Build birdhouse yourself or buy?
In the annual upcoming cooler autumn and winter time, many birds need human help to find a suitable shelter or sufficient food. A birdhouse or bird feeder provides shelter and the opportunity for the animals to get enough food, especially during closed snow cover and frosty days. Apart from that, a bird house or a bird feeder in your own garden is a beautiful sight. Especially when a whole flock of little peeps gathers around the bird house. At the same time, the bird feeder can also be placed so that it can be observed from the window or the conservatory.
Build your own bird house or buy one?
About this question decides basically only the joy of DIY. Of course, often there is simply no time, so the decision to buy a birdhouse is the more practical solution. But it could also be a birdhouse kit. The requires less time due to the prefabricated parts and at the same time offers everything that is necessary for the construction of the bird villa, equal. Including building instructions. Those who prefer to design freely, but are not quite sure what needs to be considered when building a birdhouse, can easily look for a construction manual on the Internet or purchase in bookstores in the DIY and hobby section.
What is needed to build a birdhouse?
Usually, only simple tools such as screwdrivers and wood glue are needed for the birdhouse construction kit. Depending on the scope of the birdhouse kit and where the finished birdhouse will be placed or hung, it may be necessary to purchase additional materials. For example, a depth impregnated stake about 2 meters long, which is buried in the garden about half a meter deep. Here it should not be forgotten to cover the pile with a sheet of metal, otherwise cats from the neighborhood will start hunting. The smooth sheet metal prevents cats from climbing up the trunk. In addition, it keeps away pests such as mice, which quite sometimes prefer birdseed as food.
Building the birdhouse yourself without a kit means having to use a somewhat more extensive arsenal of tools. At least a good jigsaw should be available as well as screwdrivers, a drill and wood drills. Wood glue and wood screws round out the whole thing in terms of tools. The material, which is used to build a birdhouse, should always be selected according to the fact that it is exposed to strong weather conditions. The cheapest and most resistant material is glued wood or solid wood. Glued wood for the wall and roof construction of the bird house even offers the advantage over solid wood that it does not warp with frequent temperature changes. Protection against moisture is provided by appropriate roofing, so that no paints need to be used, or if they are, then only water-soluble paints to avoid solvents in the wood.
The bird villa for small visitors
A birdhouse in one’s own garden usually serves rather smaller bird species such as sparrows as a bird feeder. Accordingly, the bird house must be constructed in such a way that the larger competition is kept away. Especially in inner cities these are mainly pigeons. Therefore, the roof construction should be chosen so that it protrudes relatively far above the otherwise open feeding area.
In addition, a somewhat more acute roof angle ensures that the feeding station itself can only be approached by smaller birds. In terms of construction, a gable roof is the most suitable form here. A piece of tar paper is perfectly sufficient to protect the wood underneath against moisture. If you are concerned that even larger birds, such as starlings or pigeons, do not get enough food, do not forget that all birds scrape when foraging. This scratching transports some of the bird food outside onto the ground, where it usually finds grateful takers right away.
Cleaning and filling a bird house
When building a birdhouse, it should not be forgotten that it must be cleaned regularly and refilled with birdseed if the little flying neighbors are to visit regularly. The most sensible way to build a bird house is to hinge the aforementioned gable roof at the ridge so that one of the two sides of the roof can be opened. The tar paper lying over the hinges is flexible enough to go along with the movements without damage. One problem becomes apparent later when building a birdhouse yourself. The droppings and urine of birds are very corrosive and the droppings penetrate the wood and decompose it relatively quickly.