DIY birdhouse made of wood: drawings, dimensions, materials, decor and installation. Do-it-yourself birdhouse: how to make a reliable and comfortable house for birds (61 photos) Original birdhouses

It’s not enough to put together a birdhouse. It also needs to be decorated to make it a real highlight of the garden. There are various techniques that allow you to turn your birdhouse into a real artistic masterpiece with your own hands.

Approaches to decor

The decoration of the birdhouse can be dictated by the very shape of this “structure”. Traditionally, it is created in the form of a hut with a gable roof, although there are options for round “buildings”, intricately contoured fairy-tale towers, and so on.

The design is also selected depending on the material of manufacture. Croakers are often used for birdhouses. If you leave tree bark on its surface, this is already a “claim” for the design. You can decorate the roof in different ways, giving it, for example, a tiled look. People who know how to work with wood decorate such houses with original carvings.

It is appropriate to paint with yellow and brown colors, which look the most natural. The outside of a wooden birdhouse can be painted in other colors. It makes sense to use acrylic paints. Aerosol ones are also suitable.

With a child, it is good to decorate such a house, for example, for the New Year, depicting fir branches, New Year's balls, red-breasted bullfinches and other drawings on this topic on the walls.

One of the most spectacular ways to decorate a birdhouse is to decorate it using the decoupage technique. Using ready-made pictures allows you to create beauty even for those people who have absolutely no artistic talent. All you need is accuracy, patience and imagination.

Master class on birdhouse decoupage

To decorate a birdhouse using decoupage technique, need to prepare:

• “home” for starlings;
• paints (acrylic);
• varnish (moisture-resistant);
• sandpaper;
• tassels;
• scissors;
• napkins and decoupage card;
• special glue or regular PVA, diluted with water at a rate of 1:1.

The decoration looks like this step by step.

1. Sand the birdhouse with sandpaper so that it becomes very smooth, devoid of the slightest nicks. Remove any remaining wood dust with a damp cloth.
2. Paint the walls and roof with the chosen color. Let dry. If necessary, repeat the procedure.
3. While the paint is setting, cut out fragments from the decoupage card in the shape of the “sides” of the house.
4. Coat the side wall with glue. Carefully place the paper blank on it. Smooth it out, moving from the middle to the edges so that the air comes out and no air bubbles appear under the sticker. Do the same with the second side of the birdhouse.
5. For the front part, you can use separate images. For example, gnomes and mushrooms. It is better to cut out pictures with scissors with sharp ends.
6. Glue the images onto the facade in accordance with the plan.
7. In order for the structure to serve for a long time and not lose its elegant appearance, it should be coated with moisture-resistant varnish in several layers, allowing it to dry after each stage of varnishing.

Design options

If you use craquelure varnish in your work, you can create an aging effect on the facade of the birdhouse, which gives the feeling that the wood is covered with cracks. To do this, the birdhouse blank is first primed with white acrylic paint, and then brown paint is applied in those places where cracks should appear.

Brown spots are covered with craquelure varnish, and when it dries, a layer of white paint is created.

Then all that remains is to stick the desired images on the previously provided places, cover the birdhouse on all sides with varnish (acrylic) - and the beautiful birdhouse is ready.

If you want to decorate a birdhouse in a New Year's style, you can choose napkins with appropriate motifs and stick them on the body. To give such a house a snowy look, you need to mix white acrylic paint, PVA glue and semolina in equal proportions. Then cover the roof and individual areas on the sides of the birdhouse with this composition, sprinkle with silver sparkles.

This birdhouse will be a great addition to the winter garden design.

When creating a birdhouse design, you need to take into account that the main thing is the convenience and safety of the birds. In order for them to be able to comfortably settle in such a house, they need to approach the choice of finishing materials wisely.

According to experts, the color of the product can be anything, but the paint and glue should not have a strong odor. Therefore, it is better to choose water-based materials. Otherwise, the birds will not settle in such a “dwelling,” and the birdhouse will remain just an uninhabited decoration in the garden.

Unusual decor

A birdhouse can be made a bright accent in a natural area near the house if you paint it with spray paint in a bright color, leaving only the “false door” white. An “extension with firewood” will give the “building” originality. Such a birdhouse looks beautiful both in summer among the greenery and in winter, standing out as a bright spot against the background of white snow.

The “three-story birdhouse” can be designed as a traffic light. It looks very unusual on a tree, attracting the attention of anyone walking nearby.

An original solution is to make a bird house in the form of a mailbox. You need to paint it in a characteristic blue color, stencil the word “post office”, hang the birdhouse on a tree and the local “forest postal service office” can be opened.

Decorating a birdhouse in the shape of a telephone booth is also an interesting approach to design. Such a decoration cannot get lost in the forest. But it is interesting to watch how birds fly in to “make a phone call.”

Fans of birdhouses can make a real village out of such houses. Each of them creates room for creativity. If you want to maintain a single style, you can “assign” numbers to the houses and paint them in different colors.

People with artistic talent can paint birdhouses to their liking, and if they don’t have such a gift, use a stencil. If you apply paints correctly, the result will be no worse than a real painting.

An elegant bird house surrounded by a fence looks very cute. With it, the whole garden will acquire a fabulous atmosphere. A birdhouse in the shape of an old mill is a wonderful design find for a summer cottage or garden.

Summer residents will appreciate the humorous approach to birdhouse design. The “slate” roof, like a rusty one, the “peeling” paint on the facade and the recognizable shape of the house - a real country toilet with an adjacent “bed”. Simply a miniature embodiment of a typical Russian plot of land outside the city.

If you plan to make the birdhouse part of the design of the veranda, it is enough to paint it the same color as the railing of the extension. A beautiful roof in several tiers will give the house an unusual look and artistic completeness.

The birdhouse can be given the appearance of a real gingerbread house. It is enough to carve, properly paint and decoupage. And if the composition is supplemented with a tea pair, similar in design to the birdhouse, you will get a real decoration for the local area.

A birdhouse is a type of artificial closed nesting box, the most popular both among people - friends of wild birds, and among their charges. The tradition of hanging birdhouses on Bird Day exists all over the world, and here and there real birdhouse towns appear in places suitable for nesting, see fig.

Note: International Bird Day, April 1, is not celebrated in the Russian Federation. In Russia it is customary to consider the so-called Bird Day. Finding, but not a Christian church holiday, but a folk one. The People's Obretenie falls on March 9 according to the Gregorian calendar; this date is more suitable for hanging birdhouses, see below. The origin of the name of the popular Finding is connected not with the finding of the head of John the Baptist, but with beekeeping - if by this day the bees are found (are) in the hives, then it means they have wintered safely.

Making a good birdhouse with your own hands is not difficult; Even a schoolboy can cope with this. Birdhouses are used to attract not only insect-killing birds to household plots and summer cottages, but also small songbirds to cities and homes, as well as to create nesting sites for hollow-nesting birds in forests and parks. Many useful and beautiful birds nest in hollows and competition for “living space” during the nesting season is fierce, because There are not so many hollows in the trees and, as a rule, they have been occupied by someone since the fall.

The technology for assembling a birdhouse is really simple; it does not require expensive and/or complex processing materials. But, to make a birdhouse, you need to know in advance who will live in it. In closed nesting areas, many small birds, otherwise capable of nesting openly, do not mind building a nest. All potential birdhouse new settlers have their own nesting requirements, so the designs of birdhouses for different species or groups of bird species differ, as reflected in their names: titmouse, flycatcher, wagtail, owlcatcher, etc.

General terms

The structure of a birdhouse in general is as follows: it is an elongated upward cavity, mainly in wood, with a solid bottom and a removable lid. Under the roof there is a hole - an entrance - for the birds that have settled in it. A removable lid is necessary, firstly, for autumn inspection and cleaning of the cavity: of the birds, only starlings, tits and nuthatches, after the chicks have fledged, they certainly throw away the old nesting material and do “general cleaning”. Most of the others leave the garbage as is and next year the cluttered “recycling” will no longer occupy it. Secondly, instead of birds, the birdhouse may be taken over by unwanted animal occupiers; We'll talk about them below.

The body (structure) of the birdhouse can be prefabricated from boards, as well as some other materials, or hollowed out or chopped from a piece of log - churak; the latter are called nest boxes. The dimensions of the birdhouse are usually, depending on the type of birds for which it is intended, 20-40 cm in height; a tap hole with a diameter of 2.5-6 cm is located 5-6 cm under the roof. The extension of the roof above the entrance should be at least 5 cm for protection from rain and cats. The diameter of the internal cavity (nesting chamber) ranges from 10x10 to 15x19 cm in birdhouses made of boards or with a diameter of 7 to 20 cm in nest boxes. Sometimes a pole or landing platform for parents is required in front of the entrance; in what cases - let's look further.

Houses like birdhouses are also made for other animals living in hollows: squirrels, bats, but their proportions are different. Making a birdhouse for birds within the specified height limits is necessary so that the chicks can still climb the walls to feed, but for squirrels, and especially dormouse, such a high threshold would be inconvenient. You should not make the nesting chamber too spacious, firstly, for the same reason. Secondly, in a large nesting area, the female will lay more eggs, but the parents will not have enough strength to feed them all. Some chicks will then die, and the remaining ones will grow stunted and will not survive the winter.

What are the birds waiting for?

A birdhouse must meet very specific requirements. First, it must be strong and opaque: the secrecy of the brood is the main reason why hollow nesters nest in tree cavities. Further, the inner walls should not be very hard and slightly rough, so that the chicks can climb towards their parents who have flown in with food. Without this physical exercise, the chicks will not get up on their wings properly and will not be able to withstand the flight to wintering grounds or will become victims of predators.

The following conditions: the material of the birdhouse should be moderately sound-permeable, retain heat as best as possible, and its structure should not have any cracks. Reasons: the chicks must hear their arriving parents or a creeping predator, but at the same time their squeaks should not spread far. In addition, the chicks of all hollow nesters are naked at first, the slightest draft can destroy them, and getting the nest wet will certainly destroy the entire brood. Chicks, like all birds, emit quite a lot of heat, and in an insulated, dry home they will have a much better chance of surviving a sudden cold snap.

About materials

Make a birdhouse it is best from edged, unplaned boards of deciduous wood. Only seasoned conifers are suitable, without visible streaks or a noticeable smell of resin. The best ones are used, from some dismantled shed. The thickness of the boards is 20-30 mm, then the conditions of sound conductivity and thermal insulation will be met. If the boards are planed, then the inner side of the one where the tap hole will be needs to be “roughened”: treated with coarse sandpaper, covered with notches or scratches with the tip of a knife or the corner of a chisel.

Note: in some cases, some other materials are suitable or even preferred, incl. and discarded henchmen. We will talk about their use further.

Plywood, even waterproof plywood, is not suitable for birdhouses: it muffles sounds and does little to prevent heat loss. OSB, chipboard, fiberboard are absolutely unsuitable - birds are much more sensitive than us to the vapors of phenol compounds. The nesting chamber made of artificial lumber on a phenolic binder of the highest consumer class for chicks will turn into a gas chamber. MDF, which does not contain phenolic resins, would in principle be suitable, but this is a material for internal use and will soon swell and become limp under the influence of precipitation.

Enemies and defense

There are plenty of people in nature who want to feast on eggs or chicks. In addition, the birdhouse can be occupied by new residents “without a warrant,” or even extremely undesirable ones in the garden, such as, for example. Sonya Dormouse is interested in the seeds in juicy fruits, and just a couple of these animals can spoil the harvest of the entire garden. The birdhouse can also be captured by squirrels, bats, and in Siberia, chipmunks. In general, there is no harm from four-legged invaders, but beneficial birds are deprived of nesting sites.

The worst destroyers of birdhouses are large woodpeckers, great spotted woodpeckers and woodpeckers. By the beginning of nesting time, these generally useful birds experience an acute shortage of animal protein; it is time for them to nest, too, and for this reason, woodpeckers peck at birdhouses, destroying eggs and chicks. There is nothing to be done, everything is poison and everything is medicine, not only in medicine.

In second place in terms of danger to the brood are cats, domestic and wild. Small predators from the mustelidae family, strange as it may seem at first glance, do not pose a particular danger to the clutches and chicks: by the time the birds nest, they have abundant, easily accessible prey - mice, voles.

Methods for protecting a birdhouse from destruction are shown in Fig. Pos. 1 – from woodpeckers: a tin collar 5-6 cm wide, upholstered with small nails at the same distance or an overlay made of straight-grained wood with grains oriented horizontally; the fact is that woodpeckers can only peck at wood with vertical grains. The last method is preferable, because The cover does not rust and does not create inconvenience for the owners of the house. But keep in mind that the rest of the structure must be made of wood with fibers oriented vertically or obliquely, otherwise the bird’s house will quickly split.

Pos. 2 – protection from cats. The best way is an anti-cat “skirt”; it can be made from dry branches or pieces of wire. 1-2 short twigs at the root part are cut so that small inclined stumps remain, and the entire belt is fastened with wire passing under them, without pulling it tightly so as not to damage the tree. The “skirt” is placed at the same height as the lower tin belt, see below.

The threshold inside under the entrance (below in position 2) is less labor-intensive, but inconvenient for both the chicks and their parents. It is done if it is not possible to arrange an anti-cat belt. Another good remedy for cats is a wooden collar protruding outward by 3-5 cm around the entrance.

Method on pos. 3 – tin belts – provides a complete guarantee against both predators and occupiers. Indicated in Fig. dimensions, in cm, must be maintained with an accuracy of 3-4 cm; they are designed so that potential destroyers cannot jump over the belts, then catching on the bark, either from below or from above. Of course, in the section of the trunk between the belts there should be no branches, twigs, feeders or other supports for predators.

Note: a good method only from the occupiers is hanging in the fall, before the cold weather, the so-called. temporary replacement birdhouses. We will talk about them further.

For starlings

Common starlings are the most common and most desirable inhabitants of birdhouses. Therefore, without going into details for now, let’s see how to make a birdhouse for starlings. The common starling is a rather large bird for hollow nesters, and its relatives, the mynah starling and others, are even larger. Therefore, in general, a birdhouse, which is a birdhouse, is larger and deeper than others, its entrance is wider, and a pole is required under the entrance. Starlings prefer to nest in places inaccessible to predators, but with good visibility, and the starling is a very caring head of the family. He will sing a marriage song only if the chosen one has the opportunity to immediately inspect and accept the living space attached to the proposal of the wing and heart.

Drawing of the most popular birdhouse, the so-called. village type is shown in Fig. The assembly order is as follows:

1. Blanks are cut from the board;
2. In the facade, a taphole is cut out in advance using a feather drill or a wood crown, a pole is inserted into the drilled hole, the inside of the front wall, if necessary, is “roughened” as indicated above;
3. The sides are glued to the bottom and then the front and back walls;
4. Level the box from the bottom and side walls while the glue is liquid, and tie it with twine until it sets;
5. Dry the box in a vertical position on a spread polyethylene film;
6. When the glue has set, the box is fastened with nails or self-tapping screws, 2-3 for each glue seam;
7. Trying on the blank of the lid without the lining, trim/trim the upper edges of the front and rear walls so that the roof fits tightly;
8. The lid overlay is placed on flowing glue, the lid is put in place, and supporting the overlay with a finger through the tap hole, the roof is finally adjusted in place;
9. Once the glue under the lining has set, pull it to the lid with 4 small nails or self-tapping screws.

These instructions for making a birdhouse are designed to use PVA glue. In old manuals, from which current authors copy a lot of really useful advice, they recommend assembling birdhouses using wood glue, but this is because much better PVA simply wasn’t available then. Compared to PVA bone wood glue:

• Water resistant.
• It is plastic when dried: it does not dry out, does not crack, and ensures complete sealing of the seams.
• Allows you, by smearing the parts with glue and immediately folding them, within 3-5 minutes to adjust the connection in place, slightly moving the parts in passing, without breaking the adhesive layer.
• Always ready to work, does not require the use of a glue gun or other special equipment.
• Used as an impregnating composition diluted 3-5 times with water, it allows the use of some waste hygroscopic materials for birdhouses.
• Cheaper than wood glue and more durable outdoors.

PVA has only 2 disadvantages over wood glue: its seam is plastic, which is not significant for a birdhouse that is not a sideboard or a sofa, and after assembling it on PVA, the product must be dried for at least a day in a warm room, and wood glue sets immediately.

When and how to hang?

Well, let's assume that the birdhouse is ready. When and how to hang it? There are 2 seasons for hanging birdhouses: in the fall, after the harvest, but before the cold weather, birdhouses for wintering birds are hung: titmice, nest boxes for nuthatches and substitute birdhouses for occupiers. Birdhouses for migratory birds, incl. starlings are hung in the spring, a week and a half before the start of the birds' mating games.

If you are familiar with ornithology, then you need to hang bird houses, especially for certain types of birds (see below), after noticing the harbinger birds. They arrive in advance at their summering grounds, hang around there for several days, hardly feeding, and then fly away. There are always few harbingers, they examine the area, “report” to their relatives and, if everything is in order, a mass arrival begins. The points of the “report” also include the nesting situation; if the harbingers were seen as “fresh”, i.e. obviously not competitive and not watched by the nest destroyers, they will not fail to notify their brothers about this in their own way, and the settlement of the “new buildings” is ensured.

If you have no experience in bird watching, nesting sites should be erected in the central zone of the Russian Federation during March, but before the April heat hits. Here you can roughly navigate by the first thawed patches: when the tubercles on them “wither,” you need to hang them. Somewhat more precisely - according to the weather, when the equinox storms will pass; as meteorologists say, when latitudinal movements of atmospheric masses in the temperate zone prevail over meridional ones, but in places with a continental climate this sign is weakly expressed.

It would not be a mistake to hang birdhouses on National Bird Day (March 9) or on the first Sunday after it, but in this case there is a fairly high probability that they will be occupied and the harbingers will overlook them. However, you can insure against the first one by hanging substitutes in the fall.

The second question is how to hang a birdhouse correctly? General rules:

1. The entrance should be oriented east-southeast so that in the spring the first rays of the Sun penetrate into it.
2. Suspension height 3-5 m.
3. It is preferable to hang it on trees, it seems safer for the birds.
4. An exception is wagtails (see below), they need to be hung under the roof of a barn (not a residential building!) at the same height.
5. The titmouse can be hung on the wall of the house, balcony or under the ceiling of the veranda if the birds were regularly fed nearby during the winter.
6. A birdhouse for starlings can be raised on a pole in a bare yard.
7. If the birds were fed in winter, the birdhouse should be no closer than 15-20 m from the birdhouse, so as not to attract the attention of destroyers.

A rather serious sub-question - how to attach a birdhouse to a support? Nailing it with nails opens the way for diseases and pests into the tree, and the benefits of birds may go in vain. In addition, cats know how to slowly tear off nailed birdhouses or, throwing off the roof, grab chicks.

The main methods of hanging birdhouses and errors in doing so are shown in Fig. According to pos. 1 bird house is attached if there is no thick enough wood. Method according to pos. 2 – optimal, it does not harm the tree at all, and the birdhouse holds firmly. According to pos. 3 birdhouses are attached to a pole. Please note: ultimately, the birdhouse should be tilted down by 2-3 degrees; this will completely protect it from cats and make it easier for the chicks to get to feeding.

At pos. 4 – incorrect, pseudo-ecological method of hanging using wire and a wooden block; in fact, it harms the trees worse than nails, the log soon falls out, the birdhouse begins to wobble. And finally, when hanging on a tree, protection from cats is necessary, pos. 5.

How to climb a tree?

Birdhouses are also hung in the forest, and even in your own home, a ladder will not always help you climb a tree if it is spreading. That is, to hang a birdhouse, you will have to climb a tree. The first thing to remember here is don’t climb like children, clinging to branches. They may be racing against squirrels or monkeys, but you are twice or three times heavier, and if you fall from the same height, the blow will be about five times stronger, the bones of children are more elastic, and the internal organs are more resistant to deformation than those of adults.

The art of tree climbing is called arborism, and those who are interested in it are called arborists. Arborists climb trees using a safety belt and special devices - gaffs, which are, in essence, the same monter's claws. You can see the technique of lifting on gaffs in the video:

Video: how to climb trees?

And how to make gaffs yourself - from the video:

Video: homemade gaffs for climbing a tree

However, much less labor-intensive and, paradoxically, statistically safer is the method of lifting using a rope loop, which has long been used by tropical fruit pickers, see video:

Video: how to climb a tree without knots?

But in any case, what is called, as father, must be observed the following precautions:

• Work only together, with an insurer below who knows how to provide first aid for bruises and fractures.
• Have transport on hand so that the victim can be quickly transported to a medical facility; everyone working must be able to manage it.
• Do not lift with a load; you need to attach a rope to your belt, and then, having established yourself in place, lift the birdhouse and, if necessary, a bag with tools on it.
• The insurer should not come closer than 3 m to the place of possible falling objects or the climber, taking into account the strength and direction of the wind.
• The insurer must see the steeplejack at all times; when it disappears from sight, immediately command the descent, and the climber must unquestioningly carry out the command.
• And most importantly: before you start climbing, look out for yourself the path of descent and clearly understand the procedure for it.

Sinichniki and special construction

With the help of a birdhouse you can attract many more useful, interesting and/or beautifully singing birds. But they are unlikely to settle in a nesting box, great. Artificial nesting boxes for small songbirds come in different types; Next we will figure out which of these birds need. First of all, we will consider stationary birdhouses made of wood, and after them, temporary substitutes made of other materials for wintering birds and distracting occupiers.

Note: Making special birdhouses, as a rule, is more difficult than ordinary ones. Therefore, before you get down to work, make sure that potential newcomers are part of the local avifauna, and be patient - except for tits, they do not trust humans as much as starlings. A “small-singing” birdhouse can hang for a year or two until it is occupied, and all this time you need to make sure that it does not become dilapidated, littered, or occupied by someone else.

Who else should we expect?

Desirable neighbors both in the city and on the plot will be, in addition to starlings and tits, great tits, tufted tits, blue tits, coal tits, long-tailed tits and chickadees (pos. 1-7 in the figure), also pikas, common and short-toed, or garden pikas (pos. 8 ; common and short-toed pikas are almost indistinguishable from a distance), nuthatches (5 species in the Russian Federation; in position 9 - common), gray flycatcher, pos. 10, and pied flycatcher, pos. 11. All these birds (pos. 8-11) are cavity nesters, actively destroying harmful insects.

For redstarts (in pos. 12 there is a coot redstart; you can also expect black and red-bellied ones) and robins (pos. 13) any of the titmice described below is suitable. But the wagtail (pos. 14) requires a special “wagtail”, because The legs of this bird are not adapted for vertical climbing. You can build a birdhouse for wagtails by laying a school-type titmouse on its side, see below, and providing it with a kind of balcony, see fig. The “Wagtail” should either be installed in a bare yard on a pole 2.5-3 m high, reliably protected from cats, or hung under the eaves of a non-residential building for the same purpose. But the new settlers will not keep you waiting and, walking on the ground, will peck at many pests, and no one has yet noticed damage from wagtails anywhere.

If a great owl (pos. 15) is spotted nearby and you manage to attract it to the site, it’s a joy for the owner, but woe for the pests: this little owl is a living WMD for them. Small birds have nothing to fear from the pygmy owl: it was named so not because it is somehow dangerous to sparrows, but because it is the size of a sparrow. The pygmy owl, like the scops owl, can be tamed by feeding it with small pieces of raw meat and mealworms from time to time. He is friendly and his behavior is funny. But it will nest only in a nest box made of natural material (see below), and to make it requires considerable skill, as for any owl house.

Types and designs

I. Sokolovsky was involved in the design of birdhouses a lot. His developments served as the basis for many further designs. The design of 3 types of Sokolovsky birdhouses is shown in Fig; nest boxes will be discussed further.

Titmouse

On the left in Fig. – diagram of a titmouse based on a typical birdhouse.

Designations, as for the next. pos:

• A – entrance diameter: 35 mm for great tit, tufted tit, blue tit, redstart and 30 mm for other tits and robins;
• B – side of a square bottom, 10 cm is enough. If the titmouse is intended only for great and tufted tits, common in the city, then it is better to take B = 12 cm;
• C – height of the front wall, 22 and 25 cm in the same order as in point 1;
• D – height of the back wall, 28 and 30 cm, respectively.

Note: the distance of the top of the entrance from the top of the front wall is 5 cm and the offset of the roof is from 5 cm, as for a regular birdhouse. A pole in front of the entrance is not needed.

Bird lovers, using Sokolovsky’s recommendations, try to create a titmouse birdhouse suitable for any small songbirds. Projects of 3 such titmice are presented in Fig. They differ, in essence, only in the roof structure. A school birdhouse is the easiest to make; no roof adjustment is required. These are exactly the kind that were made in Soviet schools during labor lessons; some students managed to make up to 3 items per lesson. A birdhouse-house provides better protection from cats and, especially, from precipitation. It is advisable to hang these in rainy places with a long spring. Flycatchers also nest in universal titmouses, but it is better to attract them with special birdhouses.

Note: If you make the bottom of a universal birdhouse 15x15 cm (maximum according to projects), then it will turn into a birdhouse primarily for starlings. Other birds will occupy it if there are not enough starlings to go around.

Half-loop and flycatcher

The gray flycatcher prefers to nest in semi-hollows, similar to natural voids in trees. The diagram of a half-nest birdhouse is shown in the center in Fig. with Sokolovsky's birdhouses. Dimensions:

1. A – 4 cm;
2. B – 10 cm (square);
3. C – 7 cm;
4. D – 14 cm.

Pied flycatchers more readily occupy hollows in horizontal or slightly inclined thick branches, so they prefer a birdhouse-house in the form of a cubic nesting chamber with an inner side of about 12 cm, installed in a “diamond” pattern, i.e. downward angle, see fig. on right. The front wall needs to be made larger, about 20x20 cm, to protect it from cats. The diameter of the tap hole is 40 mm.

Flycatchers begin nesting relatively late, when there are enough insects. By that time, the heat has established itself, the parents provide the chicks with plenty of high-calorie food, so the thermal insulation of the flycatcher is no longer of decisive importance. This circumstance can be used to more fully imitate the nesting habitat familiar to these birds by constructing a birdhouse for flycatchers from a plastic bottle or tin can, see fig. A light-colored roof is a must, otherwise the chicks will die from solar overheating!

Note: As for other birdhouses made from bottles, see fig. on the right, these products may be artistic, but not functional. The blank does not satisfy any of the requirements for a birdhouse. If the birds occupy such a nesting site, as they say, out of bitter need, then for the brood such a housewarming ends tragically - it dies either in the mouth of a cat, or falls out fledgling; Birds abandon such chicks.

For pikas

The birdhouse for pikas has a very special design. These birds in nature nest in hollows with 2 holes, so that if necessary they can escape through an emergency exit. Therefore, in the “pipehouse”, 2 tap holes are needed in the side walls. The design of a birdhouse for pikas is shown on the right in Fig. with Sokolovsky's birdhouses. The common and short-toed pikas are similar in appearance, but differ in size, therefore the sizes of the nesting sites for pikas vary, see table.

Note : artificial nests for pikas are hung differently than for other birds - only on a tree and at a height of approx. 1 m from the ground.

Duplyankas

Birdhouse nesting boxes are made from logs of straight-layered deciduous wood 25-40 cm long and 15 cm in diameter. For hollow-nesting birds, this is the most comfortable, reliable and healthy housing. The percentage of death of broods in nest boxes is much less than in birdhouses.

Making a nest box in the simplest way is shown in pos. 1 pic. The wide bottom and lid, as in this case, are designed for wagtails. If you make the entrance not on the side, but in the lid closer to one of the corners, and hang the entire structure laid on its side, orienting the nesting chamber like a diamond, you will get an excellent flycatcher nest. For other songbirds, the lid and bottom are cut to the size of the diameter of the log.

Sovyatnik, pos. 2, it’s more difficult to do, because Owls are picky about the configuration of the camera and do not tolerate gaps in its sides and bottom. So you will have to sweat, trimming the workpiece and hollowing out the chamber. Dimensions in fig. suitable for a pygmy owl; The diameter of the taphole for it is 4 cm, because All owls are densely built.

Duplyankas are often hung in forests and parks. In this case, it is necessary to take into account that the composition of the bird population in broad-leaved, coniferous plantings and birch forests differs not only in species, but also in the average size of birds. The dimensions of nest boxes for coniferous-deciduous forests/parks and birch forests are given in pos. 3.

About the design of nest boxes

A few words about the design of birdhouses in general will be said later. As for nest boxes, they look good on trees even without additional decoration, on the left in Fig. If you want to show your skill and taste, then they must really be skill and taste combined with a subtle sense of material, in the center and on the right there.

Park birdhouses

The tradition of attracting songbirds to parks is widespread in Europe and is also developing here. Park birdhouses should, firstly, attract beautiful birds that sing loudly and beautifully; secondly, they themselves must be attractive in appearance to people. Of the domestic designs of this kind, birdhouses of the “Blue Finch” type are popular, on the left in the figure, but the Germans prefer birdhouses-huts, painted in the color of foliage or bark, with a tin plate on the roof ridge, which perfectly protects against cats, on the right there. The diameter of the entrance, marked (*), is selected according to the type of bird, see above.

More about design

Birdhouses should be painted in discreet colors: this is not a feeder, and the birds’ housing should not attract attention. The shape of the birdhouse should be inconvenient for destroyers. For example, pos. 1 and 2 in Fig. – unsuccessful. Both are set clearly low, a cat or woodpecker has somewhere and how to establish themselves for ruin, and the first is also brightly colored. And here is pos. 3 and 4 are both tasteful and quite functional. If pos. 3, provide a collar around the tap hole, and at pos. 4 make an anti-cat skirt from wood with the fibers oriented horizontally, then both birdhouses will become inaccessible to both predators and woodpeckers.

Atypical self-construction - birdhouses made from scrap materials

Sometimes it’s not worth wasting energy and wood on a stationary birdhouse. Firstly, if it is intended for wintering birds, such as tits. They do not like to nest twice in the same place, because... Over the winter they have become familiar to hungry predators and the annual change of nesting sites significantly increases the chances of survival of the brood. Secondly, there is no need to try very hard for the sake of the occupying animals. They need to be diverted in the fall with temporary wintering housing. Then in the spring, for fear of losing him too, they will not occupy the bird houses, but will live through the summer anyway. In both cases, it is advisable to make a temporary birdhouse from a material that does not require special tools, labor-intensive processing and a separate workplace.

The first thing that comes to mind is paper. Paper birdhouses were invented by amateur poultry farmers in the USA; equipment for keeping and breeding pets is very expensive there. At home, in an aviary, in paper nests, it is indeed possible to breed budgies or, say, red cardinals. But we can’t talk about an outdoor paper birdhouse seriously: the material is absolutely unstable. Nevertheless, we give in Fig. a couple of paper birdhouse patterns: on the left – a distracting-substitute for four-legged invaders, and on the right – a bird one. They will be useful to us a little lower, and if necessary, using the same patterns you can make a bonbonniere or a gift box.

Note: Paper birdhouses have another unpleasant property - bumblebees and, especially, wasps willingly settle in them. The latter themselves build nests from paper, and here is a ready-made zero cycle. Having a swarm of hornets in your neighborhood is not only unpleasant, but can also be very dangerous.

Temporary birdhouses are best made from cardboard impregnated with a water-polymer emulsion or liquid-diluted PVA, then they will last outside from autumn to spring. The house is glued together with the same PVA. The manufacturing technology based on the pattern is shown in Fig. below. Pay attention to pos. 4: fold lines must be cut before bending; This is the only subtlety in this process.

Manufacturing from a pattern results in a large waste of material, which is not always desirable, and there may simply not be a lot of cardboard in the closet. In such a case - in Fig. on the right is a method for cutting a cardboard strip onto a birdhouse part.

If dormouse are noticed on the site, then a winter hut-trap for them is made from a box insulated with foam plastic; can be made from pieces of it, see fig. left. Two poles are needed to attract the dormouse. It is difficult to catch an active dormouse, but it is not difficult to get rid of sleeping animals. There is no need to kill them: dormice are generally cute and funny, they will most likely be taken to a pet store or bought by wild animal lovers. They check Sonya’s bedroom when the frost hits, just don’t bring the discovered animal into the house. Dormouses do not really hibernate; in the warmth they will wake up and start roaming around the furniture and curtains.

Finally, good birdhouses can be made simply from scrap materials; you just need to know the habits and preferences of the birds. For example, building from a bucket and cutting a board, pos. 1 in Fig. below is sure to please flycatchers. Substitute houses made from empty cylinders (items 2 and 3) are well suited for small four-legged animals; If it's a squirrel, then why chase it? Birdhouse made from a tabletop beer or wine-cognac keg, pos. 4, it is unlikely to attract birds, it is too big, but bats, which are also very useful, will fit just right. A basket with a wicker lid, suspended under the roof of the veranda, will be willingly inhabited by tits if they have been fed and not abused in winter.

At pos. 6 is not such a curiosity as it might seem: the chicks are soft and warm, it is convenient for the bird (it looks like some kind of nuthatch) to give the brood food, the woodpecker does not gouge the skin, and in cats the shoe is firmly associated with a crushed tail and broken sides. Finally, a plastic pot with slightly rough, durable walls can turn into a small owl box, pos. 7.

Direct benefit

The author once set out to calculate: what is the economic efficiency of a birdhouse on a plot of 6 acres “for yourself”? The main share of the cost of the bird house came from labor costs; the cost of working time was 200 rubles per hour, which corresponds to a decent salary for that time of 32,000 rubles. Taking this into account, a birdhouse and 2 titmouses cost about 1000 rubles.

After 4 years, while the birds lived, it turned out that only the savings on the purchase of vegetables, fruits and plant protection products compared to the same period without the involvement of birds amounted to... about 28,000 rubles, or 7,000 rubles/year! That is, the birdhouses paid for themselves 28 times, or 2800%. Wow profit!

(1 ratings, average: 5,00 out of 5)

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 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 needs to 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

Every gardener knows that birds are not only living “decorations” of our garden, delighting us with their sonorous trills from spring to autumn. These cute feathered creatures help us all summer, protecting our crops from insect pests and even small rodents. To lure birds to you, you need to provide them with a place to live. Therefore, it is worth training our skillful hands and learning how to make birdhouses from wood.

What you need to know before you get started

It's good if you already have experience in carpentry and carpentry. In this case, making such a simple structure as a birdhouse will not be difficult for you. But even if you are completely new to this business, it’s okay: we will tell you in detail how to make models of varying complexity. In any case, to work you will need the following tools:

• ruler;
• a simple pencil with a soft lead;
• hacksaw;
• nails or screws;
• hammer or drill (screwdriver);
• a drill of the required diameter to make holes;
• screwdriver;
• steel wire with a diameter of 1 mm;
• tow or clay;
• plane;
• sandpaper;
• glue;
• if necessary or desired - drying oil.

All these tools and materials should be at your fingertips while working, regardless of the level of complexity of the birdhouse being made.

We should also talk about the wood from which you will build the birdhouse. We strongly do not recommend using:

• coniferous wood (pine boards, etc.);
• plywood and any other similar glued compressed material.

Even after careful processing, softwood boards continue to release resin. This will make the walls of the birdhouse sticky, which is very harmful and even destructive for both adult birds and chicks. Fiberboard and chipboard are known to emit toxins during operation that will not benefit birds. Plywood, seemingly the most convenient and inexpensive material, is also not suitable: it does not transmit sounds well, which is very important for ensuring safety.

Plywood does not retain heat well, which is so necessary when nursing chicks.

The best wood for a birdhouse is deciduous, for example, birch, aspen, oak, linden.

The optimal thickness of the board should be 20 mm - this is enough to maintain a suitable temperature inside the structure.

Note! The boards for the birdhouse do not need to be sanded; they must be rough at least on the inside of the product. This will make it much easier for birds to get out of their homes, clinging to uneven surfaces with their claws. It would be useful to make several notches on the board with a chisel.

Now let's talk about the size of the future birdhouse. Ornithologists argue that the structure should be compact to accommodate, in addition to adults, only 3-4 chicks. In this case, all offspring will have enough warmth, attention and food to grow healthy and strong. Otherwise, all the chicks from the brood will be weak, sickly and incapable of long flights.

The standard, optimal sizes of a birdhouse (house for small birds) are as follows:

• height - 30 cm;
• bottom width - 13–15 cm;
• taphole diameter - from 3.5 to 5 cm.

Important! Birds are different, and they need different houses. It's all about the shape, the size, and the design itself. There are many varieties of man-made bird houses, for example, there are titmice, sheep houses, nesting boxes, and triangular (wedge-shaped) dwellings. Therefore, if you know what kind of residents are on your site, do not be lazy and do exactly what they need.

So, the tools and materials are prepared, it’s time to get down to business.

Video: what to consider when making a birdhouse

Safety precautions

Working with wood requires following safety rules. When making even the simplest birdhouse, you can injure yourself with the tool or get a splinter in your finger. To prevent this from happening, remember the simple rules for carpentry and carpentry:

Instructions for making wooden bird houses with drawings and photos

Making bird houses can be quite a fun activity. It would seem like an ordinary birdhouse of a simple shape, what could be unusual about it? It turns out that bird houses can be made in several ways from different materials.

The simplest option with a pitched roof

Perhaps after renovation or construction you still have rectangular cuttings of suitable boards. They are ideal for building a birdhouse, and you don't have to look for materials.

We suggest you use a simple drawing of a birdhouse.

1. Take the prepared boards and use a pencil to mark all the elements: bottom, lid, walls, according to their sizes in the drawing. In our case, the bottom is a square with sides of 13 cm; the back wall of the product is 4 cm lower than the front to provide the roof with a slope for rainwater drainage; There are cuts along the top of the side walls for slope.
   

   Attention! For a removable roof you will need 2 parts: one of the same size as the bottom, the second of a larger size for the canopy.

2. Saw off each element sequentially so that all paired parts have the same dimensions. At this stage, you can plan the outer surfaces of the boards with a plane..
3. Make a round entry hole in the front wall. You can make it rectangular, but a circle shape is preferable.
   

   The hole should be located at least 5 cm from the top edge; this distance will protect the chicks from encroachment by cats.

4. Now you need to assemble the birdhouse. Fasten the facade and side walls with wood glue, and while it dries, secure the parts with nails or self-tapping screws. Next, connect the bottom to the side and front walls in the same way. The back wall is glued and fixed last..
   

   Try to do so that there are no gaps left.

   By attaching rubber layers to the ends or attaching the roof to hinges, you can protect the birds as much as possible from invading cats.

A simple, but at the same time convenient and reliable birdhouse is ready. All that remains is to secure it in the chosen place. But we’ll talk about this separately: there are a lot of options for installing and fastening birdhouses.

Video tutorial on how to make a simple birdhouse with a flat roof

Birdhouse with a gable roof

Now, using the same principle as in the previous paragraph, we will make the birdhouse a little more complicated. Its gable roof not only looks more beautiful, but also keeps rainwater and snow out even more effectively.

The drawing below shows all the dimensions of the parts.

If desired, you can paint the birdhouse with drying oil. This will help protect the wood from mold and pests. Painting with non-toxic water-based compounds is also allowed.

A house made of logs that can be made without a diagram - a hollow house

You can build a birdhouse not only from flat boards. There is a Russian folk version of a bird house, which is hollowed out from a piece of log and is called a nest box. When preparing firewood, you can easily cut off a piece of round log of suitable diameter, which will make a good bird house.

Video tutorial: original do-it-yourself birdhouse made from a log

A bit of design: decorating a house with wine corks

It turns out that corks are good for more than just closing wine bottles or using them for decoration. They are great for decorating the sides of a birdhouse. The advantages of the material are undeniable:

So, you will need:

• wine corks in the required quantity;
• prepared frame for a birdhouse;
• sharp knife;
• hot glue gun;
• wooden twigs.

It is not recommended to use a screwdriver when working with such material. The sharp tips of the screws can extend beyond the cork and injure birds. Therefore, we will use hot melt glue.

Progress:

1. First of all, you need to make the walls. Apply glue to whole corks or cut edges of corks cut in half and glue them. For 1 row, depending on the width of the wall, you will need 2-3 plugs.
2. Place the plugs on the glue against the walls of the birdhouse up to its roof. Where the frame structure narrows, use corks cut in half or even smaller. On the facade of the birdhouse, where the entrance is located, lay out the central row vertically.
3. To decorate the roof, cut rounds of cork up to 5 mm thick and lay them like tiles.
4. All that remains is to decorate the sides of the roof and the joints of its doors with moss, twigs or pieces of cork. Wait until the glue is completely dry and hang the birdhouse in the garden.

Photo gallery: how else can you design the finished product?

A smiling birdhouse warmly welcomes future residents Let your children decorate birdhouses using decoupage technique You can design a birdhouse like a real house, with a window, door and fence You can decorate the birdhouse with Khokhloma painting You can build a birdhouse hut from small blocks of wood, as they say, without a single nail A simple birdhouse, the frame of which is covered with corks, looks like a beehive from a distance Painting with waterproof acrylic paints is a real art Such a branded entrance You can completely paint the birdhouse on all sides
Roof tiles can also be made of thin boards House for the Angry Bird European design that your child can easily handle Simple painting is one of the win-win options if it is done efficiently and accurately

The nuances of securing a birdhouse

When securing a birdhouse, it is important to adhere to two rules:

1. It should be convenient for birds to approach the birdhouse and climb inside.
2. Natural barriers must be maintained for cats and other predators.

The best place to install a birdhouse is a tall tree, the roof of a house or a pole. When securing the house, tilt it slightly forward: this will provide additional protection for the chicks.

So, attachment methods:

1. Drive a medium-sized nail, hang a wire loop on it, bend it and hammer it into the trunk so that the loop does not fly off. Place the birdhouse in this loop and align it.
2. You can nail the birdhouse at the ends.
3. You can drive 4 nails into a post: 2 from below and 2 from above. Between the lower and upper ones, maintain a distance equal to the height of the birdhouse. Carefully place the house in the gap and press it against the post.
4. It is better to simply screw the birdhouse onto a living tree with iron wire or rope. This can be done by nailing a wooden plank to the back wall of the house in advance, which will be attached with wire to the trunk.

Do not forget that your manipulations can harm the trees. It may be better to use nails if you are attaching the birdhouse to a wooden post.

And the location of the birdhouse has its own nuances:

• Firstly, the structure must be located at a height of at least 3–4 meters.
• Secondly, the tap hole should be directed in the direction opposite to the direction of the winds that prevail in the area.
• And thirdly, do not mount the birdhouse in an area exposed to the sun: the rays will quickly heat the wood, and the birds inside the house will feel uncomfortable.

Bird safety is also an important factor. The more branches there are on a tree, the easier it is for small predatory animals to get to the birdhouse.

If you are installing several bird houses, keep a distance between them of 50 cm or more. The fact is that starlings do not tolerate close proximity, especially with birds of other species.

Finally, we suggest watching a few more inspiring videos.

Video: how birdhouses are made in a carpentry workshop

Video: the simplest birdhouse made by a schoolchild

Building birdhouses is not only a useful activity for your garden, but also a pleasant pastime for the whole family. As you can see, making a bird house is not at all difficult, and even children can take part in this work with you. Please tell us in the comments which birdhouses you consider to be the best for birds, and what are the features of their manufacture. Good luck and easy work!

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DIY birdhouse: step-by-step instructions with drawings and dimensions, original ideas, photos

When the house for the owners of the site is built, it’s time to think about the other inhabitants of the surrounding area. Our helpers, birds, also need housing. What it will be depends on the type of birds that need to be attracted to the garden.

"Building standards" for a birdhouse

When choosing housing, birds are guided not by the beauty and elegance of the structure, but by its safety and functionality. Birds are guaranteed to settle in the garden if a number of conditions are met:

• the birdhouse is made of hardwood;
• the thickness of the walls of the house is at least 2 cm;
• During assembly, no glue or materials based on it were used: plywood, fiberboard, OSB.

Fresh wood from coniferous trees is unsuitable because it releases resin that glues the feathers together. In addition, birds do not accept strong odors, so instead of glue, nails or screws are used to hold parts together.

You can make a birdhouse from an old pine board without resin pockets

The parameters of the house determine which species of birds will choose it. Most birds recognize their future home by the size of the entrance hole. Taphole diameter:

• for starlings - 4.5–5 cm;
• for redstarts - 3.5 cm;
• for tits - 2.8–3.5 cm.

If you cut the entrance too wide, the nest will be easily accessible to predators. There is also a high chance that squirrels or large birds will settle there.

Squirrels are funny neighbors if the owners of the property don’t mind treating them to their berries and nuts

Try not to exceed the standard birdhouse dimensions:

• height - 30–35 cm;
• bottom inside - 12–17 cm.

Otherwise, the birds will hatch too many chicks, some of which will die due to underfeeding. Let the parents better raise 2-3 healthy cubs.

Every bird has a favorite house design

It is not necessary to make a perch on the birdhouse. Magpies can sit on it and destroy the nest. The thresholds on the house also do not attract birds. Due to the structure of their paws, it is uncomfortable for them to stand on a plane.

Birds do not need thresholds on birdhouses

Gallery: drawings and diagrams of birdhouses

Restless sparrows are the most common inhabitants of gardens. A birdhouse with a flat roof can be made in a few hours. A birdhouse with a raised roof is not the safest option for birds. For tits, a house with a bottom of 12x12 cm is suitable. A birdhouse with a hole diameter of 3 to 4 cm is suitable for the smallest birds. After sawing out the birdhouse parts, sand the cut points. The simplest one. birdhouse for redstart - with a square entrance Wagtails and flycatchers often nest in houses with an entrance the full width of the wall

Birdhouse decoration

The less attention the home attracts, the better for the birds. It is advisable not to paint it or add bright details. A house made of untreated wood is the best option. As a last resort, use odorless paint to match the color of tree bark - gray, brown or dark burgundy.

Birdhouses made of thin plywood that are too brightly colored are used only for decorative purposes - to decorate the garden, birds are unlikely to settle in them

Another thing is decor with natural materials. Pieces of bark, twigs, and moss will decorate and camouflage the nesting area.

Bark and branches hide the home from the watchful eye of predators

Gallery: birdhouse decor

A birdhouse decorated with pebbles can scare away birds due to glare. Small cuts of wood decorate the house and do not irritate the birds. A birdhouse in the shape of Baba Yaga's house will decorate any tree. Wine corks will additionally insulate the walls of the house. A gift birdhouse is covered with carvings. Birds are unlikely to settle in a birdhouse made of branches due to numerous cracks. a birdhouse painted with white paint, we get a half-timbered house. By gluing the birdhouse with saw cuts, the cracks are sealed with moss. You can stylize the birdhouse as a country house. When making a birdhouse with children, draw cartoon characters on the walls. The birdhouse is often stylized as a fairy-tale house. An interesting solution is to use a water tap instead of a perch. Sometimes bird houses are made in the form of an animal’s head. trunk-shaped core tree on the facade is very decorated with a birdhouse. Garden designers have figured out how to combine a flowerpot and a birdhouse. If you don’t know how to draw, draw a birdhouse with lines like a ruler and paint it

Birdhouse made of wooden planks with a flat roof

Spring is coming soon again and my husband and I decided to make the right birdhouse for our winged friends. Our last house was chosen by squirrels and turned into a nut warehouse; it turned out to be too big for the birds.

Now the choice fell on the simplest design of a birdhouse with a pitched roof.

Tools:

• hammer;
• screwdriver;
• drill and drill bits;
• jigsaw or saw.

How to make a birdhouse: from boards and logs for different birds

Attracting birds to the site is both useful and pleasant. It is useful because they destroy insect pests, it is pleasant to listen to their singing and observe the behavior of birds. That’s why many people come up with the idea of ​​building a birdhouse with their own hands.

People over 40 years old can remember their school days: during labor lessons, boys made houses for birds. But it’s not just property owners who make birdhouses.

Often residents of apartment buildings hang them on trees near the house, on balconies and loggias.

I want to permeate the city with the singing of birds

What to make from

The answer is clear - from wood, and deciduous trees: conifers are too resinous. The resin can stain the plumage, resulting in the death of the bird. You should not use plywood, chipboard or OSB. Rarely does anyone live in such birdhouses: glue and binders scare away birds. For the same reason, we assemble and fasten the workpieces only with 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 enough to maintain a stable temperature inside, which is important when hatching chicks. Moreover, the boards need to be unplaned; in any case, the inner surface should be rough. The front part under the entrance is also specially scratched: along these notches, chicks and birds rise to the entrance.

The wall under the taphole is additionally scratched

To prevent the boards from cracking 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 vary. It is mainly the proportions of the “body” itself and the entrance that change. The goal is to create nesting conditions that are more familiar to this species.

Type of birdsBottom dimensionsHeight of the birdhouseDimensions of the entranceNote Starlings 10*10 cm 30-40 cm about 5 cm entrance is preferable to a round shape Titmouse - tits, flycatchers, redstarts, sparrows, sparrow owls 10-12 cm 25-30 cm 30-35 mm round entrance Small titmouse or flycatcher (flycatchers, redstarts) 10*8 cm 25-30 cm 30 mm Half-house 10*8 cm 20 cm height 33-50 mm across the entire width of the entrance wall - a longitudinal slot across 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. There is no point in making birdhouses anymore. They will stimulate the laying of 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, die.

Which birds settle in which birdhouses

If you want to attract wagtails, make a birdhouse laid on its side: its height will be 10-12 cm, and its width will be 35-40 cm, with the same small entrance located approximately in the middle.

Wagtails have weak legs, and they cannot climb a high wall to the entrance. That is why there is such a choice of nesting sites.

note

in the shaker it is also advisable to make a ladder about 10 cm wide in front of the entrance - so that they can enter on foot.

Birdhouse for wagtails

The semi-duplyanka requires some explanation. Some birds are accustomed to nesting not in hollows, but in recesses between branches. They rarely settle in completely closed artificial nesting areas. If you want to attract, for example, a gray flycatcher, make it a small box in which the entrance runs the entire width of the front wall.

Half nest for gray flycatcher

Just keep in mind that some types of squirrels also like to live in such houses.

There is another nesting site that birds often like better - a nest box. This is a birdhouse made from a piece of log. Often dried wood is cut into logs of suitable size, turning it into apartments for birds. The height and diameter are selected based on the dimensions that were indicated for a regular birdhouse. The bottom and roof of the nest are made from a piece of board.

Duplyanka - birdhouse made of logs

Safety

It's a shame and a pity when birds' nests are destroyed. This is mainly done by cats, and also by woodpeckers. Therefore, when you make a birdhouse with your own hands, increase the roof overhang. 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 entrance. To do this, the roof must protrude no less than 7 cm, and it is better to add a couple more - for large specimens.

This ledge will also protect from slanting rain: the likelihood 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 he won’t be able to sit comfortably - the nails won’t let him.

Make the roof overhang larger so that the cat cannot reach the chicks with his paw.

There are several ways to protect chicks from woodpeckers:

• beat the taphole with tin:
• drive several nails around the tap hole;
• nail a piece of wood on the taphole area, the fibers of which run horizontally.

All this will prevent the woodpecker from expanding the entrance and getting to the eggs or chicks. The last trick - the cover - will also complicate the cat’s task: it is more difficult to reach the chick through a long entrance.

Measures against enemies: 1 - against woodpeckers, 2.3 - against cats

They still escape 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 3-4 cm. Then the animals will not be able to jump over the protective belts. There should be no twigs, feeders or other possible supports between them and the birdhouse.

Where to hang

Where to hang a birdhouse is also a science. If you are going to set it up on a tree, then at a height of at least 2.5-3 meters. There should not be any paths or busy places near the selected tree - a well, a bench, etc.

You also need to choose the right place

When choosing a place on a tree, keep in mind that there should be no large branches in front of the entrance: the approach must be free. At the same time, you need to unfold it so that the “window” faces south. All this increases the chances that residents will move into your birdhouse.

Another point: you need to tie or nail it so that the “house” is tilted slightly forward. This will make it easier for the chicks to get out, and less rain will clog them.

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 unplaned hardwood boards with a thickness of 20 mm or more. To avoid splinters, it is better to work with gloves.

According to the drawing, we cut the blanks. Try to keep the cuts straight and at right angles: there should be no gaps. Immediately after hatching, the chicks are without feathers, and the slightest draft can kill them.

Therefore, all edges must be smooth.

Drawing of a birdhouse with dimensions

We take long thin nails - diameter 1.5-2 mm, length 4-5 cm and a hammer. Let's start assembly. We nail the sides to the front part at right angles. For each - three to four nails.

Let's start building a birdhouse

Turning the workpiece upside down, take the bottom, insert it, and level it. We nail it to the sides. Cover the top with the back wall and nail it down too. Don't forget about connecting the back wall with the sides.

Insert the bottom and nail the back wall

Turning the tap hole upside down, we nail the bottom on this side as well. All that remains is 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.

We assemble and install the roof

The roof just needs to fit tightly. If something gets in the way, we use a chisel. That's all, the birdhouse with your own hands is ready.

Birds will adapt without a perch

Often a perch is installed under the entrance. Is it needed or not? If there are enough branches around, it’s 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, watch the video

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 is more similar to the usual “housing” - a hollow, there are no cracks on the sides and, therefore, it is warmer. They are less noticeable on the tree, which means there is a greater chance of raising offspring.

These are advantages from the birds' point of view. Now about the advantages from the point of view of the “manufacturers”: a fallen tree is used for work, and it is free. If you find a suitable one, it will be enough for a large number of birdhouses.

About the disadvantages - making nest boxes takes longer and is more difficult: you have to manually pick out the core, leaving the walls intact.

From the nest to flight

Now about how to find a suitable tree. Aspen is best suited: it usually rots from the inside, but remains hard along the outer edge. Therefore, we go in search of an aspen forest, and there, among the fallen trees, we look for something suitable: we cut several trunks. It is important to find one with a whole edge and a rotten middle - the work will go faster.

It is advisable to find such aspen - with a rotten core, but strong edges

Often such trees have rotten bark, which makes them look unsightly. We peel off the bark and drag the log to the dacha or house. There we cut it into logs of suitable size. Dimensions are determined by diameter.

For a birdhouse, the inner diameter of the nest should be 22-30 cm, respectively, the outer diameter - 27-36 cm. For the titmouse, the sections closer to the top are suitable - the inner diameter is 15-22 cm, the outer diameter is 19-26 cm.

The height of the log also depends on the type of house - a titmouse is 20-40 cm high (but they are more willing to settle in low ones), a birdhouse - from 30 to 45 cm. When sawing, try to make the bevel that appears at the bottom level, and at the top - at a slight slope - so that sediment flowed from the roof. To make roofs and bottoms, you will need cutting boards; you can use unedged boards and slabs.

We take the cut log and begin to pick out the core with a chisel. The task is to dig a through hole. After this, even hard wood is easier to chop. 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

note

As a rule, the rotten core runs out quickly, then you have to chop off pieces of wood using a chisel and a hammer or mallet. But with a hole in the center it is much easier - the longitudinal pieces are chipped off, the work proceeds at normal speed.

We work with a chisel and hammer

The walls should remain about 1.5-3 cm. We try to work on the middle more or less smoothly, without large chips. When the walls are selected, we make a taphole. If there is a knot, you can hollow it out. Or take a crust and a drill, drill in a suitable place. If there is no crown, take a regular drill, drill holes in a circle, then, using the same chisel, cut through the remaining jumpers.

DIY birdhouse made from logs is almost ready

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 off as close to the walls as possible.

Attaching the bottom

All that remains is to nail the roof. The same board or slab will do. Before screwing in the screw, drill holes, otherwise the board may split.

Attaching the roof

Actually, you have already made a birdhouse with your own hands, all that remains is to secure it from attacks by woodpeckers. If there are knots on the walls, it is advisable to coat them with plasticine (regular, children's). They can also be used to seal the gaps that remain between the bottom and the roof and walls: it is rarely possible to fit everything neatly.

If you don’t want to cover it with plasticine, you can caulk it with hemp rope. It is applied to the crack 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” you should buy them...).

If it doesn't go well, you can hit the handle with a hammer.

Caulking the “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. This is good for the birds - 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.

You want your birds to survive, right? This means their nest needs to be camouflaged, and not painted in all the colors of the rainbow, attracting all possible predators.

This is what the wood looks like after a couple of months

Interesting decorated nest box

Being creative can also be safe for birds))

Options for creative nest boxes

If you hang such a house on a birch tree, it will be invisible

Unusual shape

And this one is just ideal - no cracks in the floor))

Titmouse is inhabited

Beautiful decoration and disguise

We hope that now you can not only make a birdhouse with your own hands, but also decorate it competently (from the point of view of the birds).

Drawings with dimensions

Some drawings of birdhouses are in the text, we are posting a few more in this section. Adjusting the dimensions to suit the planned “tenants” is probably not a problem. Also note that the layout is given for a 2 cm thick board. Adjustments are necessary when increasing or decreasing the thickness.

Birdhouse with a triangular roof: drawing, dimensions

Birdhouse with a triangular roof: breakdown of parts

Birdhouse with a sloping roof (front wall higher)

How to make a birdhouse with your own hands: 105 photos of simple and beautiful bird houses

Not every person is an inquisitive naturalist, but almost everyone is crazy about the magical singing of birds.

Since ancient times, people have tried to attract these wonderful musicians to themselves, and the fruit of these attempts was a product called a feeder.

Many people are still thinking about making a birdhouse with their own hands, but due to ignorance of the technology for its simple and quick production, they abandon this idea.

This article provides a comprehensive guide that explains step by step how to make a birdhouse with your own hands, without any outside help...

Selection of materials

First, you will need to prepare the materials necessary to build a birdhouse, which will later make up the structure. Coniferous wood, processed and presented in the form of edged boards, would be ideal for these purposes.

To avoid unnecessary work later, it is recommended to select two boards of different widths, about one meter long each. It is better to take a board 200 mm wide for the front and back sides of the future birdhouse, and 150 mm wide for the flanks. It is best to fasten the birdhouse with self-tapping screws, but you can also use nails.

When constructing a home for birds, both mechanical and electronic devices will be useful. For obvious reasons, using the latter will make the work faster and more efficient.

You must have the following tools: a jigsaw or hacksaw, a drill with a 5 mm drill, a screwdriver or a Phillips screwdriver, a hammer, a square and a simple pencil. In one form or another, all of these devices, if desired, can be found practically in your home or borrowed from neighbors.

Step-by-step instruction

A wider board should be cut into three parts: 30 cm for the back wall and 25 cm for the pediment and top cover. The narrow board should be divided into two square-shaped parts, which will be needed to construct the floor and roof (15x15 cm), as well as into two shaped parts for the side walls.

The parts intended to create side walls should have an uneven top and sawn at a slight angle so that the roof of the birdhouse, placed on top, forms a slope for rainwater.

Creating such an angle is simple; just step back 5 cm from the top of a 30 cm long board and draw a line perpendicular to the length. In the end, all you have to do is connect the edge of this line to the opposite corner of the top of the board, and then cut off the excess.

To avoid confusion, all wooden parts of the future birdhouse must be signed, or better yet, a preliminary drawing must be made.

Before assembly, make sure your birdhouse has an entrance hole. If you forgot about it, then urgently correct the situation.

To do this, you will need to find the middle in the upper part of the front board and measure down 50 mm from it, then draw a horizontal line perpendicular to the longitudinal section.

The intersection point of the vertical and horizontal lines will become the center for the future entrance.

Having marked the place where the entrance to the birdhouse will be located, proceed to form a round hole in this place, which will be convenient to make using a drill. Dot the perimeter of the future hole with frequent holes made with a drill, and then knock out a wooden circle with a hammer or squeeze it out with your hands (use it carefully).

Depending on the location where your piece of art will be displayed, it may or may not be equipped with a special bird perch. If the birdhouse is located near the window opening of a city apartment, away from dense vegetation, the birds will simply need a perch for resting. But if the feeder is attached to a tree, then the accessory in the form of a perch will be of no use to the birds.

note

If, suddenly, you come across sanded wood, it is recommended to “spoil” it with notches, at least on the outside of the feeder.

When all the parts are made and ready for assembly, first of all you will need to alternately combine the front wall with the right, and the back with the left. A hammer with nails or a screwdriver with self-tapping screws can handle this task best. When the “corners” are ready, all that remains is to fasten them together.

The birdhouse is almost ready. The only thing missing is the bottom and the roof. This is where wooden squares 15x15 cm come in handy. The floor of the birdhouse should be carefully inserted into the bottom hole, then securely fastened, and the ceiling should be combined with the roof.

The resulting structure will have a roof canopy extending forward about 5 cm from the gable, providing protection for birds from the weather and cats scurrying around everywhere.

Rules for installing a birdhouse

Separately, mention should be made of the rules for placing a birdhouse. It is usually installed on hills (trees and poles). For these purposes, a relatively long beam or board is attached to the back surface of the feeder, with the help of which the house is tied with wire to a surface of suitable height.

Those who want to make their own birdhouse do not have to wait for spring. By making it in advance, you will act more wisely, since in this case your product will lose bird-repellent human odors and acquire natural aromas that do not disturb birds.

As you can see, making a birdhouse is not such a difficult matter. Just look at the instruction picture (the dimensions on it differ from those indicated in the article) and it immediately becomes clear how to make a birdhouse with your own hands.

Photo of a birdhouse with your own hands

DIY birdhouse

At the moment, there are few hollow trees in big cities, and it is difficult for birds to find a home. Let's help them and make a birdhouse with our own hands. In this way we will save the birds from the cold. In this article we will look at: how to make a birdhouse with your own hands?

Safety precautions

Use linen gloves to avoid driving the splinter.

Wear safety glasses to prevent sawdust from getting into your eyes.

The working tool (knife, saw) must be sharp. Remember that a blunt tool can easily injure you; it is poorly fixed in the wood and tends to slip off.

Check the functionality of power tools.

Use a ladder when hanging the finished birdhouse.

If you want to paint the birdhouse, use unscented, water-based paint that is not bright in color. Try to make the bird house invisible to predators.

What to make a birdhouse from?

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 only last a couple of months.

You should not use coniferous wood, as it produces sticky resin and negatively affects the health of the birds.

Master class on making a birdhouse

You will need: untreated hardwood boards, nails 4 cm long, impregnation or odorless, non-toxic water-based paint (optional), hacksaw or jigsaw, tape measure, hammer, pencil, drill with a 5 cm cutter, brush.

Check out the dimensions of the birdhouse indicated in the image and get to work.

Mark the boards using a tape measure.

Cut the boards using a hacksaw or jigsaw.

Make a tap hole using a drill with a 5 cm cutter.

Pre-drive nails from the outside of the walls at the joints.

Install the perch under the hole using a drill.

Assemble the birdhouse one by one.

Paint the birdhouse and decorate it to your taste (optional).

Hang the birdhouse at a height of 3 meters with a slight tilt forward to prevent moisture from getting inside.

Birdhouse drawings

We present to your attention options for drawings of future birdhouses. When assembling 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

Birdhouse assembly sequence

Connect the front wall to the side walls, hammer nails along the edges and center of the board. (You should get a U-shaped design).

Assemble the back wall and bottom of the structure using the same method.

Nail a wooden bead to the bottom to round the internal corners.

Do not forget to fix all the elements of the future birdhouse with nails.

Make a removable birdhouse roof for future cleaning of the birdhouse. It should consist of two parts: the main part and the bushing.

The roof of the birdhouse should protrude beyond the dimensions of the birdhouse itself from the facade, so that precipitation does not get inside the birdhouse.

Place a board or perch in front of the entrance to the house.

How to secure a birdhouse?

Choose a place to install the birdhouse; it can be a tree, a pole, or the roof of a house.

The mounting height of the birdhouse must be at least 3 meters.

When securing the birdhouse, tilt it forward to prevent moisture from getting inside.

It is better to attach the birdhouse to a living tree using wire or rope.

You can attach the birdhouse to other surfaces using nails and a hammer.

The birdhouse should be in the shade so that it is not exposed to direct sunlight and the birdhouse does not heat up.

The tap hole should be directed in the opposite direction from the wind.

Do not install birdhouses nearby - starlings do not like neighbors.

Ideas for birdhouses made from scrap materials

It’s hard not to appreciate a birdhouse made from wine corks! To create such beauty you will need: a ready-made birdhouse, wine corks, a glue gun, a sharp knife.

Glue the wine corks horizontally to the walls of the birdhouse, then vertically - in the center where the entrance hole is located.

Cut wine corks into thin circles and glue them to the roof of the birdhouse like tiles.

Paint the birdhouse with waterproof paints, and it will look stylish, bright and exclusive!

A birdhouse made of wicker is the most interesting house for birds!

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 in any way you like, the main thing is to show your imagination!

Making a birdhouse from cardboard is not difficult. And for birds, such a house will last a whole season. Protect the birdhouse from moisture by coating the cardboard with varnish.

Don't rush to throw away plastic bottles and make a birdhouse. It won’t take you much time to create such a birdhouse! Get creative and create a good home for birds of any shape. Create with passion and love, then everything will work out!

Making bird houses with your own hands is an interesting and useful activity. Hang a birdhouse in your garden or dacha and enjoy watching your family of birds!

DIY birdhouse: how to make and hang it correctly (ideas, diagrams, photos)

Many people learned to make birdhouses for birds with their own hands in school, and you can find many interesting options on the Internet. But will the birds like them and will they be functional? After all, without feathered residents, these houses have no meaning.

In order for insect fighters to move into your birdhouse almost immediately after construction and installation, you need to think not only about the aesthetic side of the issue, but also about practical application.

Why are birdhouses needed in the garden?

The first birdhouses appeared in Russia more than three hundred years ago - this idea was spotted and brought home by Peter I. However, small birds were considered a good sign before, but they were not specifically placed near the house. Why now do summer residents install original birdhouses for birds on their plots, made with their own hands or purchased in stores?

Firstly, to combat insect pests. Just one titmouse can collect up to 100 g of insects for its chicks per day! Can you imagine how much the feathered family will eat in a season? That is why opponents of insecticides actively attract small birds to their garden, paying special attention to titmice, sparrows, flycatchers and wagtails.

Secondly, a birdhouse near the house allows you to practice birdwatching, which is so fashionable now, especially relevant if you have small children in your family. And finally, an unusual birdhouse that you made with your own hands can become a good garden decoration, a landscape accent and a sign of good taste.

What types of birdhouses are there?

There are many divisions of birdhouses according to a variety of parameters. First of all, you need to understand what kind of birds you want to attract to your site, because the size of the product will depend on this. Most often in our latitudes, titmice, birdhouses and nest boxes (houses hollowed out in a log) are built.

Standard sizes are:

• for the titmouse – front and back walls – 15×25 cm, side walls – 10×25 cm, bottom and lid insert (sleeve) – 10×10 cm, lid – 15×18 cm, taphole diameter – 3-3.5 cm;
• for a birdhouse - front and back walls - 20x30 cm, side walls - 15x30 cm, bottom and lid liner (sleeve) - 15x15 cm, lid - 20x25 cm, entrance - 4-4.5 cm ;
• for a nest - a tree trunk with a diameter of 22-30 cm.

Most often, birdhouses are made from wood, but there are also alternative materials. For example, if your task is to decorate the garden, then plastic, metal, colored polycarbonate and even cardboard can be used as a basis for the walls. True, it is worth understanding that birds are unlikely to want to live in such houses - they, in the old fashioned way, prefer eco-dwellings.

The same applies to the appearance of the birdhouse. You will like bright, stylish and unusual designs, but birds will prefer the absence of small decorative details, unpainted wood and location in the most inconspicuous place.

If you really want to please both the birds and yourself, make an unusual feeder and build a simpler birdhouse.

How to make a birdhouse with your own hands: step-by-step instructions

If you don’t know how to make a simple birdhouse with your own hands, use one of the ready-made diagrams with dimensions and drawings. Perhaps the first product will seem simple and not very interesting in appearance, but believe me, the birds will appreciate its functionality, and this is the main thing.

Choosing material for a birdhouse

Simple boards, which every summer resident has, are perfect for birdhouses. It is not necessary to buy new, polished material.

Of course, it is more pleasant to work with, but often birds prefer to live in gray birdhouses, that is, in those that are as close as possible to the color of the natural bark of deciduous trees, so boards darkened over time will do.

By the way, the inside of the birdhouse must be unplaned (except for the roof), so that the birds can climb the walls, clinging to the tree.

You cannot use pressed wood or materials treated with chemicals for birdhouses.

The thickness of the boards for the birdhouse should be at least 1.5-2 cm, otherwise the heat will escape from the shelter too easily.

Drawings and dimensions for a do-it-yourself birdhouse

So, to make a birdhouse you will need:

• cardboard or thick paper for drawing;
• boards 1.5-2 cm thick, 20-25 cm wide, total length 2-2.2 m;
• a block measuring 40×60 mm, 2-3 m long;
• 50 self-tapping screws 3.5×35 or 3.5×41 or the same number of nails;
• screwdriver or hammer;
• hacksaw;
• attachment for a screwdriver or drill for wood carving with a diameter of 5 cm;
• pencil;
• plasticine.

To make it more difficult for predators to destroy the nest, make a birdhouse without a perch - for birds, a shallow transverse recess dug under the entrance is enough.

The finished birdhouse can be sent to the garden and mounted in the chosen place.

How to install a birdhouse in the garden

Of course, if this is your first time making a beautiful birdhouse with your own hands, you will want to secure it in the most visible place so that everyone will appreciate this creation.

But you shouldn’t do this, because the birds understand perfectly well that their home will be visible not only to neighbors, but also to feathered predators, cats and hooligans.

Therefore, it is better to choose the crown of a tall tree, a shady corner in the garden, or another inconspicuous place.

The birdhouse needs to be fixed at a height of 4-6 m, so that cats cannot reach it. Tie the pole to the tree with wire or thick natural rope so that you can easily remove the structure in the fall and not damage the tree.

Try to make a birdhouse with your own hands from scrap materials this coming weekend at your dacha, and this summer (as well as all subsequent ones) you will enjoy the singing of birds and increased yields on your site.

How to make a birdhouse with your own hands. Drawings and diagrams of birdhouses - Man in the House.Ru

Good day, dear readers Muzhik V Dome.Ru. The long-awaited spring has finally arrived. There are only a few days left before the arrival of our feathered friends. But birds in the yard of a house or on a plot, as you know, are always a joy.

But are we ready to meet them? Are you sure that the birds will want to settle near our house? If not, then get to work immediately! Today I will tell you how to make a birdhouse with your own hands right, what materials are best to use for its manufacture, and I will also give some diagrams and drawings of birdhouses. Let's start.

Making a birdhouse with your own hands is easy!

First of all, you need to decide on the material of the birdhouse. It is desirable that the birdhouse be made entirely of natural materials. Some even make birdhouses out of stone; they look very beautiful and very unusual. It all depends on imagination and possibilities! But most often, ordinary dry boards are used for these purposes (with the exception of coniferous wood).

What types of wood are preferable for making a birdhouse? Take birch or oak. The recommended thickness of the board should be at least 20mm so that the birdhouse retains heat well. There is no need to sand the boards; they must have a rough surface, at least on the inside.

If the board is smooth, you can scratch it thoroughly with a knife - this will make it easier for birds, especially chicks, to get out of the birdhouse. It is highly undesirable to use compressed or laminated wood (fibreboard, chipboard, plywood, etc.) to build a birdhouse - it is very short-lived, not to mention toxic.

You should not decorate the birdhouse with any rustling objects and sparkles, no matter how much you would like it, otherwise instead of a cozy bird house in which they will happily settle, you will end up with the most natural scarecrow.

Keep in mind that you do not need to pamper the starlings too much and make the birdhouse very spacious.

If you nevertheless make it larger than the drawings below, then as many as 4-5 chicks will survive in such apartments, as a result, their parents will not be able to feed them properly.

Accordingly, frail offspring will grow up that will not withstand the difficult flight to warmer climes. In a cramped house, only 2-3 chicks will grow up, but they will be healthy and strong.

To make a birdhouse we will need the following tools:

• ruler with pencil;
• nails or screws;
• hammer (screwdriver);
• wood hacksaw,
• drill.

Below is drawing of a birdhouse of classical design(picture 1).

Figure 1 - Classic birdhouse

It is clear that this is the simplest, but far from the only type of birdhouse.

Let's give one more drawing of a birdhouse "House", which has a slightly different design (Figure 2).

Figure 2 - Birdhouse “House”

This design has a non-removable roof. Naturally, this design is inconvenient if you plan to inspect and clean the birdhouse every year before the birds arrive. To make the lid removable, a sleeve is nailed to its lower part, having the same dimensions as the bottom (Figure 1), due to which the lid will hold well.

When making the roof removable, you need to make sure that it cannot be blown away by the wind or knocked down by some crow. The easiest way is to screw the lid to the house with wire.

It is most rational to make a flat roof with a slight slope back, and not a gable roof as in the drawing above (Figure 2), which will leak faster than usual.

Fastening the bottom and walls is best done with screws, but it is also possible to use nails. A strip is placed on the back wall and attached to a pole or tree.

As you can see, the design of birdhouses is extremely simple.

The drawings show birdhouses made from 20mm thick boards. You can use others, but only then will you have to adjust the dimensions of the roof and bottom of the birdhouse.

You can deviate from the drawings and show your own initiative, you just need to take into account some important notes:

• the total height should be 30–35 cm;
• The size of the bottom of the birdhouse is usually made about 15x15cm;
• the distance from the tap hole to the bottom should be at least 15–20 cm;
• the inlet hole (tap) should have a diameter of about 50mm.

The birdhouse sizes listed above are ideal for starlings and sparrows. The optimal diameter of the entrance varies for different birds.

So, for great tits, redstarts, nuthatches and whirligigs, the dimensions of the bottom of the birdhouse should be made smaller - 100x100 mm, the height - up to 280 mm, and the diameter of the entrance about 30 - 45 mm; for small tits and pied flycatchers, the bottom should be about 80x80 mm, the height should be about 250 mm, and the diameter of the entrance should be 30 mm.

Using the example of a classic birdhouse (Figure 1), we will clearly consider the process of its assembly. We cut the boards in accordance with the drawing and get to work.

We attach the front wall of the birdhouse to the side walls using nails or screws

Attaching the back wall and bottom

All that remains is to make a removable cover...

We install any perch in front of the entrance to your taste

We nail the sleeve to the lid of the birdhouse. In this case, the roof of the birdhouse is made removable so that it can be cleaned. However, it needs to be wrapped with wire or screwed in place for reliability.

Birdhouse assembly

note

You should try to knock down the bird house as tightly as possible. It is advisable to coat all cracks with clay or caulk with tow. Nails and sharp, split edges should not protrude inside the birdhouse to prevent injury to the birds. It is not advisable to paint the birdhouse; it is enough to treat it with drying oil. If you still decide to paint it, it is better to use oil paints in translucent tones.

As you can see, making a birdhouse with your own hands is not at all difficult. In addition, the activity is quite exciting and very useful.

How to make a birdhouse with your own hands?

Many owners of summer cottages or household plots are faced with such a serious problem as the fight against harmful insects. One of the most effective ways is to attract starlings for these purposes.

They mercilessly exterminate not only beetles and caterpillars, but also their larvae. The extermination reaches such proportions that the garden or vegetable garden is literally completely cleared of pests within a week.

In order to attract these useful birds to the desired area, you need to make a birdhouse with your own hands where they could live permanently.

The result will be much better if starlings live in large numbers. Therefore, birdhouses and bird feeders are made in several copies and evenly hung over the entire area.

In natural conditions, many birds, in addition to nests, use hollows made by woodpeckers in tree trunks for housing. Starlings are also no exception and settle in places where the hollow is small. Thus, future artificial housing should not be large.

The correct choice of material is of great importance. In most cases, in order to make a birdhouse for starlings, hardwood boards. Birch, alder or aspen are best suited for these purposes.

All other materials have certain disadvantages. For example, coniferous trees gradually distinguish large amount of resin, which causes the inside of the boards to become sticky.

Chipboard and fibreboard sheets highlight toxic substances, and plywood has very poor heat and sound insulation.

Therefore, in order to make a truly correct birdhouse, you need to prepare all the materials and tools in advance.

To make a bird house you will definitely need:

• High-quality hardwood boards in untreated form.
• Thin nails (3–4 mm), at least 4 cm long.
• Odorless paint or special impregnation is used for coating.
• The tools you need to prepare are a wood hacksaw or a jigsaw, a hammer, pliers, a pencil, a ruler or tape measure and a brush.

First of all, it is necessary to draw up a drawing, where to designate all future workpieces with dimensions. This will allow you to make the correct cutting and reduce wood consumption. This is especially true if several copies are made at once.

After this, the entire scheme is carefully transferred directly to the wooden blanks.

A standard wooden birdhouse includes a set of parts with specific dimensions. This includes side walls – 2 pcs.. size 20x35 cm, and also back and front wall with dimensions 16x35 cm.

Bottom has dimensions of 16x16 cm, and lid– 20x25 cm.

In addition, you need to prepare in advance perch, 4 cm long and 10 mm in diameter. Instead of a perch, a shelf with the most convenient dimensions is sometimes used.

After all the parts are marked, the actual production of the birdhouse begins.

First of all, it is necessary to cut out all the blanks in accordance with the drawing and the markings made. The boards are planed only on the outside; they remain rough on the inside.

A hole (taphole) is pre-drilled in the front wall. For this, various tools are used, to choose from, for example, an electric drill with a cutter, a brace, a chisel, a manual or electric jigsaw. The hole size should be no more than 5 cm.

Pre-attached to the back wall special strip, which serves for subsequent fastening of the birdhouse in the designated place.

When deciding how to make a birdhouse with your own hands, the correct assembly of the entire structure is of great importance. There are different methods for assembly, the most important thing is that the necessary rigidity and strength.

Birdhouse assembly sequence (one of the options):

First, the front wall is fastened to two side ones. Nails are driven in along the edges and in the center of the board. The result is a U-shaped structure, which must be immediately checked for rigidity and strength. If necessary, additional nails are hammered in between the previously hammered ones.

After this, the bottom and back wall are assembled in the same way. In some cases, planks are nailed to the bottom like a plinth so that the internal corners are rounded, like in a real hollow. All parts are fixed with nails and the box of the house is almost ready. The assembled structure is also checked for strength and, if necessary, further strengthened with nails.

Before making the birdhouse further, you need to prepare the roof. It must be made removable to allow subsequent cleaning of the internal space. Its edges protrude beyond the dimensions of the entire structure, especially from the front part. This ensures protection against rainwater. The roof itself consists of two parts. This includes the main part and the so-called sleeve, which fits inside the birdhouse and holds the entire roof in place. After both parts are adjusted to size, they are fastened together using nails.

All that remains is to install the perch or plank, where the bird perches before entering its house.

Video on how to make a birdhouse:

Before you build a birdhouse, you need to protect yourself from possible injuries. To avoid running into a splinter, it is recommended to wear gloves while working.

All boards at the joints must fit tightly together. For this, instead of nails, use screws or self-tapping screws. The cracks are caulked or sealed on the inside and outside. When birdhouses for birds are completely made with your own hands, their lower parts are covered with sawdust.

The roofs of the houses are made gable or single-pitch, most often sloping backwards. Birds do not like colors that are too bright, so covering or painting in dark tones is necessary.

In some cases, when the issue of birds settling on a site needs to be resolved very urgently, it is quite possible to make birdhouses from scrap materials.

Of course, they are not as high quality as wood, however, products made from them can last at least one season. Therefore, bird houses are quite often made of cardboard, or rather, of very thick corrugated cardboard.

For work you will need materials: corrugated cardboard, self-adhesive paper with a laminated coating, twine and starch. The tools are the most common: a cardboard cutter, scissors, a square, a ruler, a compass and a pencil.

The procedure for assembling a cardboard house:

First, marking of all blanks is done. After this, the parts are cut out in duplicate.

A paste is made from starch, since ordinary synthetic glue has an unpleasant odor that repels birds.

Finished parts are glued together in pairs, as a result, all the walls are double. They are not as strong as wood, however, they gain increased strength. A hole is cut in the front wall for the tap hole, and four small holes are made in the back wall for the twine. With its help, the house will be tied to the tree.

The walls need to be glued together end-to-end, strictly observing the right angle. At the end of the assembly, a box is obtained. While drying, it must be wrapped with threads.

The roof consists of two glued parts. The smaller part is placed inside the structure. On the large outer part, allowances are made on all sides.

The product will last much longer if it is outside cover with laminated paper. The surface is completely covered and the end result is very beautiful birdhouses.

In some cases, decorative birdhouses made of paper are used to decorate the interior. They do not perform their direct functions and can only be used to store various household items.

When basic materials are completely absent, you can make a birdhouse from ready-made items, for example, from the box.

To do this, you will need an empty milk or juice container with a capacity of more than one liter. First you need to prepare it, wash it and dry it.

After this, a standard taphole is cut out. To strengthen the bottom, wood or thick cardboard is used.

At the top of the box, holes are made for the wire on which the house will hang. For gluing the outside, beautiful paper with a protective coating is used.

This option is considered the easiest and most affordable. In order to do bird house made from a plastic bottle, you will need very few materials.

A hole is cut in the upper part for the tap hole, and two holes are made in the lid for the wire. To create coziness and comfort, the outside of the bottle is covered with paper or painted.

note

Thus, it is not at all difficult to make a birdhouse with your own hands. In order for it to fully perform its functions, it must be installed correctly.

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After the birdhouse is ready, the question arises: how to hang a birdhouse so that its inhabitants feel comfortable and comfortable. There are certain rules that require mandatory compliance.

• It is best to install houses in early April.
• The installation height for a cottage or village is from 3 to 4 meters. In cities, birdhouses should be at a height of 8 to 10 meters.
• The inlet is oriented towards the side with the minimum amount of wind.
• The house should not be exposed to direct sunlight, especially in the midday heat.
• Branches located nearby should be avoided. This will provide additional protection from cats and other predators.
• The position of the birdhouse is strictly vertical. A slight tilt forward is allowed, but in no case back.
• Maintain free access for annual cleaning.

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