird house, almost all available materials that any summer resident or home craftsman has on his farm are suitable.
Wood and any of its derivatives are suitable:
- Chipboard (chipboard);
- MDF and fiberboard (fibreboards of various densities);
- OSB (oriented strand board);
- plywood.
Even corrugated cardboard and foam are suitable for making seasonal nesting boxes. There are quite a lot of bird house designs made from plastic bottled water containers.
Some adhesives, plywood, chipboards and OSB contain phenol-formaldehyde resins, which have a sharp and unpleasant odor that repels birds. That is why birds are very reluctant to settle in birdhouses made of these materials.
The ideal option is a birdhouse made of untreated hardwood boards, 20 mm thick, assembled using metal fasteners (nails and self-tapping screws).
Correct birdhouse size
Despite the variety of designs, there are four main types of birdhouses:
Each type of bird needs to create a house of certain dimensions. For clarity, we publish a table of birdhouse sizes for different types of birds.
As practice has shown, it is precisely this size of houses that stimulate birds to lay the required number of eggs to raise strong and healthy offspring.
DIY birdhouses
Assembling a bird house is not difficult at all. Many men, in their youth, learned to make various structures directly at school during labor training classes.
Before making a birdhouse out of wood, you need to prepare the following tools:
- wood hacksaw;
- with a set of drills;
- hammer;
- chisel;
- pencil;
- roulette (ruler);
- nails 40 mm long, 2 mm thick.
Depending on the material used, you may need: scissors, paste ingredients (water, starch), wire, twine.
Goggles and gloves must be provided to protect eyes and hands.
Classic birdhouse made of wood: drawing with dimensions
The simplest design is a birdhouse with a flat roof. To create it you need to prepare: raw boards 20 mm thick, nails, hammer, drill:
- We cut the blanks according to the dimensions indicated in the drawing.
- We drill a tap hole in the front part element.
- We fasten the sidewalls to the front part with nails. To fasten each element, 3-4 nails are used.
- We install and fasten the bottom into the workpiece.
- We attach the back wall to the side ones.
- We fix the thrust element (square) on the roof.
The roof is inserted with a thrust element inside and does not require additional fixation with fasteners. A plywood house is made in a similar way.
Birdhouse made of plywood
We publish drawings of a birdhouse made of plywood below.
1 - front part blank; 2 - bottom of the structure; 3 — right side wall; 4 — rear wall element; 5 and 6 - roof elements; 7 — left side wall.
To create the structure you will need moisture-resistant plywood, 10 - 16 mm thick. The bird house is assembled using self-tapping screws.
Birdhouse made of foam plastic
From the leftover material after insulating the walls, you can quickly make a budget birdhouse from polystyrene foam.
This material has many advantages:
- low thermal conductivity coefficient;
- lack of moisture absorption;
- resistance to biological effects;
- light weight.
The main disadvantage is low resistance to mechanical stress.
To make a decorative birdhouse from polystyrene foam, use the drawings of a classic plywood birdhouse:
- Using a knife, cut out the necessary structural elements.
- To fasten elements, use “liquid nails”.
- All that remains is to paint the structure with water-based façade paint.
Making your own birdhouse from a log
A nest box is a bird house made of logs. This design is more familiar to birds, since a solid log is much warmer and less noticeable on the tree. In order to make a birdhouse from a log you need to find a suitable one. Aspen is best suited for such purposes. A fallen tree rots from the inside, so hollowing out the necessary hole in a log will not be difficult.
The process of making a nest box:
All that remains is to nail the roof. A fragment of a slab is best suited for this. Thanks to its shape, precipitation will not linger on the structure.
Wagtail house
Many summer residents want to attract wagtails to their plot. And this is not surprising, because wagtails feed exclusively on insect pests and dragonflies, which they catch in flight. The peculiarity of the structure of the legs of this small bird does not allow it to climb the wall of the birdhouse into the entrance. That is why the correct house for a wagtail is a rectangular structure oriented horizontally. We publish drawings and dimensions of a wagtail house.
Box dimensions:
- height - 150 mm;
- depth - 350 - 400 mm;
- width - 150 mm.
The design includes a rectangular entrance located near the side wall of the front part of the house. The dimensions of the taphole are 50 x 50 mm.
Drawing of a titmouse with dimensions
The titmouse differs from the classic birdhouse only in size. There are two types of titmouse: large and small. We publish a table of optimal sizes for each design.
When making your own house for little tits, flycatchers, and redstarts, you can use the drawings of a little tit with a gable roof.
To make the elements you will need a raw board 20-25 mm thick. The elements are assembled using nails or self-tapping screws. In this design, the roof is rigidly fixed to the body of the birdhouse.
Rules for installing a birdhouse
In order for the birds to happily master their new “home”, it is necessary to install the structure in compliance with certain rules:
- Install the “dwelling” away from paths, places of human activity and recreation.
- When choosing a place to install the house, take into account the prevailing wind direction in your region. Rain should not get into the entrance.
- There should be no large branches at the installation site that would prevent access.
- You cannot attach a bird house to a tree trunk using nails.
And lastly, at what height should I hang the birdhouse? The distance from the ground to the structure should not be less than 2 meters. Following these simple rules will significantly increase the chances that feathered residents will take up residence in your birdhouse.
Making a birdhouse with your own hands - video
Past generations still remember those times when a huge number of children and teenagers were engaged in making small wooden houses for birds. Old birdhouses can still be found, but, unfortunately, most of them can no longer serve as “living space” for birds.
Modern children almost no longer engage in this useful activity. Making birdhouses has long ceased to be a popular activity among teenagers. Completely different entertainment comes to the fore, but that’s a completely different story.
You can make a birdhouse with your own hands, without putting in much effort and without spending a lot of time. Based on the drawings and having on hand all the required tools and materials, anyone can create a small bird house.
Below are tips and tricks on how to make a birdhouse with your own hands. By following these simple instructions, everyone can make a small birdhouse for birds, which they can then hang on a tree in their yard and wait for the birds, who will definitely not be able to fly past such a homemade “apartment.” If you wish, you can also make a feeder from a plastic bottle nearby.
Materials for making a birdhouse with your own hands
Material
Before you start making a birdhouse, you should decide on the material that will subsequently be used to create it. It must be remembered that not all types of wood can be used to create such a bird house.
When choosing a material, you should immediately exclude pine needles due to the fact that this type of wood will not be able to ensure dryness inside the birdhouse. Some conifers can secrete resin, which will make the inside of the house sticky, making it impossible for birds to live there.
The following undesirable materials for a birdhouse are Fiberboard and chipboard. These materials may be quite easy to process and can also ensure the durability of the structure, but we must not forget that this material is capable of releasing dangerous toxins that are extremely harmful to birds. So when choosing a material, these options should be immediately excluded.
Plywood is also an unsuitable material for a future birdhouse due to the fact that this material transmits sounds rather poorly, which can harm the future feathered inhabitants of the house. Sounds can warn birds of possible danger; this is a very important point. Also, a plywood sheet cannot provide heat retention, which is very bad for birds, especially if there are helpless chicks due to the fact that the cold can significantly harm them.
The ideal material for making a birdhouse is hardwood boards. These are: oak, maple, aspen, alder, birch. They are the most suitable because they combine durability, sound permeability, and are also able to retain heat.
It should be remembered that the inner surface of the birdhouse must be rough. If the surface of the material is initially smooth, then roughness can be created artificially using a chisel. Using this tool, it is quite easy to make horizontal notches that will make it easier for the birds to exit the birdhouse.
Dimensions
After the material for the birdhouse has already been selected, you can begin to determine the size of the house. There are standard sizes, which can be used later:
- bottom width – 13-15 cm;
- height – 30 cm;
- taphole diameter – 3.8-5 cm.
An interesting fact can be noted: the health of bird offspring depends on the size of the birdhouse. This may seem funny, but there is logic to it. The fact is that if you create a larger house, this will affect the number of chicks. A spacious house will create space for creating a large bird family, but this is not as good as it may seem at first. A large family is much more difficult to feed, so many chicks will either die immediately or grow up weak and infirm. Small houses do not allow you to create a large family, and two or three chicks are the optimal number for a normal existence.
Standard sizes are the most optimal, since the birdhouse shouldn't be big, but at the same time it is not recommended to make it too tight.
The simplest version of a do-it-yourself birdhouse
The configuration of the birdhouse primarily depends on where the house will subsequently be installed. If it is suspended from a pole, balcony, or under the roof of a house, then the design should include a thin stick or a triangular shelf. This is essential for bird walks.
If the birdhouse is placed in natural conditions, then additional shelves and sticks you don't have to do it. This becomes unnecessary as conditions allow birds to walk along the branches of nearby trees.
When creating the simplest birdhouse, you can rely on the drawings that will help in creating a small wooden house for birds. In principle, the absence of a drawing significantly complicates the work.
What do you need to create a birdhouse with your own hands?
Now you should move on to creating a list of everything you need to make a bird house. Basically a birdhouse made from scrap materials, that is, there will be no difficulties in finding them.
So, what will be needed subsequently for the manufacturing process:
- Edged, unplaned boards;
- Two small blocks - they will be useful in the future for hanging the birdhouse on a tree;
- Nails or screws;
- Steel wire with a diameter of 1 mm - this is also useful for hanging the house;
- Wood glue;
- Plastic bottle (this is the case if you plan to create a bird feeder that will be installed nearby).
Also You will need the following tools:
- An ordinary pencil with a ruler;
- Wood saw - it is recommended to use a tool with a medium tooth;
- Drill with wood drill;
- Chisel;
- Hammer.
The work is carried out in several stages:
Stage No. 1 – preparation of wooden elements
Using the simplest marking tools, namely a ruler and a pencil, you should note the dimensions of all elements that will subsequently be used: walls, bottom, lids and perches.
The marking is carried out in accordance with all the numbers presented in the drawing. The bottom must be met in the shape of a square with a side of 13 cm. It should be remembered that there must be a difference in the heights of the rear and front walls of 4 centimeters. For this purpose, bevels should be made on the upper cut of the side walls. The roof design provides for the presence of two parts: the first is shaped like the bottom of the birdhouse, and the second is a rectangle and is used to create a canopy.
Stage No. 2 – cutting out structural elements
After all the measurements have been made, you can begin cutting out all the marked parts. At this stage, it is very important to do everything clearly and efficiently, since inaccuracies in cutting out elements can lead to structural instability.
A round hole is the most preferable option, since birds will choose a house with a round hole if given a choice between such a birdhouse and a house with a hole of a different shape.
Stage No. 3 – assembly of birdhouse elements
Now that all the parts of the house have been cut out, you can begin assembling the birdhouse. The facade of the structure and the side walls are glued together at the very beginning using wood glue. Then, after the glue has dried, you can strengthen the parts with screws or nails. The same principle is used when connecting the walls to the ends of the bottom. Back wall glued last.
If desired, you can strengthen the birdhouse so that it lasts longer.
Stage No. 4 – installation of the house
Once the house has been completely assembled, it should simply be attached or hung - it depends on where it should be located. This can be done using ordinary wire. For greater convenience, the birdhouse needs to be slightly tilted forward.
For the convenience of the birds, you can also nearby hang a homemade feeder, which you can make with your own hands from an ordinary plastic bottle.
As you can see above, it is quite easy to make a birdhouse with your own hands. Photos of such houses can be easily found on the Internet. This will also help with your work.
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Small birds have always been held in high esteem by people. It's nice to have helpful neighbors who sing and fuss, catch insects and delight the ears with their singing. True, they thought of building houses for them quite recently, about 300 years ago.
No one is building large-scale housing complexes for birds, and no one needs it. In nature, everything should be in moderation, including comfort. If we talk about birdhouses, then there are certain subtleties of their construction.
The bird house needs disinfection. And a person can help with this. Having made a removable roof for the birdhouse, you can always remove it and pour boiling water over the inside of the wall. After waiting for the chicks to fly out, and emptying the contents of the house.
People have thought of making more than fifty varieties bird houses. But today’s publication is about a classic house – a birdhouse.
He came to us from Western Europe. And the reason for its creation is banal - food should be at hand. In Europe they ate starlings and their eggs. Peter the Great saw them and ordered, without fail, to start making and hanging houses for birds, for fun.
When building a birdhouse, there is no need to tinker very spacious house. It should be crowded; starlings will only feed two or three chicks. In this case, each chick will be healthy and strong. In spacious apartments, starlings will hatch five chicks, but will not be able to feed them. They will be sick and weak carriers of epizootics.
There is no need to be zealous and hang a lot of birdhouses, it is enough to hang one next to the house, or another one within sight. If there will be a lot of birds, the balance will be disrupted and they will not have enough food, as a result, all the birds will leave your area.
One more thing: it is necessary to protect the house from cats, they climb everywhere. You can protect it in two ways:
- A tall birdhouse, the entrance is on top, the cat’s paw cannot reach the chicks.
- The birdhouse is hung on a pole, in the middle of the pole there is a plywood circle with a diameter of 50 cm, the cat does not overcome the obstacle.
Cozy house made from a bottle
In winter, the cold weather has a hard time for feathered friends. Increasingly, small birds fly to a person’s home and knock on the window, asking for crumbs. Even in winter, a warm bird house will be in demand.
The time to take care of the birds is in the spring. Birds return from warm countries, looking for a mate and a suitable place for a brood.
Let's get started
We make a birdhouse for birds with our own hands from wood.
Step one. Let's prepare
You will need boards 20 mm thick, the birdhouse will have seven elements and a perch. We take a drawing of a birdhouse, a pencil and mark each part of the house on the boards: the canopy and the bottom of the lid, the bottom, the back, the front and two side walls.
The bottom of the lid and the bottom are the same, 13 cm square perimeter. The front wall and rear walls differ in height by 4 cm, creating an angle of inclination of the roof canopy. For this reason bevels are made on the side walls. Two different sized parts are made for the roof.
Step two. We cut it out.
It is advisable to cut out the elements together to ensure consistency sizes of paired parts. Plan the front part of the house with a plane or on a machine; it will look more beautiful. Carefully, using a drill or chisel, make a hole in the front part. Its diameter is 3.8 cm, an increase of up to 5 cm is allowed.
Under the entrance, we drill a through hole 3 cm, this is where the arrival perch will be placed.
In nature, the entrance is a natural hollow; it is round in shape. Based on this, preference is given to a round hole, but if there is no choice, then make it square. We place it 5 cm below the top point of the facade.
Step three. We collect.
To avoid drafts, glue three sides with carpentry or PVA glue, without the back wall. We knock down the sides of the birdhouse with nails or screws. We glue and nail the bottom to the walls, and lastly we attach the back side. This assembly eliminates the appearance of cracks.
We insert arrival perch, pencil or just a long stick. A two-sided ledge of 5 cm will be very comfortable for the bird.
We make the roof removable, this will make it easier to clean the birdhouse after hatching. As already mentioned, pour out the contents and pour boiling water over it, you can treat it with potassium permanganate. Temporarily attaching it with self-tapping screws will protect it from the wind and cats. Two roof parts fasten together.
Step four. We install.
The structure is secured nails or wire. If you are fastening it with nails, you must first nail a plank to the back of the house, 50 cm longer than the birdhouse itself, and then nail it to the tree.
It is easier to secure the birdhouse with wire. The wire does not harm the trees, for bark protection is needed place wooden pads under the wire. Place the birdhouse with the entrance to the east or south, at a height of 3–5 meters.
Build a birdhouse do it yourself from wood or plywood is easy. It is necessary to have the mood, desire and have a drawing of the object itself.
If you decide to hang a birdhouse on your property, then you should think about its decorative design. Let it look nice from the outside. Any birds feel good even in painted houses.
As a rule, a standard birdhouse is taken as a basis, and only then it is painted and decorated as desired. Craftsmen put up a fence with feeder in shape verandas.
I once saw a master’s work in the garden: a two-story house with a dining room and feeding trough on the ground floor. There is a bird house on the second floor. This entire structure, the feeder and birdhouse, is made of plywood.
It happens that the birds do not immediately like the “apartment”. We'll have to wait a year, and next spring everyone will be happy. The birds will settle in and merrily run around the area in search of food.
We invite the birds
By building and hanging birdhouses, we make life easier for birds and help them find shelter for a while. By hanging a house in the garden, we provide security for the residents and add joy to ourselves observations of natural life.
The birds thank us for this, they catch midges and mosquitoes, and collect pests from the beds. But different birds are looking for completely different housing, the size of the bottom and the height of the wall, the size of the entrance, and much more matter.
They carefully study the location of the future nest. At what altitude is the house located, what’s inside and what does it smell like. If all elements are taken into account by us, done DIY apartments filled with bird life.
It is important to make them comfortable for birds, not only beautiful for our eyes, otherwise they will remain empty.
Different birds - different houses
Small birds live in small houses. Tit sparrow, flycatcher, choose a small hole for entry 2.7–3.5 cm. The bottom is small, compressed 10–13 cm. In the absence of a perch jump from the bottom to a height of up to 15 cm.
Starling, wagtail, hoopoe, whirligig or woodpecker prefer an entrance hole of 5–5.5 cm, the bottom is also wider than 13–15 cm. The entrance is located at a height of 25 cm from the floor, and the front wall is 32 cm. Swifts and swallows look for special structures . They need a rectangular bottom 18 x 13 cm. An oval entrance under the roof itself is 6 x 3.7 cm; the front wall is up to 13 cm high.
An interesting fact: if a small bird inhabits a large house, then over time it will have to give way to a larger bird. If this happens on your site, you should cover the entrance hole with clay and give it the desired size.
How to place birdhouses
A safe height of four meters is considered. It is good when the birdhouse is in the shade and faces east. The distance between the houses is at least 30 meters. Starlings are social birds, they can be placed closer, but other birds require territoriality.
You can find an interesting solution without wasting time and money on materials. It’s pretty quick to make a birdhouse from a plastic bottle, and if you decorate it, it turns out pretty good.
Plastic houses
Large plastic house
A large five-liter water bottle will make an excellent summer home for small birds and for larger friends.
On top of the bottle you need to make a hole suitable in size for the bird. You will have to paint the entire bottle with paints; sunlight should not get inside. Cats will not be able to stay on plastic, so there is no need to be afraid of them.
If you make a through hole with an awl, you can insert a perch for the convenience of the birds. The same bottle makes very good feeders.
A square hole is made on both sides, the plastic is cut on three sides. The plastic is bent upward, creating a canopy over the tap hole. Such a house or feeder can easily be hung from the branches by the handle.
Device inside the house
You can make such houses from bottles, just like from wood, together with your children. Children will quietly get used to the idea of nature and take care of the world around them. Have a great time.
The house can be decorated with paints, but you can simply decorate it with bright ribbons or leave it transparent. It is worth sprinkling the bottom of the bottle with sand, putting hay and dry twigs on top. So, it will become much more comfortable and attractive for birds.
The tenants themselves will figure out what will be useful to them. It is worth thinking about the quiet life of birds and hanging the house higher.
DIY birdhouse
We take a two-liter drink bottle, this will be the basis for the house, then:
- Pliers;
- Drill and two different drills;
- Stationery knife;
- Paint brush or piece of sponge;
- Old CDs;
- Scissors;
- Wire;
- Glue for plastic;
- Scotch tape, or maybe electrical tape;
- Dowel and screw.
In addition to all this, you need acrylic paint:
- black;
- beige;
- green;
- brown;
- light brown.
All this can practically be found at home or in the garage.
How to build a birdhouse with your own hands
In a two-liter plastic bottle, at a height of 6 cm from the bottom, cut out a round hole for the tap hole with a stationery knife.
We drill a 3 mm hole two cm below and screw the plastic dowel with a screw from the inside. It turned out to be an excellent perch for the starling. He will greet others by singing, sitting in front of the entrance to the house.
We cover the bottle with brown paint twice, paint carefully, without gaps. We create comfort and darkness in the house.
Use a thin drill to drill through the neck of the bottle horizontally. A wire is threaded through the hole and twisted. It makes a good loop for hanging a bottle.
The finished home can be left and hung in the garden, but a couple more operations can be performed for beauty.
Bird house decoration
We cut out a window model from paper and glue it onto the bottle.
We heat the CD, so it’s easier to cut it, and divide it into parts like a cake. This is what we got as tiles for the house. You can paint the tiles brown or decorate them with all colors, making the roof multi-colored.
We begin to cover the bottle with tiles from the bottom row; you can also secure it with tape for strength. Each subsequent layer is attached only with glue.
The house is ready!
We arrange your home comfortably
Is it possible to make a plastic house more comfortable? A starling is a bird that independently searches for suitable material for its nest.
And who told you that the starling is the only representative of birds that can live in a built house. That is why you should worry about the comfort of future guests.
The bottom of the home can be lined with rags, cotton wool, hay and down. Any birds will not refuse such help in arranging a nest. They will delight others with their singing and chirping.
Where are birdhouses hung?
The higher above the ground, the safer it is, so the birds think. The first requirement that birds need is safety. We go into the garden, hang it higher, securely fasten it to good trees.
It is better to place it so that it is not particularly visible. Extra eyes can interfere with the growth of chicks. The main destroyers of bird nests are cats and children, and we hide bird nests from them.
Be sure to try making such a house with your children. A good activity for kindergarten, easy to do and helps develop a love for the world.
Not so long ago, birds could find shelter without human help, but with the advent of large cities, it becomes more and more difficult for them to do this. That is why birdhouses were invented - small houses for feathered animals. There they not only hide from the wind or bad weather, but also find food. How make a birdhouse with your own hands from scrap materials? Let's look at the simplest and most practical ideas.
DIY birdhouse from scrap materials
How to make a birdhouse - what needs to be taken into account?
Since we are talking about a house for living beings, there are some requirements for it. The birdhouse should be:
- Safe for its inhabitants.
- Practical so that birds can lay eggs there and hatch their offspring.
- Warm, but with mandatory access to fresh air.
- Just the right size for the birds to fit in.
As for the material of manufacture, there is nothing better and more natural than wood. Why shouldn't you use chipboard, fiberboard or drywall? The fact is that the birdhouse is located outside, where it is affected by rain, wind and snow. Wood is able to withstand adverse weather, while remaining intact and unharmed, which cannot be said about other artificially created materials. Birds will be much cozier and more comfortable in a house made of hardwood. Experts recommend not using coniferous wood, since resin appears on it, which makes housing unsuitable for birds.
Some managed to make a house out of metal. But in this case, it is necessary to carefully consider the bedding inside so that the house is not damp. Now let's look at the most popular types of birdhouses that can be made.
Birdhouse made of wood
To do this, you need to take care of the availability of boards made of alder, aspen or birch. An important condition for such a house is the creation of notches. These protrusions are extremely necessary in the first stages of the life of young chicks, for whom the notches will be a support to get out of the nest. Such protrusions can be made using a chisel. To create a birdhouse you will need the following tools: a jigsaw, a drill with an attachment for drilling holes, and a plumber's angle.
First, decide what size your bird house will be. It is very important that it is not too small and too large, otherwise the birds will not be comfortable in it, and they are unlikely to want to settle there. We offer you a rough drawing of a birdhouse, but you can create your own.
Now, having decided on the dimensions, you can start drawing. Draw the details on the board, which you will then cut out using a jigsaw. In order not to create voids through which wind and rain will penetrate, you need to fasten the elements with wood glue. It is necessary to drill holes at approximately a distance of 1 cm in order to then connect the parts using nails. The roof should consist of boards of different lengths: short and long. The short one is attached first, then the long one. Don't forget to make a hole and a perch as well.
Birdhouse made of plywood
Such a nest for feathered animals is no different from the design of a wooden nest. The tools and parts are similar, you just need to decide on the roof, what kind of roof it will be: single-pitch or gable. Making a birdhouse from plywood includes:
- Drawing. It is necessary to think in advance about the dimensions of the roof, bottom, and walls.
- Collecting parts. Now the cuts are polished. The elements are fastened with glue, after which the structure dries and is connected with nails and self-tapping screws. At the very end, the back wall is mounted.
- Strengthening the bottom. The bottom plywood is screwed firmly, but the roof should be easy to remove. This makes it possible to take care of the house. Once a year, the nest will need to be completely cleaned of old inhabitants.
Birdhouse made from plastic bottles
Today, an abundance of plastic bottles are made, so why not use them to create a birdhouse, especially since plastic is a strong and durable material. A 1.5 liter plastic bottle is required for the nest. It should not include foreign odors, drink residues, etc. The process of making a nest from a plastic bottle consists of:
- Markings. It is necessary to draw a future hole on the surface of the bottle and cut it out using a knife or scissors.
- Treating the edges of the hole with tape or tape.
- Insulation. To do this, you can wrap a thick thread around the nest.
- The birdhouse is ready.
It is very important to secure the birdhouse correctly and securely, otherwise one gust of wind will carry away the house with the chicks and lead to their death. Use long screws and nails. Where is the best place to install the nest? On a high tree. You can use a stepladder for this.
As you can see, making a birdhouse with your own hands from scrap materials is not at all difficult. To do this, you only need the desire to do good and a little effort. We hope that our tips will help you make a high-quality and reliable birdhouse for our feathered brothers.