At the moment, there are few hollow trees in big cities, and it is difficult for the birds to find a home for themselves. Let's help them and make a birdhouse with our own hands. Thus, we will save the birds from the cold. In this article we will look at: how to make a birdhouse with your own hands?
- Use linen gloves to keep the splinter out.
- Wear safety goggles to keep sawdust out of your eyes.
- The working tool (knife, saw) must be sharp. Remember that a blunt tool will easily hurt, it is poorly fixed in the tree and tends to slip off.
- Check power tools for proper operation.
- Use the ladder when hanging the finished birdhouse.
- If you want to paint the birdhouse, use an unscented, water-based paint in non-bright colors. Try to keep the birdhouse invisible to predators.
The best material for making a birdhouse is natural hardwood, for example: oak, aspen, linden, birch. Also suitable for a birdhouse are fiberboard (fibreboard), chipboard (chipboard), and plywood. You can use thick cardboard, but such a birdhouse will last only a couple of months. Do not use coniferous wood, as it releases a sticky resin and adversely affects the health of birds.
You will need: raw hardwood boards, nails 4 cm long, impregnation or non-toxic water-based odorless paint (optional), hacksaw or electric jigsaw, tape measure, hammer, pencil, drill with a 5 cm cutter, brush.
Birdhouse drawings
We present to your attention the options for drawings of future birdhouses. During the assembly of the birdhouse, do not neglect the safety rules described above.
Drawing No. 1 Birdhouse with a slope to the back wall
Drawing No. 2 Birdhouse with a pitched roof
Drawing No. 3 Birdhouse with a gable roof
- Connect the front wall to the side walls, drive nails along the edges and center of the board. (It should be a U-shaped design).
- Assemble the back wall and bottom of the structure in the same way.
- Nail a wooden bead to the bottom to round the inside corners.
- Do not forget to fix all the elements of the future birdhouse with nails.
- Make a removable birdhouse roof to further clean the birdhouse. It should consist of two parts of the main part and the sleeve.
- The roof of the birdhouse should protrude beyond the dimensions of the birdhouse itself from the side of the facade, so that precipitation does not get inside the birdhouse.
- Install a plank or perch in front of the entrance to the house.
- Choose a place to install a birdhouse, it can be a tree, a pole, or the roof of a house.
- The height of the birdhouse must be at least 3 meters.
- While fixing the birdhouse, tilt it forward so that moisture does not get inside.
- It is better to attach a birdhouse to a living tree with a wire or rope.
- The birdhouse can be attached to other surfaces using nails and a hammer.
- The birdhouse should be in the shade so that direct sunlight does not fall on it, and the bird house does not heat up.
- The entrance hole should be directed in the opposite direction from the wind.
- Do not install birdhouses nearby - starlings do not like neighbors.
Ideas for birdhouses from improvised materials
A birdhouse made of wine corks is hard not to appreciate! To create such beauty you will need: a ready-made birdhouse, wine corks, a glue gun, a sharp knife. Glue wine corks horizontally to the walls of the birdhouse, then vertically - in the center where the entrance hole is. Cut wine corks into thin circles and glue them to the roof of the birdhouse like shingles.
Paint the birdhouse with waterproof paints and it will look stylish, bright and exclusive!
A wicker birdhouse is the most interesting bird house!
Don't rush to throw away your old shoes! After all, even from it you can make a house for birds.
Remove the pulp from the pumpkin, dry it and make a birdhouse!
You can decorate the birdhouse as you like, the main thing is to show your imagination!
Making a birdhouse out of cardboard is not difficult. And for the birds, such a house will last a whole season. Protect the birdhouse from moisture by varnishing the cardboard.
Do not rush to throw away plastic bottles and make a birdhouse. It will not take you much time to create such a birdhouse! Get creative and create a good home for birds of any shape. Create with mood and love, then everything will work out!
In this article, we will make birdhouses with our own hands - correct, beautiful (simple and unusual) bird houses. I decided to decompose this theme of birdhouses into clear points, so it will be more convenient to navigate through the article. And before I give specific drawings and schemes for assembling birdhouses, and tell you how to make a birdhouse, we will talk about important things– the location and method of fixing your bird house. After all, the model of the house still depends on what methods of fastening you have available, and on whether you will mount your birdhouse on a tree or on special tall structures. And further… before moving on to choosing the design of your future birdhouse, we will deal with the most common mistakes in the manufacture of birdhouses (in order to avoid them in our do-it-yourself house). So here you will find answers to the following questions:
- How to fix birdhouses on a tree (types of fasteners for bird houses)
- Where can birdhouses be fixed ( if there are no trees nearby).
- Major Mistakes when building a bird house.
- How to help the birds choose your birdhouse.
- Drawing and assembly diagram classic birdhouse.
- multi-local, multi-apartment
- bird houses non-standard forms.
- birdhouses from non-traditional materials(from boots, canisters, teapots, pots, etc.)
Even more ideas and tips on how to make birdhouses in the article.
After studying this article, you can make a birdhouse yourself for a kindergarten or school competition. Or buy a ready-made set of blanks for a birdhouse- assemble it and decorate according to your author's design.
How to fix a birdhouse
on a tree.
Birdhouses are usually tied to a tree with a rope. To do this, a thick long beam is nailed to the back wall of the house. It is leaned against a tree and wrapped around with a rope many times - wrapping the timber and the tree trunk at the same time.
But in the west, birdhouses are often nailed to a tree (harder to tie, easier to nail, although cruel to an adult tree). To do this, the back wall of the birdhouse is made a little higher in height - so that there is a ledge of the board on top where nails can be driven in.
In the same way, this upper ledge of the rear wall can be made even longer. Long enough to drill a hole in it and hang it on a rope, or an iron hook as in the photo below.
And you can also drive a hook into the roof of the house and hang a birdhouse on a chain or rope on it on a thick and strong tree branch in your country house.
SUPPORT FOR BIRDHOUSE.
In addition to wood, any tall structure made from improvised materials can serve as a support for a birdhouse. It can be a large branch cut from an apple tree. It can be dug into the ground. But it should be understood that on such a support, birdhouses will be too low above the ground, and it will be easy for cats to get to the house (this will alarm the bird). Such a support model is good in cases where there are no cats in the area and you have a quiet nook in the courtyard where even your “human foot” almost never steps.
Therefore, in order to maintain a sense of bird safety, it is necessary to make high support structures for wooden birdhouses. For example, such as in the photo of bird houses below.
Also, the original portal in the form of a pergola can serve as a support-pedestal for the birdhouse. But also for places with infrequent traffic. If people roam back and forth through this portal, the birds will not want to settle. It is better to put such a pergola in a quiet corner of your garden and not often go there. The birds will appreciate the solitude and the wilderness and will choose this place for the safe hatching of their offspring.
But in the photo below we see that the holders for simple wooden birdhouses can be very different from beams with decorative carpentry to ordinary old garden pitchforks stuck into the rammed earth.
Also, a pillar-support for your new do-it-yourself birdhouse can be interestingly decorated with fresh flowers. If you plant a climbing plant near the pole, or hang flower pots as in the photo with birdhouses below.
MAJOR ERRORS
in bird houses.
Very often you can see INCORRECT birdhouses made with mistakes. Such beautiful painted bird houses are certainly cute and beautiful, but the birds do not want to settle in them. And the houses just hang empty on a tree - purely for decorative purposes.
Let me tell you what mistakes the masters make in the manufacture of birdhouses. So that the birdhouse made by your hands is not only beautiful, but also initially correct. Then your homemade birdhouse will please the birds at first sight.
ERROR #1
entry hole too low.
The window-door in the birdhouse should be located at a height of at least 30-40 cm. This height is needed so that the bird has the opportunity to create a nest at the bottom of the house.
By the way, the photo above is an example of another fastener - a metal U-shaped bracket is nailed to the roof of the birdhouse (like an eye for latches).
Look, on the transparent birdhouses from the photo below, we just see that the bird is dragging more branches into the house. And if the window is low, the branches will block the exit from the house and it will be impossible for the bird to get out of it. And the bird itself does not want to sit in the nest, where its head will be at the level with the window, so it will be anxious. It is much safer if the window is high - and the wind does not blow on wet fledglings, and the mother bird feels safe.
By the way, the photo above shows the original birdhouse model, the back wall of which is made of glass with suction cups. Such a house is attached to a window in a large house and you can watch the birds settle in the nest. You just need to comply with the condition - the window. In the place of the window glass where you plan to mount such a birdhouse on suction cups, you must first seal it with a tint film - so that the birds do not suspect third-party observation.
ERROR #2
hole too big.
Starlings will not settle in a house where the door is large enough for the cat's head. Cats love to climb trees looking for the nests of defenseless chicks. And such a house with a large hole is an easy prey for them.
The small hole in the birdhouse is not in vain invented. The cat's head and paw should not fit into the hole, but starlings and other birds should easily climb inside. Therefore, when you make a birdhouse with your own hands, make a small hole in it.
Only if you live near a forest belt and make houses for owls flying in the vicinity - then a large hole will certainly be appropriate.
ERROR #3
BRIGHT COLORING of a house for birds.
If you do not live in a blooming jungle, and if the house you have conceived is not designed for parrots with bright plumage, you do not need to paint it in bright colors. Birds trust only natural colors and natural materials. It is good to use such a birdhouse as a designer piece for your living room or work for a competition in a school or kindergarten. But the birds will not live in it.
Mossy aged houses are much nicer for feathered mothers than glossy glamorous smoothly planed apartments.
And if you want your bird house to be original and beautiful, then you should know: you can make a decorative glamorous design in natural shades. Here in the photo below is just an example of such a house, which at the same time looks chic from the aesthetic-human side and does not scare away the birds with bright colors at all.
But the cutest houses for the feathered heart are dwellings, as much as possible disguised as an ordinary hollow on the tree. After all, initially starlings settled in hollows. From time immemorial it has been so - it is inherent in their bird genes: to look for a hollow. So make them an artificial hollow from unhewn bark slab boards(sold as firewood).
Or your house made of planed boards, take it and additionally decorate under a living hollow- wrap (or glue) it with branches, branches and pieces of bark.
Birds love houses made of unplanned wood, with elements of bark and rough branches.
ERROR #4
No slats for birds.
It is inconvenient for birds to climb the smooth boards of a wooden house. It's hard for them, their little claws slip off.
This is especially important for the INSIDE SIDE of the birdhouse walls. It is better to stick the inner front wall with small ladders (so that inside the bird can climb them to the exit window).
Or nail a piece of bark to the inner wall of the birdhouse, or an old grater, in short, any ribbed and rough surface. Or place a short sloping board inside the birdhouse (from the bottom to the window) - so that the bird can climb up this hill to the exit from the house.
And also if your birdhouse is made of a smooth planed board on the outside, make sure that the bird has a footstool.
These can be simple branches or branches that you cut while pruning apple trees in the garden.
It can be river pebbles glued on hot glue from a glue gun. Or, instead of a pebble, you can stick log cabins of branches (cut them into round-saw cuts and glue the house over).
Any old, rusty thing from the barn will work as a footrest for birds - a door hinge, a valve from a water pipe, a faucet, a reel from an old fishing rod, a rake, an aluminum fork, a key. Anything can become a perch stand in a do-it-yourself birdhouse.
Such things will only add originality and creativity to your simple bird house.
THAN ELSE
we can
HELP THE BIRDS.
In addition to hard branches, birds need soft material to build a nest - tufts of dry grass, moss, feathers, rag debris, pieces of paper that they collect everywhere themselves, spending long hours on a shaving search flight.
Why not make the bird's work easier and place a construction warehouse next to the bird's dwelling. Housewarming in your birdhouse will come much earlier if everything you need to create comfort is located next to the house.
You can pick up bunches of grass yourself, tear the cotton wool into pieces and place it in such a way that it is easy for the bird to pull out pieces of material from this construction warehouse. It is not necessary to tie the grass into tight bundles with a thread - the bird will not be able to pull the grass out of the tight bundle. It is necessary to make a storage out of a mesh container.
You can hang a box with rags, cotton and moss nearby. To prevent the wind from blowing the material, the box can be covered with a mesh (metal) or a plastic mesh, which we put on the bottom of the kitchen sink.
Or weave-twist balls from flexible branches and put cotton wool, centipon and pieces of chopped newspaper or toilet paper inside such wicker balls.
Even holders for bird fleece and rags specially made for this purpose are sold. They are installed or hung next to birdhouses.
Material for the construction of birdhouses.
MATERIAL for the house must have the correct characteristics of thickness and texture.
THICKNESS. Boards 2 cm thick. Such a thickness of a wooden board will allow you to better keep the heat of the house. After all, nests are built in the spring, when at night it is still quite cold and even frosty.
TEXTURE. As I said, the boards should be rough (croaker boards with unplaned bark will do). And if you only have smooth planed boards, but pieces of bark on them can be stuffed with carnations, glued on liquid nails (thick adhesive composition from spray cans).
Or create artificial roughness - scratch the inner wall of the birdhouse with a knife - make notches for which the bird will cling. Or nail pieces of bark onto the inner wall, several slats one after another like a ladder, or nail a grater, or a piece of insulation (it is made of foamed mass and it will also be convenient for bird claws to climb on it).
IT IS FORBIDDEN make houses from glue boards (plywood, chipboard, fiberboard - these materials contain glue resins, they emit toxins that birds may not like. I don’t know if it’s true or not, but they say that resin pine boards are also not suitable for a birdhouse, which is from warm In the sun, the tar board heats up and releases smelly resin, and that this is supposedly harmful to the birds.
Now I will give diagrams and drawings of simple houses. But I’ll make a reservation right away that your designs can be completely different in shape and size. You are free not to stick exactly to the drawing from the project below. As you have already understood from the photos above, the houses are very different.
But the logic of size must be preserved ... And this logic is as follows.
What are the dimensions of the correct birdhouse.
Window hole size(called letok) - no more than 5 cm in diameter. So that the crow could not stick its head into the birdhouse and eat the chicks. And the cat's head didn't fit in either.
The height of the notch-window- at least 20 cm from the bottom of the house. So that the wind from the window does not blow on the nest of chicks, and so that the chicks are not near the entrance - because of the danger of meeting with a crow's beak or a cat's clawed paw.
Birdhouse height - at least 35 cm. It can be a little higher, but remember that if you make the ceiling too high, then such a high-ceiling house will be harder for the birds to heat (warm air will go up and the birds below in the nest will freeze).
house width- (that is, the square area of \u200b\u200bhis floor) should also not be very large. A spacious house is not considered cozy and a wide nest requires a longer time for its construction. The bird is tormented by filling such a spacious house with twigs. Therefore, we try to stick to the bottom size of 15 x 15 cm (or 20 x 20). That is, if you are making a wide house, then put dry grass there yourself in advance (the bird will only be happy).
As you can see, these dimensions are dictated by the logic of survival in the wild.. And the right birdhouse is the one in which all these features are observed.
Well, now let's move on to the drawings and diagrams.
Here I have collected ways to make a birdhouse in the form of diagrams and drawings. You can choose your model of the house and figure out what details it can be assembled. And remember, it doesn’t matter if your sizes are slightly different - we make it from improvised material and therefore the sizes will depend on our availability.
Here is another drawing of a birdhouse, although here the dimensions are given in inches. It will be easier for you to convert inches to centimeters if you ask your wife for a measuring tape for patterns - the one with which she measures the girth of her slimming waist during a diet. This measuring tape has centimeters on one side and inches on the other. So you can always see a quick conversion of any inch size to centimeter.
These drawings do not take into account one more CONDITION. In the Soviet birdhouses of our childhood there was always a clear rule: the front front wall (the one with the hole) should be tilted forward. This was done so that the starling could climb such an inclined hill to the exit from the house.
To observe this slope, you need to make 2 side walls from the rear edge straight vertical- and from the front oblique(we see a similar principle of oblique side walls in the photo below). Only in this example, the birdhouse generally has a triangular lateral section. And in Soviet birdhouses there was such a slope, but along with it there was also a normal bottom, so that there was enough space for a nest.
Below we see a drawing of real Soviet birdhouses from our childhood. True dimensions here are given in inches.
But if your house does not have a bevel on the sides, then to facilitate the exit of the bird, you can fill an inclined plank on the front wall from the inside of the house (it will perform the same function as a ladder).
And now let's look at the birdhouses of another unusual shape - a rhombus. Here he is in the photo. The idea is certainly beautiful, the house turned out elegant and decorative. But from a practical point of view, it would be better for the birds if the window expanded closer to the left or right edge - then the inclined plane of the wall would serve as a support for the birds to comfortably climb out.
And in this house that flaw that window too low- there is no place for a nest - it turns out that when a bird puts grass and twigs there, the height of the chicks will coincide with the height of the window - and they will look straight out and any crow will pull it out with its beak and devour it without a twinge of conscience.
A reasonable feathered mother will never choose such a dangerous house for housing - and it will just hang in your garden, and you will wonder why the birds do not settle in the birdhouse.
Here is a drawing of a similar house, but here the entrance hole itself is much higher - it's better. And even better to generally raise it under the very roof of the birdhouse. The bird will approve of this option.
APARTMENTS
bird houses.
And here are the options for simple multi-seat birdhouses. You will see a variety of options. Only here, not all apartments will be occupied, the side houses from the photo below have a too low entrance. I wish the same design - but with higher side turrets (or higher notch holes).
And in this photo, too, the central house will be inhabited - but there is no sidewall (the hole-entrance is too low). Therefore, you can make this design, but be aware that the side parts of the house will only have a decorative function. And the bird family will occupy only the middle apartment.
And here (in the photo below) is a multi-seat version, where all three houses are made according to the rules for the height of the notch and the height of the house. Such birdhouses will be fully populated.
Here is a beautiful option - the houses look in different directions of the world. By the way, it is recommended to fix the house so that the window looks to the south side, or to the east. The main thing is not to the north, the birds also need the sun.
It just seems that such a house is difficult to make. In fact, once you start drawing a drawing of a house, you will understand how simple it is. No more difficult than those designs that you made in your boyhood childhood from the designer.
You can design simple cell houses. In a row, like mailboxes in the entrance. Here's a good one on the left. And on the right photo, not very much - the notch is low. Not suitable for starlings, maybe for other birds, I don’t know ...
And here is another project of a multi-seat birdhouse. Here, each cell (except for the middle one) is a separate house with an exit in its own direction. If this drawing is changed and the height of the house is made larger and the entrance hole is raised to a height of 20 cm, then the starlings will appreciate such a communal apartment.
And here are some more options for beautiful and habitable birdhouses for several bird families at once.
Or you can make a very light and simple model - a birdhouse in the form of a rack shelf, with holes for entrances, as in the photo below. Only one drawback needs to be eliminated - here in the model below the houses are not large enough in height - it is necessary. It is necessary to make the height of the shelves at least 35 cm, and raise the notch by 20 cm from the bottom of each apartment shelf. Then the house will be occupied.
DECORATION OF BIRDHOUSES.
Decorative stylized birdhouses look very nice and can decorate any spring garden.
Bottle caps can serve as a decorating material (and at the same time insulating). Any material at hand can become decorative and finishing when building a house for starlings.
Pieces of laminate or linoleum left after repair can serve as material for the puff "tiled" roof of the house.
Just don't ever stop thinking about the birds. And if, for example, you have chosen a sheet of tin to create the roof of a house, think about how such a roof will rattle in the rain. The bird will go crazy with fear under the drum drops with a booming echo resounding in the house. Then, to such a roof, you need to add a sheet of sound-insulating material (foam or foam rubber).
And on the roof of the house you can set up a whole green garden. If you cut holes in parts of the house, put black soil there and plant plants. Pieces of moss or lawn take root well.
As well as special plants related to soilbloods. That is, those that grow with a carpet covering the soil, in the same way they will grow on your house not up, but in breadth with a carpet. This will add thermal insulation to the house. And most importantly, it will allow the birdhouse to merge with nature - and the birds will feel safe in such a cozy shelter disguised as a natural dugout.
WHERE TO BUY A BIRDHOUSE.
Birdhouses are often sold in hardware stores, they are also in construction stores, in the department everything is for summer cottages.
You can also buy them from individual craftsmen. There is such a well-known site called “Masters Fair” - we go to the site and in the old “site search” we set the word “birdhouse” and immediately pop up all the pictures of birdhouses with prices and addresses of the masters. You place an order and receive it by delivery or mail.
Here I have selected original creative works for myself Masters Dmitry(You can see his profile below).
And the same master has such works for sale. Do you want to buy such an exclusive birdhouse for your dacha. You are welcome to Fair of Masters to the author Dmitry (tik-kem).
And here are the works Sergey from the same Fair of Masters. Also cozy pictures of antiquity, revived in the form of birdhouses.
And on the same site there are a lot of options for ready-made kits for self-assembly of houses. Such sets are nice to buy, assemble - AND THEN DESIGN YOUR OWN INDIVIDUAL DECOR (glue over with twigs, overgrown with moss, turn into a toy house, or a fishing shed, or a cartoon character.
Company Workshop No. 13 on the site Fair of Masters offers a lot of kits for assembling birdhouses, as well as paints and coloring schemes for such houses.
If the house sets of this company are expensive for you, then there are other craftsmen selling the bases for birdhouses at a much more reasonable price. For example Master cat- keeps a good price. You get an excellent solid house and turn on your decorating fantasy to the fullest.
DIY birdhouses
from NON-STANDARD MATERIALS.
Any material at hand can be adapted to a starling house. Previously, before human intervention in bird affairs, starlings found any holes in the natural environment to make a nest there. Therefore, they still do not pay attention to the external form and material - if only it was safe. Boots are boots, you don't have to choose. Moreover, it is very warm there.
On the Internet, such a picture roams - maybe it's a photoshop, or maybe in a deep forest and such a nest turned out to be safe enough for a bird. If the tree is tall and uncomfortable for cats to climb, then the bird will find it a good place to breed.
You can try to arrange any item in your country house as a house for starlings and titmouse. And suddenly he likes it. The ceramic pot holds heat well and does not drum in the rain.
But the iron kettle cools down quickly on a cold night, and during the rain it rattles like a drum, so it’s not suitable.
Houses can be made from old canisters. But just cover them with thick wooden boards - to avoid the roar of rain.
Old wicker baskets with a hole in the side can be turned into an original bird house - just make the notch higher and so that the walls do not blow through, do not be too lazy to insert an inlay made of heat-insulating material inside.
HOUSES for WINTERING of birds.
Many of you will go to Google to look for more interesting drawings for birdhouses, in which case I want to warn you right away. DO NOT CONFUSE BIRDHOUSES (designed for nests and hatching of chicks WITH HOUSES FOR WINTERING OF BIRDS (the purpose of which is to give birds a temporary overnight stay in the cold winter season).
Houses for wintering differ in that…
- They contain an inlet at the bottom(so that warm air rises and remains in the upper part of the house).
- In such houses they stuff perches on which the birds can sleep on a harsh winter night, protected from wind and cold.
And in winter, in addition to houses for cold weather, birds need feeders. I already have the same voluminous and detailed article on making a variety of bird feeders with my own hands.
Now, you know everything (or almost everything) about birdhouses and houses for hatching chicks. The birdhouse is basically a simple craft. Anyone can do it.
And if you didn’t find your birdhouse design here, then I have another article on the same topic. Perhaps your future bird house is located there -
Good luck with your work. And let the birds celebrate their feathered housewarming this spring. It's so nice to feel like those who built the house.
In our country, with our salaries, not everyone can afford to build houses. But even if you can’t build a house for your family yet, you have already done a real job if you built it at least for a family of birds. To this little, more will follow. After all, the magic of a house made by your own hands is already working to ensure that your family celebrates housewarming.
Magic is born when we start doing a good deed, with these hands of our own.
Olga Klishevska, specially for the site
Attracting birds to the site is both useful and enjoyable. It is useful because they destroy pests, it is pleasant to listen to their singing and observe the behavior of birds. Therefore, many come up with the idea - to build a birdhouse with their own hands. People over 40 years old, while they can remember their school years: at the lessons of labor, the boys made houses for birds. But not only site owners make birdhouses. Often residents of apartment buildings hang them on trees near the house, on balconies and loggias.
What to do
The answer is unequivocal - from wood, and hardwood: conifers are too resinous. Resin can stain the plumage, leading to the death of the bird. Do not use plywood, or. Rarely does anyone settle in such birdhouses: glue and binders scare away birds. For the same reason, we assemble and fasten blanks only on nails or screws, we do not use glue.
Most often, birdhouses are made from boards. The thickness of the boards is at least 20 mm. This thickness is sufficient to maintain a stable temperature inside, which is important when hatching chicks. Moreover, the boards are needed unplaned, in any case, the inner surface should be rough. The front part under the notch is also specially scratched: along these notches, chicks and birds rise to the notch.
To prevent cracking of the boards during assembly, we pre-drill holes for the screws. The diameter is slightly smaller than the diameter of the screw.
Sizes of birdhouses for different types of birds
To attract different types of birds, the size of the house should change. The proportions of the “body” itself and the letok change mainly. The task is to create more familiar nesting conditions for this species.
| bird species | Bottom dimensions | Birdhouse height | Notch dimensions | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Starlings | 10*10cm | 30-40 cm | about 5 cm | letok is preferable to a round shape |
| Sinichnik - tits, flycatchers, redstarts, sparrows, pygmy owls | 10-12 cm | 25-30 cm | 30-35mm | notch round |
| Small titmouse or flycatcher (flycatcher, redstart) | 10*8 cm | 25-30 cm | 30 mm | |
| Poluduplyanka | 10*8 cm | 20 cm | height 33-50 mm across the entire width of the wall | letok - a longitudinal slot in the entire width of the front wall |
As you can see from the table, basically only the height changes. The width remains more or less stable. It's not worth making birdhouses anymore. They will stimulate to lay more eggs, and the birds will not be able to fully feed a large number of chicks, as a result, the offspring will be weak and, most likely, will die.
If you want to attract wagtails, make a birdhouse laid on its side: it will be 10-12 cm high and 35-40 cm wide, with the same small entrance located approximately in the middle. Wagtails have weak legs, and they cannot climb the high wall to the entrance. Therefore, such a choice of nesting. in the wagtail, it is also desirable to make a trapik about 10 cm wide in front of the entrance - so that they can enter on foot.
Some explanation is required for the half-hollow. Some birds are used to nesting not in hollows, but in depressions between branches. In a completely closed artificial nesting place, they rarely settle. If you want to attract, for example, a gray flycatcher, make it a small box in which the notch goes the entire width of the front wall.
Just keep in mind that some types of squirrels also like to settle in such houses.
There is another nesting place that birds often like more - the nest box. This is a birdhouse, hollowed out from a piece of log. Often a dried tree is sawn into logs of a suitable size, turning it into apartments for birds. The height and diameter are selected based on the dimensions that were indicated for an ordinary birdhouse. The bottom and roof in the hollow are made from a piece of board.
Duplyanka - a birdhouse made of logs
Safety
It's a shame and a pity when the nests of birds are ruined. Cats are mainly engaged in this, and even woodpeckers. Therefore, when you make a birdhouse with your own hands, increase the overhang of the roof. In almost all drawings, it is drawn 5 cm long. In order to protect the birdhouse from the cat, it is necessary to make sure that he cannot reach the notch. To do this, the roof should protrude by at least 7 cm, and it is better to add a couple more - for large specimens. This ledge will also protect from slanting rain: the chances that the chicks will get wet becomes even less.
Another option is to put nails on the lid. The cat is unlikely to get hurt, but it won’t work to sit comfortably - they won’t give nails.
There are several ways to protect chicks from woodpeckers:
- beat the notch with tin:
- drive a few nails around the notch;
- nail an overlay made of wood on the notch area, the fibers of which run horizontally.
All this will prevent the woodpecker from expanding the notch and getting to the eggs or chicks. The last trick - the overlay - will also complicate the task for the cat: it is more difficult to reach the chick through a long entrance.
Measures against enemies: 1 - from woodpeckers, 2.3 - from cats
They are still saved from cats and possible invaders with the help of protective belts. They are made either from tin strips or from “brooms”. You will understand everything by looking at the picture. Please note that the distances must be maintained within an accuracy of 3-4 cm. Then the animals will not be able to jump over the protective belts. There should not be knots, feeders and other possible supports between them and the birdhouse.
Where to hang
Where to hang a birdhouse is also a science. If they gathered to hoist on a tree, then at a height of at least 2.5-3 meters. There should not be paths or busy metas near the selected tree - a well, a bench, etc.
When choosing a place on a tree, keep in mind that there should not be large branches in front of the entrance: the approach should be free. At the same time, you need to deploy it so that the “window” looks south. All this increases the chances that tenants will settle in your birdhouse.
Another point: you need to tie or nail so that the “house” is tilted slightly forward. So it will be easier for the chicks to get out, and less rain will clog.
How to make a birdhouse with your own hands: photo report
We will do the easiest option - with a flat roof. As already mentioned, we take non-planed hardwood boards with a thickness of 20 mm or more. To avoid splinters, it is better to work with gloves. We cut the blanks according to the drawing. Try to keep the saw cuts even and at a right angle: there should be no gaps. Immediately after hatching, the chicks are without plumage, and the slightest draft can kill them. Therefore, all edges must be even.
We take long thin nails - diameter 1.5-2 mm, length 4-5 cm and a hammer. We start assembly. We nail the sidewalls to the front part at a right angle. For each - three or four nails.
Turning the workpiece upside down, take the bottom, insert it, align it. We nail to the sides. From above we cover with a back wall, we also nail. Do not forget about the connection of the back wall with the sidewalls.
Turning the notch up, we nail the bottom also from this side. It remains to assemble the roof. We take the remaining square - a double of the bottom, nail it so that the visor sticking out in front is at least 5 cm (preferably 7-10 cm, as they said before). If the nails stick out, bend them.
The roof just needs to fit snugly. If something interferes, we earn money with a chisel. That's all, the birdhouse is ready with your own hands.
Often a perch is installed under the entrance. Is she needed or not? If there are enough branches around, it is better not to do it. If there are no branches, you need to either make a perch or a small shelf, although you can do without them. Why? Because cats also rely on them and it is easier for them to reach the chicks with support.
How to make a titmouse, see the video
We make a nest box - a birdhouse from a log
If the feathered people have a choice - to settle in a nest box or a birdhouse made of boards - they will choose a nest box. It looks more like the usual "housing" - a hollow, it has no slots on the sides and, therefore, is warmer. They are less noticeable on the tree, which means more chances to grow offspring. This is a plus from the bird's point of view. Now about the pluses from the point of view of "manufacturers": a fallen tree goes into work, and it is free. If you find a suitable one, it will be enough for a large number of birdhouses. About the minuses - making hollows is longer and more difficult: you have to manually pick out the core, leaving the walls intact.
Now about how to find a suitable tree. Aspen is best suited: it usually rots from the inside, and remains hard along the outer edge. Therefore, we go in search of an aspen forest, and there, among the fallen trees, we look for a suitable one: we cut several trunks. It is important to find with a whole edge and a rotten middle - the work will go faster.
It is desirable to find such an aspen - with a rotten core, but strong edges
Often such trees have rotten bark, which makes them look unsightly. We clean off the bark, pull the log to the dacha or to the house. There we cut into logs of a suitable size. Dimensions are determined by the diameter. For a birdhouse, the inner diameter of the nest box should be 22-30 cm, respectively, the outer diameter should be 27-36 cm.
The height of the block of wood also depends on the type of house - a titmouse 20-40 cm high (but they are more likely to settle in low ones), a birdhouse - from 30 to 45 cm. precipitation dripped from the roof. For the manufacture of roofs and bottoms, you will need trimming boards, you can use unedged and slabs.
We take a cut off block of wood and begin to pick the core with a chisel. The task is to dig a through hole. After that, even hard wood is easier to chip. To make the process go faster, you can drill holes with a drill, then break out the jumpers with a chisel.
The task is to dig a through hole
As a rule, the rotten core ends quickly, then you have to chip off pieces of wood with a chisel and a hammer or mallet. But with a hole in the center, it is much easier - longitudinal pieces are chipped off, work goes on at a normal speed.
The walls should remain about 1.5-3 cm. We try to work out the middle more or less smoothly, without large chips. When the walls are selected, we make a notch. If there is a knot, you can hollow it out. Or take a bark and a drill, drill in a suitable place. If there is no crown, we take an ordinary drill, drill holes in a circle, then, using the same chisel, we cut through the remaining jumpers.
A piece of board 2-2.5 cm thick goes to the bottom. It is nailed or screwed onto self-tapping screws. The protruding parts are cut as close to the walls as possible.
It remains to nail the roof. The same board or slab will do. Before screwing in the self-tapping screw, drill holes, otherwise the board may split.
Actually, you have already made a birdhouse with your own hands, it remains to protect it from woodpecker attacks. If there are knots on the walls, it is advisable to coat them with plasticine (regular, for children). They can also close up the gaps that remain between the bottom and the roof and the walls: it is rarely possible to fit everything clearly. If you do not want to cover with plasticine, you can caulk with a hemp rope. It is applied to the slot, and driven into it, with a flat screwdriver (actually, there are special blades for caulking, but they are large - this is the time, and for “one-time use” they should be bought ...). If it "goes" badly, you can knock on the handle with a hammer.
Caulking "seams" with hemp rope
How to decorate a birdhouse
While the birdhouse is new, it looks relatively good, but after a couple of months it will darken. For birds, this is good - it will become less noticeable and they will only benefit from this. But not all homeowners like to look at such an unsightly “decoration”. To improve the appearance, the birdhouse can be painted, but you need to choose “natural” colors - brown, gray, shades of green. Do you want your birds to survive? This means that their nest must be masked, and not painted in all the colors of the rainbow, attracting all possible predators.
And this one is just ideal - no gaps in the floor))
Sinichnik is inhabited
Beautiful decoration and disguise
We hope that now you can not only make a birdhouse with your own hands, but also competently (from the point of view of birds) decorate it.
Dimensional drawings
Some drawings of birdhouses are in the text, we post a few more in this section. Correcting the dimensions for the planned "residents" is probably not a problem. Also note that the layout is given for a board with a thickness of 2 cm. If the thickness is increased or decreased, adjustments are necessary.
Birdhouse with a triangular roof: drawing, dimensions
Sloped roof birdhouse (front wall higher)
Attracting birds to your local area is a pleasant and rewarding activity. After all, birds not only delight our ears with their trills, but also eat harmful insects.
How to make a birdhouse with your own hands - this is our article.
Raw Materials
The starting material is exclusively wood. It is recommended to use wood only from deciduous trees, as conifers emit resin, which can lead to the premature death of a feathered tenant.
You can not make birdhouses for birds from plywood sheets, chipboard and OSB. Glue and special impregnation contained in such materials discourage feathered guests.
As a result, the assembly and fastening of blanks should be carried out only with nails and self-tapping screws, without the use of adhesive composition.
Usually, for the manufacture of a birdhouse made of wood, non-planed boards are used, with a thickness of at least 2 cm. This thickness allows you to maintain a constant temperature inside the bird house.
In order to prevent cracks from appearing on the boards during fastening, it is necessary to pre-drill holes for the screws.
How to choose the size of a birdhouse
The size of the birdhouse depends on which birds it is intended for. Different types of birdhouses differ in their proportions and the length of the notch.
For example, for starlings, the required dimensions are: 10 × 10 × 40 cm, letok - 5 cm. For tits and flycatchers, sparrows - 10 × 12 × 30 cm, letok - 3-3.5 cm. 20 cm with a notch 3.3-5 cm high across the entire width of the wall.
Usually only the height of the birdhouse changes.
Half-hollows can also attract squirrels.
Some birds prefer to settle in nest boxes-birdhouses, made from a part of a log by gouging. The bottom and roof of such structures are made of boards.
To make the birdhouse habitable again, it is necessary to pull out the old nesting place from it and scald it with boiling water. An additional measure may be treatment with potassium permanganate.
How to make a birdhouse a safe home
To avoid ruining the birdhouse by cats and woodpeckers, you can take the following measures:
- Increase the roof overhang;
- Poke the roof with nails;
- Finish the notch with a tin sheet;
- Fill around the notch with nails;
- Attach a wooden overlay with horizontally arranged fibers near the notch;
- Make special protective belts from tin strips or from "brooms", while it is necessary to strictly adhere to the required distances between them.
Important: there should be no knots, feeders and other likely supports between the protective belts and the birdhouse.
How to choose the right place for a birdhouse
Birdhouses should be hung on trees at a height of at least 3 m. It is not desirable that busy paths pass near these places and benches are located.
Note!
When choosing a place on a tree, it is necessary to take into account that there are no large branches near the notch. You need to install the birdhouse facing south so that there is a slight forward tilt.
Making a birdhouse
It is necessary to take raw hardwood boards with a thickness of at least 2 cm. Gloves are also required. Next, we take the drawings of the birdhouse and cut out the component parts. It is necessary to cut carefully and evenly, at an angle of 90 °, so that there are no gaps in the future.
It is better to choose nails with a diameter of 1.5-2 mm and a length of no more than 40-50 mm. We start assembly. We apply the side parts to the facade at an angle of 90 ° and nail it. It is recommended to use 3-4 nails for each.
We turn over, install the bottom, nail it to the sides. Next, we insert the back wall and also fix it with nails with a bottom and side parts.
We flip again. We fix the bottom on the other side. We install the roof in such a way that the overhang is at least 5 cm. Preferably 10 cm. We nail it.
Note!
We examine the resulting birdhouse and bend all the protruding nails.
Whether to install a perch is up to you.
Nowadays, on the Internet, you can easily find a variety of ideas on how to make a birdhouse in the country or near your home.
Some of them are very unusual. Therefore, feel free to make houses for birds.
After all, the original birdhouse can become a real decoration of your garden.
Note!
DIY birdhouse photo
