What materials are needed for a birdhouse. How to make a birdhouse with your own hands: dimensions, drawings

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 the birds in the yard of the house or on the site, 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 down to business! Today I will tell you how to make a birdhouse with your own hands correctly, what materials are better 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 completely made of natural materials. Some even make birdhouses out of stone, it looks very beautiful and very unusual. It all depends on the imagination and the possibilities! But most often, ordinary dry boards are used for these purposes (with the exception of conifers).

What types of wood are preferred 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. At the same time, the boards do not need to be sanded, they must necessarily have a rough surface, at least from the inside. If the board is smooth, you can scratch it properly with a knife - so it will be easier for birds, especially chicks, to get out of the birdhouse. It is highly undesirable to use compressed or glued wood (fiberboard, chipboard, plywood, etc.) for the construction of a birdhouse - it is very short-lived, not to mention toxicity.

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

Keep in mind that you do not need to spoil the starlings too much and make the birdhouse very spacious. If you nevertheless make it larger than any of 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, which will not withstand a difficult flight to warmer climes. In a cramped house, only 2-3 chicks will grow up, but at the same time they will be healthy and strong.

To make a birdhouse, we need the following tools:

ruler with a pencil;
nails or screws;
hammer (screwdriver);
wood saw,
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 bring one more drawing of the birdhouse "House", which has a slightly different design (Figure 2).

Figure 2 - Birdhouse "House"

This design has a non-removable roof. Naturally, such a 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, which has the same dimensions as the bottom (Figure 1), due to which the lid will hold well. When making the roof removable, care must be taken 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 one, as in the drawing above (Figure 2), which will leak faster than usual.

Fastening the bottom and walls is best done with screws, but nails are also allowed. A plank is stuffed to the back wall, which is attached to a pole or tree.

As you can see, the design of birdhouses is extremely simple. The drawings show birdhouses made of boards 20mm thick. You can use others, but only then you will have to adjust the dimensions of the roof and bottom of the birdhouse. You can deviate from the drawings and take 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 notch to the bottom should be at least 15–20 cm;
the inlet (notch) should have a diameter of about 50mm.

The above sizes of birdhouses are ideal for starlings and sparrows. The optimal diameter of the notch for different birds is different. So, for great tits, redstarts, nuthatches and vertishes, the dimensions of the bottom of the birdhouse should be made smaller - 100x100 mm, height - up to 280 mm, and the diameter of the notch is about 30 - 45 mm; for small tits, pied flycatchers, the bottom should be made about 80x80 mm, the height is about 250 mm, and the diameter of the notch is 30 mm.

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

We fasten the front wall of the birdhouse to the side walls with nails or screws.

We attach the back wall and bottom

It remains 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. The roof of the birdhouse in this case is made removable in order to be able to clean it. However, it must be wired or screwed on to be secure.

You need to try to knock down the bird house as tightly as possible. It is advisable to smear all the cracks with clay or caulk with tow. Nails and sharp split edges should not stick out inside the birdhouse so that the birds do not get hurt. It is not advisable to paint the birdhouse, it is enough to treat it with drying oil. If you still decide to paint it, then 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, this activity is quite exciting and very useful.

And finally, I suggest watching a video lesson on English language(unfortunately, it was not found in Russian, but in principle everything is clear here), clearly showing one of the ways to make a birdhouse with an unusual - gable - roof. Looks pretty original.

How to make a birdhouse with a gable roof with your own hands

Difficult? Here is one of the most simple ways.

When harvesting firewood, choose the most appropriate size and shape of the wood and make an original birdhouse out of it!

Perhaps everyone can make such a birdhouse with their own hands. Cheap and cheerful, as they say.

We will be happy to look at the photos of your homemade products, post them in the comments - we will evaluate, discuss, criticize!

One of the conditions for a rich harvest in the garden or in the garden is the fight against numerous arthropod pests. To use insecticides for these purposes is to harm the health of the environment. It is better to “entrust” this task to the birds - they become indispensable assistants in this matter.

But to hope that the birds themselves will fly to your site is short-sighted. A more reasonable solution would be to organize the conditions for the birds to settle directly next to a person. And for this it is necessary to attract them to the site with ready-made “comfortable housing”. A do-it-yourself birdhouse for birds, equipped in accordance with all the rules, will be a good prerequisite for the birds to choose a site for permanent residence. And the family that settled in it will do an excellent job with garden pests, collecting them from plants and even extracting them from the soil.

Yes, and just such a neighborhood with wildlife cannot but benefit, and especially brings a lot of joy to the children. So it makes sense to roll up your sleeves.

What material to choose for a birdhouse?

When starting to build a birdhouse, it is necessary to take into account some nuances when choosing a material for these purposes. Therefore, to begin with, you should consider various options, weigh their advantages and disadvantages.

natural wood- This is the ideal material for a birdhouse. It is easy to work with it, it is environmentally friendly, natural warmth, and most importantly, it is natural for the habitat of the vast majority of birds. However, there are also important nuances. So, for the construction of bird housing, it is worth choosing a board made of hardwood.

The ideal material for a birdhouse is a hardwood board, best of all linden or aspen. Softwood lumber - not welcome

The trouble is that coniferous boards can eventually begin to release resinous substances, especially in the spring, with the onset of heat. And this is not only a pungent smell, sometimes scaring away some birds. Resin may well stick to the plumage, and sometimes it even causes the death of birds.

, chipboard and plywood is a bad choice. Such wood-based composite materials have a layered structure and therefore do not have the proper resistance to the combined effects of moisture, direct sunlight and temperature extremes. So, the glue used when joining chips, wood chips or veneer sheets may not withstand winter frosts, so microcracks quickly appear on the ends of the material. Over time, for example, during a thaw, water will penetrate into them, which, upon subsequent freezing, increases in volume, which leads to further delamination of the material. For a long time in the conditions of the street, such a design will not last, even if the birdhouse is painted.

Wood composite materials are easy to use, but short-lived and unsafe for birds. Neither the picture shows the delaminated walls of a birdhouse made of chipboard and plywood. It is unlikely that such a house will attract birds

In addition, all these materials contain formaldehyde resins, which act as binding components during manufacture. Such substances, firstly, have a quite noticeable specific smell, and secondly, they emit toxic fumes. Both that, and another is capable to scare away birds from a similar dwelling. Although, despite the recommendations, some craftsmen still choose these materials for the manufacture of birdhouses.

Cardboard, even durable is still a short-lived material, and a birdhouse from it will soon burst apart when wet. At the cardboard house, the roof may sag or the bottom may fall off, on which the birds equip the nest itself for laying eggs. And this means that the clutch or brood will simply die. Therefore, it is better to abandon the idea of using this material immediately.
Plastic bottle is also not the best option, as it has thin and transparent walls that are unlikely to attract birds. Some masters paint the bottle from the outside, but the paint can peel off under the influence of temperature and moisture. Thin walls in winter or, conversely, with strong heating, will deform, shrink or expand, making clicking sounds that frighten birds. It is ridiculous to talk about at least some insulation of such a birdhouse.

A birdhouse made from a plastic bottle is unlikely to become a cozy home for a feathered family. But to make feeders from bottles for the winter is worth it

Besides, plastic bottles they are light in weight, so in a suspended state they will be rocked by a strong wind. If you fix the product to the tree with brackets, then the same wind can simply rip off and carry away the bottle along with all the contents.

So, you can't imagine anything better than wood. And further, various options for birdhouses made only from this material will be considered.

Varieties of houses for various birds

In order to attract certain birds or even several of their species to the site, it is necessary to create comfortable, familiar conditions for them. Due to the fact that birds have different sizes, differ in flight speed and features of movement on a solid surface, the parameters of the “living space” intended for them will also vary.

By design, birdhouses can be divided into two types - these are prefabricated and "hollow holes".

Prefabricated bird houses, of course, are assembled from parts sawn to certain sizes from boards.

"Duplyanka" made of birch log

"Duplyanka" is a piece of log (log), from which the inner layers of wood have been removed. Walls with a thickness of 15 ÷ 20 mm are left, depending on the diameter of the log.

When choosing the size and type of birdhouse, it is also necessary to take into account the fact that some birds prefer a certain form of "houses".

Prices for a birdhouse for birds

birdhouse for birds

For example, if it is planned to attract and settle wagtails on the site, then they will have to make a house for them, which will differ significantly from the birdhouse familiar to everyone. The height of such a dwelling will be 140 ÷ 150 mm, width 150 mm, depth 350 ÷ 400 mm, together with a landing platform. In this design, it is made in the form of a rather large board measuring 150 × 100 mm. Thanks to such a notch and a narrow entrance, the bird can enter the house on foot.

Some birds prefer to settle in semi-open dwellings.

For redstarts, flycatchers, and also white wagtails, a house resembling a feeder is suitable, since they are reluctant to settle in closed birdhouses. Due to the fact that such dwellings become weakly protected from predators, for safety reasons they must be raised to a height of 2–6 meters, positioned so that there are no thick branches nearby, along which a cat can get to the nest.

The width of the house is 120÷140 mm, the height of the rear wall is 140÷150 mm, the height of the front wall is 80÷90 mm, the depth is 120÷140 mm. The roof of such a house has dimensions of 160 × 200 mm. Since the entrance clearance is large, the roof must reliably cover it from rain and snow.

Pied flycatcher is a small bird belonging to the titmouse family. She prefers a more secure home, so it is recommended to make an entry hole on the side of the front panel. The depth of the house can vary from 150 to 200 mm, the width - 150 mm, the height of the structure is from 150 to 25 mm, the inlet, as a rule, has a square shape and its size can be 35 × 35 or 40 × 40 mm.

Swifts and a house for them

Another type of bird that is an excellent fighter against garden pests is swifts. These birds prefer to settle in boxes fixed under the eaves of the house, sometimes they do not have a front wall at all, sometimes they resemble an ordinary birdhouse, but turned to a horizontal position. The inlets are also different - notches, they are not round, but elliptical in shape. Other birds do not settle in such nests, since everything is designed for nesting swifts. The height of the house is 180, the width is 550, the length is 225 mm, the size of the inlet is 32×60 mm.

open shearers

Another version of the dwelling for swifts is a box divided into several compartments and reliably protected from precipitation. Having chosen one of the compartments, the swifts build a nest in it, bringing various natural materials for this. This version of the shearer can be called "apartment". And living in whole "colonies" for swifts is a common thing.

A traditional birdhouse of a simple form - it is this design that is perhaps the most popular

The traditional birdhouse is chosen not only by starlings, but also by many other birds. This design can have different dimensional parameters.

The house shown in the illustration above has the following dimensions - width 180 mm, depth 200 mm, height 350÷400 mm. The dimensions of the bottom are 160 × 180, and the roofs are 200 × 200 mm, the diameter of the inlet is 50 ÷ 60 mm, the perch (pole) has a length of 50 mm and a diameter of 10 mm.

Multi-storey birdhouse

Starlings, and sparrows, too, get along well in "multi-apartment" birdhouses, which are installed on a metal rack embedded in the ground. The height of such a house should be at least 1500 ÷ 2000 mm. Next to the photo is a drawing of a two-story birdhouse with five compartments, that is, five feathered families can live in it at once. The only thing that would not hurt to add to this design is the landing areas on each floor of the building, such as shown in the illustration.

To make such a birdhouse, first, internal compartments-apartments are created from the prepared parts, which will become a reliable frame for the external facade cladding. In the outer panel for each of the "apartments" there is one round notch with a diameter of 50 mm.

Hollow nests are a favorite place for many birds to live.

Hollows are a natural habitat for birds in wildlife, most bird species settle in them, from sparrows to owls and even ducks. Therefore, a birdhouse made of logs will appeal to many feathered inhabitants, as it is made without the use of paints, glues and varnishes. You can always pick up a log of the required parameters and create comfortable, close to natural, living conditions inside it.

Having decided to equip a house for birds, it is necessary not only to choose the right design for it, but also to think over the place and method of its installation on the site. Not only the attractiveness of the home for potential residents, but also their safety, as well as comfortable conditions for raising chicks, will depend on this decision. Having carried out some protective measures, you can protect the birdhouse both from weather influences and from various predators.

First you need to determine how to install a birdhouse. Some advise fixing the birdhouse so that the notch faces south. However, this decision cannot be called correct, since the birdhouse turned to the sunny side will overheat, which can lead to the death of the chicks. You can turn the notch to the south only if the birdhouse is shaded by tree branches.
Another important factor to consider when choosing the location of a birdhouse is the wind rose in the region, that is, from which side the wind blows more often and more intensely. The fact is that along with the wind, water will enter the birdhouse through the notch during rain and snow in winter.

That is why the notch of the bird house should be turned to the leeward side, or at least to the side parallel to the predominant direction of the winds.

cutting board prices

edged board

To install birdhouses, tree trunks, house walls, masts made of metal pipes or durable wood can be used.

Birdhouse installation options

Birdhouses are installed at a height of 2÷3.5 meters above the ground, in a place where there are no factors that can cause concern to birds. For example, if there are railway tracks, recreation areas or public buildings, then birdhouses are recommended to be raised to a height of 4.5 ÷ 5 meters.
It is also necessary to observe the distance between individual birdhouses. It, by the way, depends on the type of settled birds. For example, the tit does not tolerate "competitors" within a radius of about 50÷60 meters around its home. The flycatcher needs about 20 meters of its “own area”. True, many birds are not so fastidious, and, as we have already seen, they get along well with entire colonies in "multi-apartment" birdhouses.

A birdhouse on a pole can be fixed to a tree trunk with nylon twine or plastic wire

Birdhouses are fixed on one of the supports depending on their design. If fastening is provided with the help of a pole fixed on the back wall of the birdhouse, then it is nailed or screwed with long self-tapping screws to the base - the pole. To nail to a living tree trunk - sometimes the hand is not understood by some. This means that you can fix the birdhouse by tying it with a flexible wire or even a strong cord. In other versions, birdhouses are suspended from special brackets, also fixed to the back wall or roof of the structure.

Birdhouses must be protected from predators

In addition, we must not forget that predatory animals are a great danger to birdhouses. It sounds scary, but in fact, the main threat is our beloved cats, whose call of nature draws them on robbery adventures, even if they are quite provided with food. If the notch is too large, then the cat can reach the chicks or hidden birds with its paw.

To prevent the cat from reaching the bottom of the birdhouse with its paw, it is necessary to make a sufficiently large visor. If parameters from 40 to 50 mm appear in the drawings, then it is worth increasing them even to 80 ÷ 100 mm. Wood consumption will increase slightly, but effective protection for the nest will be provided. Another way to protect birds from cats is to make a gable roof on the birdhouse, while placing the slopes at an acute angle. On such a design, even the most dexterous "bandit" will not sit for a long time.

Safety measures against woodpeckers and cats

If the birdhouse is fixed on a tree, then to make it difficult for the cat to rise or descend from above to the birdhouse, the trunk is upholstered with metal belts 600 ÷ 800 mm wide. The distance between the bottom of the birdhouse and the protection should be 350 ÷ 400 mm, and between the roof and the metal 1300 ÷ 1400 mm. When choosing this method of protection, it must be remembered that the metal belt around the trunk should not interfere with the possibility of increasing the diameter of the tree. That is, either a certain clearance between the tree and the belt should be set, or some kind of sliding structure should be made that can increase in diameter.

Another option that can be chosen instead of installing metal is to fasten down branches on the trunk of a bunch of branches. Branches must be securely fixed to the surface. A cat will never overcome such an obstacle.

The woodpecker expands the notch to get to the masonry

Another danger to the nests of small birds is, oddly enough, woodpeckers. These birds are considered very useful, they are called "orderlies of the forest." But along with the active eating of tree pests, woodpeckers do not refuse to destroy the nests of "bird fry".

The letok in bird houses is traditionally made small, the woodpecker does not climb into it and is not even able to stick its head in to break an egg with its beak. But often that doesn't stop him. To get to the masonry, these "beauties" are able to expand the notch, pecking it with their sharp beak.

To protect the masonry from the woodpecker, other methods are used, which are also shown in the above figure in its first line:

The area around the notch is upholstered with metal;

Several nails are driven in a circle around the hole;

It would be nice to hang a kind of "store" for the material, which is perfect for building a nest. If the birds find everything they need in one area, then they will remain on it forever. Chicks raised in a comfortable nesting box will definitely return to it next year.

Making birdhouses with your own hands

In this section of the publication, four options for making birdhouses will be considered, from the simplest to the more complex. After studying this information, each master will be able to choose an acceptable solution for himself.

The first option is to assemble a kit from finished parts.

If it is not possible to find suitable material or there is no ability to prepare from it all the elements necessary to create a birdhouse, then a ready-made set of wooden parts is purchased. From them you can quickly and easily assemble a birdhouse.

Prices for popular models of screwdrivers

screwdriver

A complete set of wooden parts for building a birdhouse - can be purchased at the store

Details are made of well-dried and treated wood. The manufacturer even provided holes for screwing screws. An assembly diagram is attached to the kit, so the work can be done in just a couple of hours, having at hand only a regular Phillips screwdriver or. This is the easiest option for making a bird house. By the way, a good option for introducing a child to creative work.

The second option is the simplest "classic" model with a pitched roof.

This option is more complicated. But only because you have to find a suitable material and make parts of the required size from it.

Easy bird house design

Illustration
	Before proceeding directly to the execution of work, it is necessary to select a ready-made one or draw up your own project-drawing of a product that is suitable in terms of parameters. In this case, an easy-to-execute model is presented, which is available to manufacture even for a novice master.
	From the finished drawing, all dimensions of the parts are transferred to well-crafted boards. The thickness of the board can vary and range from 15 to 25 mm. For marking you will need a tape measure, a metal ruler and a simple pencil. After all the details of the structure are marked, they are cut out using an electric jigsaw. You can, of course, use a regular hand saw for wood, but burrs will remain on the ends of the parts. Yes, and it is much more convenient to work with power tools.
	On the finished front panel of the birdhouse structure, the location of the notch hole is marked. Then, it is drilled using a drill-crown of the required diameter - in this case it is 50 mm.
	For comfortable movement of birds along the inner surface when climbing to the notch, it is made "embossed", rough. To do this, it is scratched and drilled, making non-through holes to a depth of 2 ÷ 3 mm. Scratches and holes are applied below the notch.
	To prevent the ends of the boards from splitting when screwing screws into them, first the front panel is attached to the side panel, and holes of small diameter are drilled in the right places. Then, using a screwdriver, self-tapping screws are screwed into the holes obtained, which will create a reliable connection.
	Further, the second wall is fixed to the facade, in the same way as the first. The last operation at this stage of work is fixing the back panel. The parts are fastened in such a way that the right angles of the birdhouse are observed. It is enough to use three self-tapping screws on each side. In some designs, for more reliable fastening of the walls to each other, the craftsmen inside the structure install bars with a section of 25 × 25 mm at the corners, to which the walls are fixed. True, this somewhat reduces the spaciousness of the birdhouse.
	The next step is to mark the bottom of the birdhouse, determine the line along which the screws will be screwed. They should be at a distance from the edge equal to ½ of the thickness of the bottom panel. Holes are drilled along the edges of the drawn line. After that, a square bottom part is installed in place - it should fit tightly between the walls already fixed to each other. Further, self-tapping screws are screwed into the prepared through holes, which finally fixes the bottom of the birdhouse. In other designs, the bottom element can be superimposed on the end sides of the walls and fixed to them with the same self-tapping screws.
	Further, markings are made on the inside of the roof for mounting a wooden square-liner, which will fit tightly between the walls of the birdhouse when the lid is closed. First, the square is fixed to the roof with one self-tapping screw, which is screwed in its center. Then, after the final fitting of the roof, the part is additionally fixed with four self-tapping screws installed at the corners.
	In order to preserve the possibility of carrying out the internal processing of the bird's dwelling, it is recommended to fix the roof not permanently, but hingedly, on one wide or two narrow loops. At the same stage, a bar-pole is installed and fixed in the middle part of the back wall, with the help of which the birdhouse will be fixed to a tree or other base.
	If it is planned to fix the roof permanently, then after it is put in place, through its panel, through holes are drilled that go into the walls. After that, you can fearlessly screw self-tapping screws into them, being sure that they will not split the side panels. Finally, a non-through hole is drilled under the notch, into which the pole is inserted and fixed. Or - a small "take-off site" or a piece of board or bar.

The third option is a birdhouse with a gable roof

This birdhouse model differs from the previous one in the shape of the roof, dimensions and some manufacturing nuances.

Illustration	Brief description of the operation to be performed
	For this version of the birdhouse, it is necessary to prepare parts that have the following dimensions: A1 and A2 - 300 × 160 mm - front and rear wall; B - 2 pcs. - 220 × 120 mm - side walls; C - 1 piece - 120 × 120 birdhouse bottom; K1 - 1 pc. 200 × 160 mm - one side of the roof; K2 - 1 pc. 200 × 180 mm - the second side of the roof.
	The above dimensions are carefully transferred to the boards. Then the parts are cut with an electric jigsaw, which will make the edges even, without burrs.
	The finished parts are checked against each other so that during the assembly of the structure it does not happen that unwanted gaps appear between the individual parts. If this happens, then you will have to disassemble the birdhouse and adjust its elements to each other. If necessary, a slight adjustment is made until complete congruence.
	Now all the details and their edges must be processed with sandpaper. It is especially important to sand the outer sides of the walls well so that they absorb moisture as little as possible.
	The notch can be marked and drilled before the structure is assembled or after it is assembled. But it is necessary to work on the inner surface of the facade before the walls are fastened together. With a knife, drill or other sharp tool, a part of the inner wall under the notch is made rough.
	The finished parts in this example are first glued together with wood glue. The first step is to glue the side panels to the back wall.
	They are tightly pressed and pulled together with clamps until the glue dries completely. Then, without removing the clamps, holes for fasteners are drilled with a thin drill.
	Nails are hammered into the resulting holes or self-tapping screws are screwed. Two nails or screws for each side are enough to fasten the back and front walls to the side panels.
	After the walls are fastened together, markings are made on the front panel for drilling a notch hole.
	Then, using a drill-crown with a diameter of 45 or 50 mm, a notch is drilled. It is advisable to immediately process the finished hole with sandpaper.
	The next operation is the installation of the roof slopes of the birdhouse. First, one, shorter roof part is glued exactly from the ridge line. Then - the second, with thrust on the first. After that, you must wait until the glue sets, and then small holes are drilled in the roof slopes for fasteners.
	In this case, nails 25÷30 mm long are used for fastening.
	The next step is to install the bottom of the birdhouse. If the markings and cutting of the parts are carried out correctly, then the bottom should fit very tightly between the walls - sometimes it even has to be slightly knocked out with a hammer.
	Mounting holes are drilled at the bottom of the side, rear and front panels. Then nails are hammered into them.
	Under the notch, stepping back from its lower point of 20 mm, a hole is drilled for the hearth.
	The pole is glued into the resulting hole with wood glue.
	The result is a neat birdhouse with a gable roof, which will not allow the cat to lie in a long "ambush" waiting for the birds to appear.

Fourth option- making a birdhouse

This section will consider the process of making a nest box, which is chosen by many species of birds.

Illustration	Brief description of the operation to be performed
	In order to make a hollow, you do not need to make calculations and draw up drawings. The only thing that needs to be observed is the approximate dimensional parameters of "classic" birdhouses, taking into account the diameter of the notch. To implement this idea, it is necessary to find a log that is suitable in size and type of wood. An aspen or birch log that has lain on the street for about a year is perfect for a nest box. After lying down in the street, the core of these tree species becomes soft, and the outer layers retain their rigidity and strength, which is what we need.
	If the bark of the wood has become unusable, then it should be removed from the log. If it is dry and has an aesthetic appearance, then it can become a camouflage-decorative element of the hollow. The top side of the log can be cut at an angle to secure a shed roof, or cut from both sides of the log for a gable structure. When choosing a single-slope option, it is necessary to provide for such a slope so that water flows freely from the coating during rain.
	The next step is to gradually remove the inner part of the wood from the log. It should be noted here that the fibers can be removed along the entire length, or a bottom of 40 ÷ 50 mm thick is left in the lower part of the workpiece. The second option is more difficult to perform, but you don’t have to fix the bottom panel, and the birds will get more natural living conditions. If such a bottom is left in the log, then it must be made as even as possible. It is easier, of course, to clean the log from the core along the entire length. To select wood, a chisel with a hammer and an electric drill with a long drill are used, with which several holes are drilled, weakening the array of fibers.
	The core is removed from the log so that the remaining walls have a uniform thickness of 20÷30 mm. Protruding chips and large burrs must be removed from the side walls. Next, you need to mark the outer wall of the log, where it is planned to equip the notch. It should be located at a distance of 70 ÷ 80 mm from the top edge of the workpiece. A hole is drilled using a drill-crown of the required diameter.
	As a bottom, you can use a piece of log (dice) with a thickness of 30 ÷ 35 mm, with a diameter corresponding to the size of the inner hole of the hollow. The bottom should fit snugly into the hole. Then, it must be fixed in several places with self-tapping screws, for which small holes are pre-drilled. Instead of a piece of log, a round bottom piece can be cut out of a board of the same thickness. To determine the exact shape of the circle with minimal errors, it is necessary to place a workpiece on top of the board and draw the inner diameter of the circle along the board from the inside. The bottom is cut along this line. If, after installing the bottom, small gaps remain between it and the walls of the hollow log, they can simply be caulked with linen fibers.
	The final stage work in progress fixing the roof. The blank for it is usually made of slab. The roof must be fastened very carefully, as it is possible to split the walls of the log. Therefore, small holes are first drilled into which self-tapping screws are screwed. The roof is mounted so that the visor protrudes about 100 mm above the entrance. To fix the birdhouse on a tree, a pole is mounted on its outer rear wall. If desired, a landing pad or a pole can be fixed under the notch. On this, in fact, the work is completed and the nesting box can be installed in the intended place.

* * * * * * *

Now, having familiarized yourself with the basics of the process of making birdhouses, as well as what models of bird houses are, and for which birds they are more intended, you can opt for a particular option.

Of course, the proposed options are one of the simplest. But in fact, craftsmen sometimes make genuine masterpieces that become not only a convenient place for birds to live, but also a decoration of the site. An example is shown in the video below - a birdhouse using precast log technology.

We made a birdhouse, now you can start making a booth for a dog, and you can find the instructions in our new article on our portal -

Video: Original birdhouse - miniature log house

The presence of birds will make any personal plot friendly and cozy. Their chirping, cheerful whistling, flutter of wings and early trills will allow you to get a little closer to nature. And in order for starlings, swifts, titmouse, and maybe even nightingales to settle on the site, you need to help them with housing. Making a birdhouse with your own hands is a fascinating activity, especially if you do it with children. To do this, stock up on materials, choose the most preferred size of the birdhouse, get the necessary tools and start building a house for our feathered friends!

Optimal and standard sizes and types of birdhouse

The average size of a birdhouse differs slightly from what kind of birds you plan to settle in your area:

For skovrs

For starlings. Ordinary starlings like to settle in houses that have a bottom size of no more than 15 cm. This gives them the opportunity to comfortably incubate eggs and feed the chicks. The height of the birdhouse ranges from thirty to forty centimeters. At the same time, one must not forget that the upper edge should protrude above the notch (hole for the bird to fly in). Then slanting rains will not be able to wet the insides of the birdhouse. The paws of these birds are designed so that it is convenient for them to cling to round surfaces. Therefore, a small perch 5-6 cm long is made in front of the notch. The hole itself for the ideal passage of starlings and ensuring their safety should have a diameter of 40-50 mm.

Sketch of a standard dwelling for starlings.

Sinichnik

The optimal size of the titmouse is somewhat smaller. The bottom is 12-14 cm, the height is 20-25 cm, and the notch is about 3, maximum 3.5 cm. Tits like darker “apartments”, so it is better to make a hole of the minimum size here.

flycatcher

The correct flycatcher is made in the same way as the titmouse. Only it has less depth, as these birds like lighter rooms.

Wagtail

A standard wagtail is made a little differently. This species of birds does not have tenacious paws, so a perch would be out of place here. A ladder or a special "ladder" for entering the house is perfect for them. Some owners of their plots turn ordinary birdhouses into wagtails by simply turning them on their side and adding a ladder. Well, practice has shown the feasibility of this constructive solution.

How to build a wooden birdhouse according to the drawings

Materials for the house

First of all, you need to warn novice bird helpers from using fiberboard, chipboard and other materials containing glue and other chemicals. It is also undesirable to use coniferous wood - the resin it secretes is not suitable for the life of chicks and laying the nest.

Aspen and birch unplaned boards are perfect. You can take alder or oak. The main thing is that the wall thickness should be at least 20 mm. This will allow the birdhouse to keep warm for a long time on cold nights.

How to DIY

Since the work of creating a birdhouse brings real pleasure, you can experiment with different options every year. After all, birds also have their own habits and character, depending on the area. Somewhere they will quickly populate an oak birdhouse, and somewhere they will “line up” to an alder house. The dimensions of the birdhouse can be changed by several centimeters (with the exception of the notch). This way you will know which birds like certain types of birdhouses. Do not be afraid to experiment, because during the summer one pair of pichug hatches two or three broods, after each changing its location. So add your ideas and improve their houses!

The fashion for bird houses took root with us with the light hand of Peter I. And for good reason. Take the time and effort to attract birds to your garden - they will not only delight you with their singing, but also deal a serious blow to the army of pests. A zealous owner will always find time to make a birdhouse with his own hands.

Place and time

Starlings, tits, swifts, redstarts, white wagtails, gray flycatchers are happy to settle near human habitation. But if the starling easily adapts and arranges nests in different places, then many forest birds nest only in hollows, and when there are not enough of them, they cannot breed. That is why it is so important to provide the birds with new apartments in a timely manner, and for this it is not at all necessary to wait for spring.

For tits and pikas that winter with us and start looking for a nesting place very early, it is better to hang houses in the fall: in winter, birds often spend the night in them and stay to breed chicks.

For birds flying to us from the south in April-May, nesting places are hung up no later than March.

It is very important to properly hang the houses. Great importance has a slope: you can’t tilt the houses back - in this case it will be difficult for the birds to get out of the hollow, a slight forward tilt is always useful.

Do not place nesting sites (especially titmice) very close to each other- anyway, most of them will remain uninhabited, since only starlings live in colonies. Therefore, it is best to hang titmouse at a distance of 50–80 m from each other (minimum distance 20–30 m).

Houses are fixed at different heights:

birdhouses are placed at a height of 2–3 to 10 m;
in old forests and parks - at least 8–10 m;
in orchards and dense deciduous forests - from 4–6 to 8 m;
titmouses in the forests are hung at a height of 4–8 m above the ground;
in gardens and young plantings - from 2 m.

When strengthening birdhouses, you need to ensure that tree branches do not touch the front wall, otherwise a cat will easily enter the nesting box. To protect birds from terrestrial predators, at a distance of 2–2.5 m from the ground, a tree trunk is surrounded by a skirt of thin branches with their tips pointing down.

parking

Attach nests so as not to damage the trees. You can tie the house to a tree with a tarred hemp rope, soft wire or electric cord. To do this, they wrap a tree trunk around the wire, pass the ends through the loops of nails driven in at the top of the house, and tie it over the roof. When the nesting box lowers, the wire loop will stretch and firmly press the lid to the body of the house.

If you need to attract birds to young orchards, you can nest on poles 3–4 m high. The poles are stuck into the ground near the tree and tied to the trunk with a rope.

Woodpeckers, swifts, sparrows, etc. can live in the birdhouse, white-collared flycatchers, pied flycatchers, redstarts, sparrows, nuthatches, sparrows, as well as robins (or robins) and wagtails can live in the titmouse. By design, the titmouse is similar to the birdhouse, only smaller.

Interior

It is not only the size and shape of nesting places for birds that are important. It is necessary to take into account the internal illumination, temperature conditions, the color of the nest.

Pied flycatchers they love light-colored nests inside, so when the wood darkens in 5–6 years, it is enough to whiten them inside, and the pieds will again willingly nest in them.
tits they prefer old, darkened houses inside, new ones should be painted inside with a stain.
Most birds“apartments” painted on the outside in green or the color of tree bark are more likely to settle in.
Starlings can occupy even brightly colored houses: red, yellow, blue and blue.

Construction subtleties

For the manufacture of bird houses, dry boards are needed from any type of wood, but linden, aspen, fir, spruce or pine are better. Old materials are also quite suitable, as long as they are not rotten.

Plywood, fiberboard, chipboard are not suitable due to the adhesive backing.

birdhouse

The most suitable boards are 15-25 mm thick, the so-called tes. Too thin (less than 15 mm) under the influence of dampness and sunlight easily warp and crack.

It is very important to correctly mark and cut the inlet - notch. It is drilled with a brace, pierced with a chisel, but it can also be cut square. A hole is made under the roof, at a distance equal to approximately the diameter of the notch. To protect the birds from cold winds and slanting rains, you should not choose the northwest direction for its location, it is better to prefer the east or southeast.

The boards should be cut only from the outside of the birdhouse, roughness must be left inside, otherwise the bird will have nothing to cling to with its claws, it will not be able to get out of the house and will die. Birds do not need porches, perched shelves and other devices near the entrance, on the contrary, they often help the cat to get to the chicks.

Sinichnik

It is better to make the roofs of the houses convex - from slabs (boards cut off at the surface of the trunk) so that rainwater flows from them. The slab can be replaced with boards 30-40 mm thick, which are fixed with a slope back. The roof on all sides should protrude slightly above the walls, most of all in front, above the notch. If it is removable, the house can be cleaned in the spring, before the arrival of birds.

Wagtail

Along with birdhouses and titmouses, nest boxes are used - segments of the trunk that are not hollowed through, to which the bottom or roof is nailed. The size of the nests depends on what kind of birds they are intended for.

The size of the houses depending on the type of bird

The starling arrives early, usually in March. When nesting in the forest, it most often occupies the hollows of the Great Spotted Woodpecker, as well as other medium-sized woodpeckers.
The great tit has two clutches a year: the first in late April-early May, the second in June.
In the middle of May, the common redstart has full clutches, and by the middle of June, young birds fly out. At the end of this month, redstarts begin their second nesting.
The common pika can nest behind the lagged bark of an old decayed tree (birch, aspen, linden) or in a dilapidated hollow, always low from the ground (from 0.5 to 4 m), more often at a height of 1.5–2.5 m.
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In this article, we will make birdhouses with our own hands - correct, beautiful (simple and unusual) bird houses. I decided to decompose this theme of birdhouses into clear points, so it will be more convenient to navigate through the article. And before I give specific drawings and schemes for assembling birdhouses, and tell you how to make a birdhouse, we will talk about important things– the location and method of fixing your bird house. After all, the model of the house still depends on what methods of fastening you have available, and on whether you will mount your birdhouse on a tree or on special tall structures. And further… before moving on to choosing the design of your future birdhouse, we will deal with the most common mistakes in the manufacture of birdhouses (in order to avoid them in our do-it-yourself house). So here you will find answers to the following questions:

How to fix birdhouses on a tree (types of fasteners for bird houses)
Where can birdhouses be fixed ( if there are no trees nearby).
Major Mistakes when building a bird house.
How to help the birds choose your birdhouse.
Drawing and assembly diagram classic birdhouse.
multi-local, multi-apartment
bird houses non-standard forms.
birdhouses from non-traditional materials(from boots, canisters, teapots, pots, etc.)

Even more ideas and tips on how to make birdhouses in the article.

After studying this article, you can make a birdhouse yourself for the competition in kindergarten or school. Or buy a ready-made set of blanks for a birdhouse- assemble it and decorate according to your author's design.

How to fix a birdhouse

on a tree.

Birdhouses are usually tied to a tree with a rope. To do this, a thick long beam is nailed to the back wall of the house. It is leaned against a tree and wrapped around with a rope many times - wrapping the timber and the tree trunk at the same time.

But in the west, birdhouses are often nailed to a tree (harder to tie, easier to nail, although cruel to an adult tree). To do this, the back wall of the birdhouse is made a little higher in height - so that there is a ledge of the board on top where nails can be driven in.

In the same way, this upper ledge of the rear wall can be made even longer. Long enough to drill a hole in it and hang it on a rope, or an iron hook as in the photo below.

And you can also drive a hook into the roof of the house and hang a birdhouse on a chain or rope on it on a thick and strong tree branch in your country house.

SUPPORT FOR BIRDHOUSE.

In addition to wood, any tall structure made from improvised materials can serve as a support for a birdhouse. It can be a large branch cut from an apple tree. It can be dug into the ground. But it should be understood that on such a support, birdhouses will be too low above the ground, and it will be easy for cats to get to the house (this will alarm the bird). Such a support model is good in cases where there are no cats in the area and you have a quiet nook in the courtyard where even your “human foot” almost never steps.

Therefore, in order to maintain a sense of bird safety, it is necessary to make high support structures for wooden birdhouses. For example, such as in the photo of bird houses below.

Also, the original portal in the form of a pergola can serve as a support-pedestal for the birdhouse. But also for places with infrequent traffic. If people roam back and forth through this portal, the birds will not want to settle. It is better to put such a pergola in a quiet corner of your garden and not often go there. The birds will appreciate the solitude and the wilderness and will choose this place for the safe hatching of their offspring.

But in the photo below we see that the holders for simple wooden birdhouses can be very different from beams with decorative carpentry to ordinary old garden pitchforks stuck into the rammed earth.

Also, a pillar-support for your new do-it-yourself birdhouse can be interestingly decorated with fresh flowers. If you plant a climbing plant near the pole, or hang flower pots as in the photo with birdhouses below.

MAJOR ERRORS

in bird houses.

Very often you can see INCORRECT birdhouses made with mistakes. Such beautiful painted bird houses are certainly cute and beautiful, but the birds do not want to settle in them. And the houses just hang empty on a tree - purely for decorative purposes.

Let me tell you what mistakes the masters make in the manufacture of birdhouses. So that the birdhouse made by your hands is not only beautiful, but also initially correct. Then your homemade birdhouse will please the birds at first sight.

ERROR #1

entry hole too low.

The window-door in the birdhouse should be located at a height of at least 30-40 cm. This height is needed so that the bird has the opportunity to create a nest at the bottom of the house.

By the way, the photo above is an example of another fastener - a metal U-shaped bracket is nailed to the roof of the birdhouse (like an eye for latches).

Look, on the transparent birdhouses from the photo below, we just see that the bird is dragging more branches into the house. And if the window is low, the branches will block the exit from the house and it will be impossible for the bird to get out of it. And the bird itself does not want to sit in the nest, where its head will be at the level with the window, so it will be anxious. It is much safer if the window is high - and the wind does not blow on wet fledglings, and the mother bird feels safe.

By the way, the photo above shows the original birdhouse model, the back wall of which is made of glass with suction cups. Such a house is attached to a window in a large house and you can watch the birds settle in the nest. You just need to comply with the condition - the window. In the place of the window glass where you plan to mount such a birdhouse on suction cups, you must first seal it with a tint film - so that the birds do not suspect third-party observation.

ERROR #2

hole too big.

Starlings will not settle in a house where the door is large enough for the cat's head. Cats love to climb trees in search of nests of defenseless chicks. And such a house with a large hole is an easy prey for them.

The small hole in the birdhouse is not in vain invented. The cat's head and paw should not fit into the hole, but starlings and other birds should easily climb inside. Therefore, when you make a birdhouse with your own hands, make a small hole in it.

Only if you live near a forest belt and make houses for owls flying in the vicinity - then a large hole will certainly be appropriate.

ERROR #3

BRIGHT COLORING of a house for birds.

If you do not live in a blooming jungle, and if the house you have conceived is not designed for parrots with bright plumage, you do not need to paint it in bright colors. Birds trust only natural colors and natural materials. It is good to use such a birdhouse as a designer piece for your living room or work for a competition in a school or kindergarten. But the birds will not live in it.

Mossy aged houses are much nicer for feathered mothers than glossy glamorous smoothly planed apartments.

And if you want your bird house to be original and beautiful, then you should know: you can make a decorative glamorous design in natural shades. Here in the photo below is just an example of such a house, which at the same time looks chic from the aesthetic-human side and does not scare away the birds with bright colors at all.

But the cutest houses for the feathered heart are dwellings, as much as possible disguised as an ordinary hollow on the tree. After all, initially starlings settled in hollows. From time immemorial it has been so - it is inherent in their bird genes: to look for a hollow. So make them an artificial hollow from unhewn bark slab boards(sold as firewood).

Or your house made of planed boards, take it and additionally decorate under a living hollow- wrap (or glue) it with branches, branches and pieces of bark.

Birds love houses made of unplanned wood, with elements of bark and rough branches.

ERROR #4

No slats for birds.

It is inconvenient for birds to climb the smooth boards of a wooden house. It's hard for them, their little claws slip off.

This is especially important for the INSIDE SIDE of the birdhouse walls. It is better to stick the inner front wall with small ladders (so that inside the bird can climb them to the exit window).

Or nail a piece of bark to the inner wall of the birdhouse, or an old grater, in short, any ribbed and rough surface. Or place a short sloping board inside the birdhouse (from the bottom to the window) - so that the bird can climb up this hill to the exit from the house.

And also if your birdhouse is made of a smooth planed board on the outside, make sure that the bird has a footstool.

These can be simple branches or branches that you cut while pruning apple trees in the garden.

It can be river pebbles glued on hot glue from a glue gun. Or, instead of a pebble, you can stick log cabins of branches (cut them into round-saw cuts and glue the house over).

Any old, rusty thing from the barn will work as a footrest for birds - a door hinge, a valve from a water pipe, a faucet, a reel from an old fishing rod, a rake, an aluminum fork, a key. Anything can become a perch stand in a do-it-yourself birdhouse.

Such things will only add originality and creativity to your simple bird house.

THAN ELSE

we can

HELP THE BIRDS.

In addition to hard branches, birds need soft material to build a nest - tufts of dry grass, moss, feathers, rag debris, pieces of paper that they collect everywhere themselves, spending long hours on a shaving search flight.

Why not make the bird's work easier and place a construction warehouse next to the bird's dwelling. Housewarming in your birdhouse will come much earlier if everything you need to create comfort is located next to the house.

You can pick up bunches of grass yourself, tear the cotton wool into pieces and place it in such a way that it is easy for the bird to pull out pieces of material from this construction warehouse. It is not necessary to tie the grass into tight bundles with a thread - the bird will not be able to pull the grass out of the tight bundle. It is necessary to make a storage out of a mesh container.

You can hang a box with rags, cotton and moss nearby. To prevent the wind from blowing the material, the box can be covered with a mesh (metal) or a plastic mesh, which we put on the bottom of the kitchen sink.

Or weave-twist balls from flexible branches and put cotton wool, centipon and pieces of chopped newspaper or toilet paper inside such wicker balls.

Even holders for bird fleece and rags specially made for this purpose are sold. They are installed or hung next to birdhouses.

Material for the construction of birdhouses.

MATERIAL for the house must have the correct characteristics of thickness and texture.

THICKNESS. Boards 2 cm thick. Such a thickness of a wooden board will allow you to better keep the heat of the house. After all, nests are built in the spring, when at night it is still quite cold and even frosty.

TEXTURE. As I said, the boards should be rough (croaker boards with unplaned bark will do). And if you only have smooth planed boards, but pieces of bark on them can be stuffed with carnations, glued on liquid nails (thick adhesive composition from spray cans).

Or create artificial roughness - scratch the inner wall of the birdhouse with a knife - make notches for which the bird will cling. Or nail pieces of bark onto the inner wall, several slats one after another like a ladder, or nail a grater, or a piece of insulation (it is made of foamed mass and it will also be convenient for bird claws to climb on it).

IT IS FORBIDDEN make houses from glue boards (plywood, chipboard, fiberboard - these materials contain glue resins, they emit toxins that birds may not like. I don’t know if it’s true or not, but they say that resin pine boards are also not suitable for a birdhouse, which is from warm In the sun, the tar board heats up and releases smelly resin, and that this is supposedly harmful to the birds.

Now I will give diagrams and drawings of simple houses. But I’ll make a reservation right away that your designs can be completely different in shape and size. You are free not to stick exactly to the drawing from the project below. As you have already understood from the photos above, the houses are very different.

But the logic of size must be preserved ... And this logic is as follows.

What are the dimensions of the correct birdhouse.

Window hole size(called letok) - no more than 5 cm in diameter. So that the crow could not stick its head into the birdhouse and eat the chicks. And the cat's head didn't fit in either.

The height of the notch-window- at least 20 cm from the bottom of the house. So that the wind from the window does not blow on the nest of chicks, and so that the chicks are not near the entrance - because of the danger of meeting with a crow's beak or a cat's clawed paw.

Birdhouse height - at least 35 cm. It can be a little higher, but remember that if you make the ceiling too high, then such a high-ceiling house will be harder for the birds to heat (warm air will go up and the birds below in the nest will freeze).

house width- (that is, the square area of \u200b\u200bhis floor) should also not be very large. A spacious house is not considered cozy and a wide nest requires a longer time for its construction. The bird is tormented by filling such a spacious house with twigs. Therefore, we try to stick to the bottom size of 15 x 15 cm (or 20 x 20). That is, if you are making a wide house, then put dry grass there yourself in advance (the bird will only be happy).

As you can see, these dimensions are dictated by the logic of survival in the wild.. And the right birdhouse is the one in which all these features are observed.

Well, now let's move on to the drawings and diagrams.

Here I have collected ways to make a birdhouse in the form of diagrams and drawings. You can choose your model of the house and figure out what details it can be assembled. And remember, it doesn’t matter if your sizes are slightly different - we make it from improvised material and therefore the sizes will depend on our availability.

Here is another drawing of a birdhouse, although here the dimensions are given in inches. It will be easier for you to convert inches to centimeters if you ask your wife for a measuring tape for patterns - the one with which she measures the girth of her slimming waist during a diet. This measuring tape has centimeters on one side and inches on the other. So you can always see a quick conversion of any inch size to centimeter.

These drawings do not take into account one more CONDITION. In the Soviet birdhouses of our childhood there was always a clear rule: the front front wall (the one with the hole) should be tilted forward. This was done so that the starling could climb such an inclined hill to the exit from the house.

To observe this slope, you need to make 2 side walls from the rear edge straight vertical- and from the front oblique(we see a similar principle of oblique side walls in the photo below). Only in this example, the birdhouse generally has a triangular lateral section. And in Soviet birdhouses there was such a slope, but along with it there was also a normal bottom, so that there was enough space for a nest.

Below we see a drawing of real Soviet birdhouses from our childhood. True dimensions here are given in inches.

But if your house does not have a bevel on the sides, then to facilitate the exit of the bird, you can fill an inclined plank on the front wall from the inside of the house (it will perform the same function as a ladder).

And now let's look at the birdhouses of another unusual shape - a rhombus. Here he is in the photo. The idea is certainly beautiful, the house turned out elegant and decorative. But from a practical point of view, it would be better for the birds if the window expanded closer to the left or right edge - then the inclined plane of the wall would serve as a support for the birds to comfortably climb out.

And in this house that flaw that window too low- there is no place for a nest - it turns out that when a bird puts grass and twigs there, the height of the chicks will coincide with the height of the window - and they will look straight out and any crow will pull it out with its beak and devour it without a twinge of conscience.

A reasonable feathered mother will never choose such a dangerous house for housing - and it will just hang in your garden, and you will wonder why the birds do not settle in the birdhouse.

Here is a drawing of a similar house, but here the entrance hole itself is much higher - it's better. And even better to generally raise it under the very roof of the birdhouse. The bird will approve of this option.

APARTMENTS

bird houses.

And here are the options for simple multi-seat birdhouses. You will see the most different variants. Only here, not all apartments will be occupied, the side houses from the photo below have a too low entrance. I wish the same design - but with higher side turrets (or higher notch holes).

And in this photo, too, the central house will be inhabited - but there is no sidewall (the hole-entrance is too low). Therefore, you can make this design, but be aware that the side parts of the house will only have a decorative function. And the bird family will occupy only the middle apartment.

And here (in the photo below) is a multi-seat version, where all three houses are made according to the rules for the height of the notch and the height of the house. Such birdhouses will be fully populated.

Here is a beautiful option - the houses look in different directions of the world. By the way, it is recommended to fix the house so that the window looks to the south side, or to the east. The main thing is not to the north, the birds also need the sun.

It just seems that such a house is difficult to make. In fact, once you start drawing a drawing of a house, you will understand how simple it is. No more difficult than those designs that you made in your boyhood childhood from the designer.

You can design simple cell houses. In a row, like mailboxes in the entrance. Here's a good one on the left. And on the right photo, not very much - the notch is low. Not suitable for starlings, maybe for other birds, I don’t know ...

And here is another project of a multi-seat birdhouse. Here, each cell (except for the middle one) is a separate house with an exit in its own direction. If this drawing is changed and the height of the house is made larger and the entrance hole is raised to a height of 20 cm, then the starlings will appreciate such a communal apartment.

And here are some more options for beautiful and habitable birdhouses for several bird families at once.

Or you can make a very light and simple model - a birdhouse in the form of a rack shelf, with holes for entrances, as in the photo below. Only one drawback needs to be eliminated - here in the model below the houses are not large enough in height - it is necessary. It is necessary to make the height of the shelves at least 35 cm, and raise the notch by 20 cm from the bottom of each apartment shelf. Then the house will be occupied.

DECORATION OF BIRDHOUSES.

Decorative stylized birdhouses look very nice and can decorate any spring garden.

Bottle caps can serve as a decorating material (and at the same time insulating). Any material at hand can become decorative and finishing when building a house for starlings.

Pieces of laminate or linoleum left after repair can serve as material for the puff "tiled" roof of the house.

Just don't ever stop thinking about the birds. And if, for example, you have chosen a sheet of tin to create the roof of a house, think about how such a roof will rattle in the rain. The bird will go crazy with fear under the drum drops with a booming echo resounding in the house. Then, to such a roof, you need to add a sheet of sound-insulating material (foam or foam rubber).

And on the roof of the house you can set up a whole green garden. If you cut holes in parts of the house, put black soil there and plant plants. Pieces of moss or lawn take root well.

As well as special plants related to soilbloods. That is, those that grow with a carpet covering the soil, in the same way they will grow on your house not up, but in breadth with a carpet. This will add thermal insulation to the house. And most importantly, it will allow the birdhouse to merge with nature - and the birds will feel safe in such a cozy shelter disguised as a natural dugout.

WHERE TO BUY A BIRDHOUSE.

Birdhouses are often sold in hardware stores, they are also in construction stores, in the department everything is for summer cottages.

You can also buy them from individual craftsmen. There is such a well-known site called “Masters Fair” - we go to the site and in the old “site search” we set the word “birdhouse” and immediately pop up all the pictures of birdhouses with prices and addresses of the masters. You place an order and receive it by delivery or mail.

Here I have selected original creative works for myself Masters Dmitry(You can see his profile below).

And the same master has such works for sale. Do you want to buy such an exclusive birdhouse for your dacha. You are welcome to Fair of Masters to the author Dmitry (tik-kem).

And here are the works Sergey from the same Fair of Masters. Also cozy pictures of antiquity, revived in the form of birdhouses.

And on the same site there are a lot of options for ready-made kits for self-assembly of houses. Such sets are nice to buy, assemble - AND THEN DESIGN YOUR OWN INDIVIDUAL DECOR (glue over with twigs, overgrown with moss, turn into a toy house, or a fishing shed, or a cartoon character.

Company Workshop No. 13 on the site Fair of Masters offers a lot of kits for assembling birdhouses, as well as paints and coloring schemes for such houses.

If the house sets of this company are expensive for you, then there are other craftsmen selling the bases for birdhouses at a much more reasonable price. For example Master Cat- keeps a good price. You get an excellent solid house and turn on your decorating fantasy to the fullest.

DIY birdhouses

from NON-STANDARD MATERIALS.

Any material at hand can be adapted to a starling house. Previously, before human intervention in bird affairs, starlings found any holes in the natural environment to make a nest there. Therefore, they still do not pay attention to the external form and material - if only it was safe. Boots are boots, you don't have to choose. Moreover, it is very warm there.

On the Internet, such a picture roams - maybe it's a photoshop, or maybe in a deep forest and such a nest turned out to be safe enough for a bird. If the tree is tall and uncomfortable for cats to climb, then the bird will find it a good place to breed.

You can try to arrange any item in your country house as a house for starlings and titmouse. And suddenly he likes it. The ceramic pot holds heat well and does not drum in the rain.

But the iron kettle cools down quickly on a cold night, and during the rain it rattles like a drum, so it’s not suitable.

Houses can be made from old canisters. But just cover them with thick wooden boards - to avoid the roar of rain.

Old wicker baskets with a hole in the side can be turned into an original bird house - just make the notch higher and so that the walls do not blow through, do not be too lazy to insert an inlay made of heat-insulating material inside.

HOUSES for WINTERING of birds.

Many of you will go to Google to look for more interesting drawings for birdhouses, in which case I want to warn you right away. DO NOT CONFUSE BIRDHOUSES (designed for nests and hatching of chicks WITH HOUSES FOR WINTERING OF BIRDS (the purpose of which is to give birds a temporary overnight stay in the cold winter season).

Houses for wintering differ in that…

They contain an inlet at the bottom(so that warm air rises and remains in the upper part of the house).
In such houses they stuff perches on which the birds can sleep on a harsh winter night, protected from wind and cold.

And in winter, in addition to houses for cold weather, birds need feeders. I already have the same voluminous and detailed article on making a variety of bird feeders with my own hands.

Now, you know everything (or almost everything) about birdhouses and houses for hatching chicks. The bird house is basically simple craft. Anyone can do it.

And if you didn’t find your birdhouse design here, then I have another article on the same topic. Perhaps your future bird house is located there -

Good luck with your work. And let the birds celebrate their feathered housewarming this spring. It's so nice to feel like those who built the house.

In our country, with our salaries, not everyone can afford to build houses. But even if you can’t build a house for your family yet, you have already done a real job if you built it at least for a family of birds. To this little, more will follow. After all, the magic of a house made by your own hands is already working to ensure that your family celebrates housewarming.

Magic is born when we start doing a good deed, with these hands of our own.

Olga Klishevska, specially for the site