There are many on-line resources to help you build a birdhouse, some of these resources are more reputable and easier to follow than others. Knowing which birds will be attracted to which birdhouse, hopper, or feeder in your bird sanctuary is even more critical than the plans themselves. Deciding on the right fit for your area and expertise, whether you've been interested in woodworking and carpentry for your whole life or are just starting out, there are simple and more complex bird house plans that will be suitable for you skill set. Before settling on a plan, consider two things; is it suitable for the birds in your area and your skill set. When choosing a plan to suit the birds, look for…
- Entrance hole size - this detail is critical to the types of birds you wish to attract and detract.
- Safe bird house - These are the fine-tuning points that are critical to the bird's success and the houses success overall. Size dimensions that suit the bird's nesting requirements for floor space.
- Hummingbird & Suet Recipes - Ideas on drawing birds to your feeder or houses in the next post!
Next, Choose a plan with Required materials and tools to match what you have available. Instructional detail should provide adequate information to be a good guide for building the house. Here is the provided birdhouse. Once you've found an appropriate plan, you may be just hours away from a new bird house to add to your backyard.
A Word to the Wise The adage is that "you get what you pay for", which is certainly true of free birdhouse plans. While we suggest our own service and expertise, it is a great craft to take up also. I have personally never found an ideal free birdhouse plan. Before diving right in, read all instructions and check all materials to ensure you will be able to complete the project. Consider making modifications to the plans to make the house more bird-friendly with ventilation or drainage holes, an opening to clean the bird house or other features that might be missing from the simplest plans.
Entrance Hole Size
When you’re ready to build a birdhouse, one of the most important considerations you must make is the birdhouse hole diameter. While the floor space, entrance hole height and roof height are also important dimensions, it is the diameter of the entrance hole that will most accurately determine which birds find the house attractive. Resizing a Birdhouse Entrance: Many birdhouse kits and novelty birdhouses come with pre-drilled entrance holes that may not match the optimum hole size for birds you want to nest in your backyard. Fortunately, it is easy to increase or decrease the size of a birdhouse hole and still use the birdhouse design you are interested in.
Why Hole Diameter Matters? To make birds feel welcome at your birdhouse, the entrance size is critical. A fraction of an inch too small and your desired birdhouse residents will not fit into the house, and a fraction of an inch too large and you may find less desirable birds such as house sparrows and European starlings usurping the birdhouse. While different individuals of the same species may vary slightly in size, these basic birdhouse entrance hole dimensions can help ensure that your birdhouse attracts the types of birds you want to invite to become backyard residents.
See Entrance Diameter Table
You can know the name of a bird in all the languages of the world, but when you're finished, you'll know absolutely nothing whatever about the bird . . . So let's look at the bird and see what it's doing - that's what counts. I learned very early the difference between knowing the name of something and knowing something.
Richard P. Feynman
If a hole is much too small for your birds’ needs, use a paddle or spade drill bit to enlarge it uniformly, taking care not to crack or splinter the wood around the hole. If the hole only needs to be enlarged a small bit, a round file may be sufficient or you can use a smaller drill bit along the edges of the hole. Be sure to increase the hole size uniformly around the circumference to preserve the circular shape.
Making a birdhouse hole smaller is easier than it may seem. For simple birdhouses, you can attach a piece of balsa wood or other thin wood with an appropriately sized hole over the original entrance hole with nails or carpenter’s glue. A wooden resizer, however, may only last one nesting season, so for a more permanent solution consider using thin sheet of metal that will resist chewing and talon damage from resident birds.
Safe Bird House Parameters
Many birders enjoy having birdhouses in their backyard in order to observe bird families as babies are hatched and raised. It can be devastating, however, when tragedy befalls those bird families, and hazards can come in many forms: predators, poor climate and illness can all take a toll on backyard bird populations. These dozen tips for safer birdhouses can help tip the odds in favor of birds’ survival.
Predator Protection:
Backyard predators can include pets, stray cats, raccoons, squirrels and even other bird species that may kill or injure baby birds either as food or to take over the birdhouse for their own nesting site. To make a birdhouse safe from predators:- Remove any perches from the house. Birds do not need them to access the house, and they only provide convenient hand-holds for predators.
- Train any outdoor pets to keep away from birdhouses. Behavioral conditioning with a water hose is an effective method that can also be used on squirrels and other wildlife with enough patience and perseverance.
- Be sure the birdhouse opening is the right size for the species you wish to attract. If the opening is too large, predators will have easy access to the nest and other bird species may take over.
- Position the birdhouse far enough away from brush so predators cannot stage an ambush, but close enough to plants so parent birds can easily scout the area. Five to eight feet of distance is sufficient for most birdhouses. Similarly, keep birdhouses away from popular feeding areas to prevent territorial conflicts between feeding birds and nesting parents.
- Choose natural colors so the birdhouse will blend into the surroundings. Browns and dark shades of green are the most suitable choices and will be the most attractive to birds. If possible, use only natural materials that lack ornamentation to keep birdhouses concealed.
Climate Safety:
A safe birdhouse is snug and comfortable for nesting birds. To keep a house safe from the weather, follow these tips.- Choose a birdhouse design with ventilation holes in the upper part of the walls to circulate fresh air and prevent the house from getting too hot or suffocating. If the design does not include ventilation holes, drill unobtrusive holes in the corners or sides of the house.
- Position the birdhouse so its opening does not face into direct sunlight or prevailing winds. Full or partial shade will help keep the house cooler, and a more protected location will be safer.
- Angle the birdhouse so rain cannot easily run into the opening or through ventilation holes. Some birdhouse models include an angled face to ease water runoff, and a larger roof overhang can also help keep the interior of the birdhouse dry.
- Avoid birdhouses that are constructed of metal. Metal houses will become miniature ovens in summer heat, and reflective metals are highly visible to predators.
Healthy Birdhouses:
Birdhouses can become crowded as nestlings grow, giving diseases greater opportunities to spread to the young birds. A safe birdhouse is one that takes into account the health of the birds, following tips such as:- Do not paint the inside of the birdhouse with paint! Furthermore, use only environmentally safe paints, stains or varnishes on the outside structure and avoid any lead-based paints that can poison birds from fumes or ingestion.
- Choose a birdhouse design with the proper interior dimensions for the desired residents. Too small of a house may cause growing birds to smother, while too large of a house will not be attractive to nesting parents.
- Clean the birdhouse seasonally or whenever a family of birds vacates the premises. Remove all nesting debris and rinse the house with a sanitizing solution of one part bleach and nine parts water. Rinse the house again with clear water, and allow it to air dry thoroughly before storing it for the winter or repositioning it for new tenants.