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How to make a birdhouse drawings and design. How to make a birdhouse with your own hands from wood and scrap materials: drawings and dimensions in the photo. Correct size of birdhouse

In this article we will make birdhouses with our own hands - correct, beautiful (simple and unusual) bird houses. I decided to break down this topic of birdhouses into clear points, this will make it easier to navigate through the article. And before I give specific drawings and diagrams for assembling birdhouses, and tell you how to make a birdhouse, we will talk about important things– the location and method of attaching your birdhouse. After all, the model of the house also depends on what fastening methods you have available, and on whether you will mount your bird house on a tree or on special high structures. And further... before moving on to choosing the design of your future birdhouse, we will deal with the most common mistakes in making birdhouses (in order to avoid them in our homemade house). So here you will find answers to the following questions:

How to attach birdhouses on wood (types of fasteners for bird houses)
Where can you attach birdhouses ( if there are no trees nearby).
Main mistakes when creating a bird house.
How to help the birds choose your birdhouse.
Drawing and assembly diagram classic birdhouse.
Multi-seater, multi-apartment
Bird houses non-standard forms.
Birdhouses from non-traditional materials(from boots, canisters, teapots, pots, etc.)

More ideas and tips on how to make bird houses in the article

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

How to attach a birdhouse

on the 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 a rope is wrapped repeatedly around it - wrapping the beam and the tree trunk at the same time.

But in the West, birdhouses are often nailed to a tree (it’s harder to tie, easier to nail, although it’s 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 protrusion of the board on top where nails can be driven in.

In the same way, you can make this upper projection of the back wall even longer. Long enough to drill a hole in it and hang it on a rope or iron hook as in the photo below.

You can also drive a hook into the roof of the house and use it to hang a birdhouse on a chain or rope on a thick and strong tree branch at your dacha.

SUPPORT FOR THE NIGHTBOOK.

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

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

Also, an original portal in the form of a pergola can serve as a support-pedestal for a bird house. But also for places with infrequent traffic. If people wander back and forth through this portal, the birds will not want to settle. It is better to place such a pergola in a quiet corner of your garden and not visit it often. Birds will appreciate the solitude and wilderness and will choose this place for safe breeding.

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

Also, the support post for your new birdhouse, made by yourself, can be interestingly decorated with fresh flowers. If you plant a climbing plant near a pole, or hang pots of flowers as in the photo with birdhouses below.

MAIN ERRORS

in bird houses.

Very often you can see WRONG birdhouses made with errors. Such beautiful painted bird houses are certainly cute and beautiful, but the birds don’t want to live in them. And the houses just hang empty on the tree - purely for decorative purposes.

Let me tell you what mistakes craftsmen make in making birdhouses. So that the bird house made by your hands is not only beautiful, but also initially correct. Then the birds will like your homemade birdhouse at first sight.

MISTAKE #1

entry hole too low.

The window-door in the birdhouse must 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 bird house (like an eye for latch bolts).

Look, on the transparent birdhouses in the photo below we can 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 a nest where its head will be level with the window, it will be so anxious. It is much safer if the window is high - and the wind does not blow on the wet, unfledged chicks, and the mother bird feels safe.

By the way, the photo above shows the original model of the birdhouse, the back wall of which is made of glass with suction cups. Such a house is mounted on a window in a large house and you can watch the birds settling in the nest. You just need to comply with the condition - a 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 tinting film - so that the birds do not suspect third-party observation.

MISTAKE #2

hole too big.

Starlings will not settle in a house with a door 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 easy prey for them.

The small hole of the birdhouse was not invented in vain. The cat's head and paw should not fit into the hole, but starlings and other birds should calmly 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 line and are making houses for owls flying in the vicinity, then a large hole will of course be appropriate.

MISTAKE #3

BRIGHT COLORING of a bird house.

If you do not live in a blooming jungle, and if the house you are planning is not designed for parrots with bright plumage, there is no need to paint it in bright colors. Birds trust only natural colors and natural materials. This birdhouse is good to use as a designer piece for your living room or as a piece for a competition for a school or kindergarten. But birds will not live in it.

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

And if you want your bird house to be original and beautiful, then 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 an aesthetically human side and does not scare away birds at all with its bright colors.

But the houses dearest to the feathered heart are dwellings with maximum disguised as an ordinary hollow on the tree. After all, starlings initially settled in hollows. From time immemorial it has been this way - it is embedded 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 and additionally decorate as a living hollow- cover (or cover) it with twigs, branches and pieces of bark.

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

MISTAKE #4

There is no bird stand.

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 INNER SIDE of the walls of the birdhouse. It is better to line the inner front wall with small slats-ladders (so that the bird inside can climb along them to the exit window).

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

Also, if the outside of your birdhouse is made of smooth planed boards, make sure that the bird has a footrest.

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

These can be river pebbles glued with hot glue from a glue gun. Or, instead of pebbles, you can stick on logs of branches (cut them into round saw cuts and paste them over the house).

Any old, rusty thing from the barn is suitable as a stand for the birds' legs - 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 homemade birdhouse.

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

WHAT ELSE

we can

HELP THE BIRDS.

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

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

You can collect 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. There is no need to tie the grass into tight bunches with thread - the bird will not be able to pull the grass out of the tight bunch. You need to make storage out of a mesh container.

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

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

Even holders for bird fleeces 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 thickness and texture characteristics.

THICKNESS. Boards 2 cm thick. This thickness of a wooden board will better retain the heat of the house. After all, nests are built in the spring, when the nights are still quite cold and even frosty.

TEXTURE. As I already said, the boards should be rough (slab boards with unplaned bark are suitable). And if you only have smooth planed boards, you can stuff pieces of bark on them with nails and stick them on liquid nails (thick adhesive from spray cans).

Or create artificial roughness - scratch the inner wall of the birdhouse with a knife - make notches for the bird to cling to. 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 foam and it will also be convenient for the bird’s claws to climb on it).

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

Now I will give diagrams and drawings of simple houses. But I’ll immediately make a reservation that your designs can be completely different in shape and size. You are free not to adhere exactly to the outline from the project below. As you already understood from the photographs above, there are a variety of houses.

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

What are the dimensions of a proper birdhouse?

Window hole size(called a tap hole) – no more than 5 cm in diameter. So that the crow cannot stick its head into the birdhouse and eat the chicks. And the cat's head didn't get in there either.

The height of the tap hole-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 the chicks, and that the chicks are not near the entrance - because of the danger of meeting a crow's beak or the clawed paw of a cat.

Birdhouse height - at least 35 cm. You can do it a little higher, but remember that if you make the ceiling too high, then such a high-ceilinged 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 its floor) should also not be very large. A spacious house is not considered cozy and a wide nest requires a longer time to build. The bird will be tortured to fill 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 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 collected ways to make a birdhouse in the form of diagrams and drawings. You can choose your house model and estimate what parts you can assemble it. And remember, it doesn’t matter if your sizes differ slightly - we make them from available 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 she uses to measure the circumference of her losing weight during a diet. On such a measuring tape, centimeters are written on one side and inches on the other. This way 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 up such an inclined hill to the exit from the house.

To maintain this slope, you need to make 2 side walls from the rear edge straight vertical– and from the front edge obliquely(we see a similar principle of oblique side walls in the photo below). Only in this example does the birdhouse have a triangular side section. And in Soviet birdhouses there was such a slope, but at the same time there was also a normal bottom, so that there was enough space for the nest.

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

But if your house does not have a bevel on the sides, then to make it easier for the bird to escape, you can put an inclined board on the front wall on the inside of the house (it will perform the same function as a ladder).

Now let's look at 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 was located closer to the left or right edge - then the inclined plane of the wall would serve as a support for the bird to comfortably climb out.

And also in this house that drawback what a window too low- there is no place for a nest - it turns out that when the 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.

An intelligent feathered mother would 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 move into the birdhouse.

Here is a drawing of a similar house, but here the entrance hole itself is located much higher - it’s better that way. Or better yet, raise it right under the roof of the birdhouse. The bird will approve of this option.

MULTIPLE APARTMENT

bird houses.

And here are the options for simple multi-place birdhouses. You will see a variety of options. Only here not all apartments will be inhabited; the side houses in the photo below have a too low entrance. If only it were the same design - but with higher side turrets (or higher entrance holes).

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

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

Here is a beautiful option - the houses look in different directions of the world. By the way, it is recommended to mount the house so that the window faces the south or 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 realize how simple it is. No more complicated than those designs that you made in your childhood from a construction set.

You can design simple cell houses. In a row, like mailboxes in the entrance. Here's a good option in the left photo. But in the right photo it’s not very good – the entrance is low. Not suitable for starlings, maybe for some other birds, I don’t know...

And here is another project for 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 opening of the entrance is raised to a height of 20 cm, then the starlings will appreciate such a communal apartment.

And here are more options for beautiful and lived-in birdhouses for several bird families at once.

Or you can make a very light and simple model - a birdhouse in the form of a 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 entrance 20 cm from the bottom of each shelf-flat. Then the house will be inhabited.

DECORATION OF NIGHTBOOKS.

Decorative stylized birdhouses look very beautiful and can serve as decoration for any spring garden.

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

Pieces of laminate or linoleum left after repairs can serve as material for a layered “tiled” roof of a house.

Just never stop thinking about the birds. And if, for example, you chose a sheet of tin to create the roof of a house, think about how such a roof will rattle when it rains. The bird will go crazy with fear as the drum drops echo loudly in the house. Then you need to add a sheet of sound-insulating material (foam or foam rubber) to such a roof.

You can also create a whole green garden on the roof of the house. 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 ground cover. That is, those that grow like a carpet covering the soil, in the same way they will grow on your house not upward, but outward like 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 NIGHTBOOK.

Birdhouses are often sold in hardware stores, construction stores also have them, and everything for the garden is in the department.

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

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

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

But the works Sergei from the same Masters Fair. Also cozy pictures of antiquity, brought to life 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. It’s nice to buy such sets, assemble them – AND THEN CONCEIVE YOUR OWN INDIVIDUAL DECOR (cover them with twigs, cover them with moss, turn them into a toy house, or a fishing shed, or a cartoon character.

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

If the house kits of this company are expensive for you, then there are other craftsmen who sell 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 use your decorating imagination to the fullest.

DIY birdhouses

from NON-STANDARD MATERIALS.

Any available material can be adapted into a house for starlings. Previously, before human intervention in bird affairs, starlings found any holes in the natural environment to build a nest there. Therefore, they still do not pay attention to the external shape and material - as long as it is safe. Boots are just boots, you don’t have to choose. Moreover, it is very warm there.

There’s this picture floating around the Internet – maybe it’s photoshopped, or maybe in a deep forest such a nest turned out to be safe enough for the bird. If the tree is tall and inconvenient for cats to climb, then the bird will find this a good place to breed.

You can try to design any item in your dacha as a house for starlings and titmice. What if he likes it? The ceramic pot holds heat well and does not drum in the rain.

But an iron kettle cools down quickly on a cold night, and when it rains it rattles like a drum, so it’s not suitable.

Houses can be made from old cans. 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 house for birds - just make the entrance higher and so that the walls are not blown through, do not be too lazy to insert a tab sewn from heat-insulating material inside.

HOUSES for WINTERING 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. DON'T BE CONFUSED NESTING HOUSES (designed for nesting and hatching chicks WITH HOUSES FOR WINTERING BIRDS (the purpose of which is to provide temporary overnight accommodation for birds during the cold winter season).

Winter houses are distinguished by the fact that…

The inlet hole is located in them at the bottom(so that warm air rises and remains in the upper part of the house).
In such houses they cram perches, on which the birds can sleep on a harsh winter night, protected from the 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 wide variety of bird feeders with your own hands

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

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

Good luck with your work. And let the birds celebrate their feathered housewarming this spring. After all, it’s so nice to feel like the one WHO BUILT THE HOUSE.

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

Magic begins when we begin to do a good deed, with our own hands.

Olga Klishevska, especially for the site

You can take care of birds by throwing them bread crumbs or seeds. Pigeons and sparrows flock with pleasure to such a treat. What else can we do for the birds? In the city and at your dacha? Of course, build them a house to live in - a birdhouse. Why do people build birdhouses? In fact, titmice also build. They are similar to birdhouses, only smaller in size and have a slightly different architecture. But why do we still call birdhouses birdhouses and not use other names? The fact is that not all birds will agree to live in a “house” built by strange creatures on two legs. Clearly, this does not apply to freeloading sparrows. And the starlings are settling in.

Starlings live as a friendly family without noisy sparrow squabbles. They are able to perfectly imitate the singing of other birds, including the famous nightingale trills. And no one better than starlings cleans our squares, parks, forests and garden plots from insects. Do you know how many cockchafers one starling can eat during the nesting period? 8 thousand beetles with larvae! And caterpillars, slugs, snails are simply absorbed by it without counting. Therefore, when building and hanging birdhouses, a person cares not only about birds. A man cares about his future harvest. And you should be happy if a couple of starlings choose your house. This is great luck!

But it’s not enough to build a birdhouse. It must be built correctly and hung correctly.

A few simple rules you need to know

Here are a few rules to follow before you start building a starling house:

The birdhouse must be checked, otherwise the birds will not be able to live there in the summer. For ventilation, a couple of small gaps between the roof and the walls of the house will be enough. For the same reason, making a birdhouse out of metal is a bad idea.
It is necessary to organize “drainage” in it. Any water that enters the house must leave immediately. To do this, drill very thin holes in the floor, and to protect the entrance hole, install a small canopy over it.
The best time to hang a new birdhouse is in early April. And in the old one, through the removable roof, carry out “general cleaning” at the same time. Birds will not return to a birdhouse if it has not been cleaned for almost a year.
In rural areas, the optimal height for a birdhouse is about 4 meters. In the city it should be weighed higher. Make sure there are no branches nearby. This way, cats and other starling lovers will have less chance.
The birdhouse should be covered with foliage from direct sunlight.
Your creation must be nailed strictly vertically, no Prague “dancing houses”. The entrance should look in the direction from which the wind least often blows.
Very important! It should be remembered that nailing the birdhouse is not enough. It must be cleaned every spring before new guests arrive.

Classic wooden birdhouse

The best material for making such a house is wood. However, not every tree will do. Boards made of birch, oak and alder work well. Coniferous trees are not suitable because of the resin they produce. Chipboard and fiberboard should not be used for the construction of birdhouses - the chemical components used in their manufacture are harmful to birds. Plywood is not the best option either.

There is a birdhouse standard. The board should be used with a thickness of at least 20 mm, so the house will better retain heat. Do not use a sanded board - this will make it difficult for the chicks to leave the birdhouse. If the board is sanded, you need to scratch the inner side with a knife or nail. Typically, birdhouses are made from 120 to 150 mm wide, 300-350 mm high, and side wall length 150-160 mm. It is important to observe two more dimensions: the diameter of the taphole (inlet) should be 40-50 mm, the distance from the taphole to the bottom of the house should be at least 150 mm.

A larger birdhouse will accommodate more pets, but natural selection will work against your plan in this regard. The parents will not be able to feed all the hatched chicks, and even those that survive will not survive the flight to wintering in warmer climes - they will grow up weak. Trust this question to Nature and try to adhere to standard sizes when building a birdhouse. In this case, out of all the offspring, only a couple of chicks will survive, but they will be strong and strong.

The indicated dimensions are well suited for starlings' homes. The sparrows will happily settle in. And for great tits, the diameter of the entrance will have to be reduced to 35-40 mm; for small tits, an entrance hole with a diameter of 30 mm will be enough.

Of course, you can make changes to the design of the birdhouse and show your imagination, but then you should adjust the given dimensions. Compliance with the basic dimensions is very desirable; the very life of the bird family may depend on them.

Below are several drawings of the simplest birdhouses:

Prepare in advance a ruler with a pencil, a wood saw, a screwdriver, a hammer, self-tapping screws and a drill. We cut the boards to fit the dimensions in the selected drawing and begin assembling the birdhouse (in this photo the birdhouse has a rectangular entrance).

To fasten the elements of our design, we pre-drill holes for self-tapping screws with a thin drill.

We fasten the walls together with self-tapping screws. You can also use nails in your work, but you must watch carefully so that any of them do not accidentally come out. We remember what kind of miniature guests should live in our house.

The perch below the tap hole can be made from a planed stick and then tightly inserted into the prepared hole. The perch may have the shape of a triangular shelf. A perch is especially needed when the house is attached to a pole. After all, the head of the family needs to sit somewhere with food for the younger generation in his beak. You also need it to sing songs at the entrance to your house. The perch is made with a diameter of 10 mm and a length of 40 mm.

We make the entrance round or rectangular. We remember that its diameter should be 50 mm. We drill out the tap hole using a drill or cut it out with a jigsaw.

Unlike the internal walls, we thoroughly sand the edges of the taphole. There are known cases when starlings expressed dissatisfaction with the poor quality work of the owners of the site and demanded that the deficiencies be eliminated. First of all, this concerned the size of the tap hole and its raw edges. I'm not kidding.

The entrance should be located so that the cats cannot reach the chicks from the roof of the birdhouse (see dimensions).

Important! The fixed roof is inconvenient for annual cleaning of the birdhouse. And this must be done every spring before the birds arrive, otherwise you will end up with a “disposable” birdhouse. Converting the roof into a removable one is quite simple. A bushing corresponding in size to the bottom of the house is attached to it from below. The sleeve should fit snugly against the walls and fit into the hole they form with some effort, then the lid will hold well. For reliability, you can screw the lid to the house with wire. In this case, the wind will not blow it away, and the cat will not be able to remove it. And cats and crows will show increased attention to your birdhouse. It is easier to make a pitched roof. It definitely won’t leak (unlike a gable one). Make the roof slope slightly back.

The last stage of our work is attaching the finished house to the tree. It is convenient to attach a long plank to the back wall of the birdhouse in advance with self-tapping screws and then nail or screw this plank to the tree with self-tapping screws. For reliability, we also fasten the house with wire. The height is about 4 meters, in the shade, without direct sunlight, there should be no branches nearby.

The finished birdhouse can be pre-decorated on the outside. Contrary to popular belief, a painted house will not scare away birds, but it will decorate your area. However, be prepared that starlings will not immediately move into their new home; some time will certainly pass. And this may take more than one month.

Birdhouses made of unusual materials

A birdhouse can be made not only from boards, but also from completely unexpected materials.

Birdhouse made of cardboard

In our minds, cardboard is poorly associated with a building material for constructing a home. However, as experience shows, cardboard can quite cope with the task of urgent construction of a birdhouse with a service life of at least one season. Just use not the ordinary cardboard we are used to (it will quickly get wet under the influence of precipitation), but thick corrugated cardboard.

In addition to corrugated cardboard, we will need self-adhesive paper, rope, pencil and starch. And, of course, a tool: scissors, a ruler, a square, a knife and a compass.

We will need to cut out all the elements for assembling the house (roof, walls, bottom) from corrugated cardboard, only in double quantities. Starch is needed to make paste. The paste has a natural smell and, unlike synthetic glue, it will not scare away birds and instill in them the idea that they have chosen an environmentally unfavorable home to live in.

Each pair of parts is glued together with paste, due to this they acquire increased strength. The only problem will be the lack of ventilation in the house. We cut a hole for the tap hole in the front wall. We can make a perch in such a design, but it will not hold very firmly. We need four holes in the back wall through which we will pass the rope. Rope or twine can be replaced with wire. We need them to tie our house to the tree.

We glue the walls end to end, maintaining a right angle.

We should end up with a box like this:

While the paste is still wet, wrap the box with thread. This way it won't lose its shape. After the paste has dried, we will no longer need the threads.

We glue the roof of the house in two parts. The design will be somewhat reminiscent of the roof of a wooden house with a sleeve that we nailed to make the roof removable. When making a house from corrugated cardboard, the smaller part of the roof should be inside the structure, and the larger part, with allowances on all sides, forms a kind of overhang that will protect the house.

We cover the house with laminated paper. It will add density to the entire structure and at the same time serve as a decorative element.

Well, it turned out to be a good house?

House out of a box

An unexpected (albeit temporary) solution would be an empty juice or milk container. Using ready-made containers will allow us to solve the problem that has unexpectedly fallen on our heads even faster. Or rather, an incoming problem.

Quickly empty the container of its contents, wash and dry. While the container is drying after washing, prepare the wire, scissors and awl. A regular taphole is cut into the front wall. We poke holes in the top of the box for the wire - our makeshift house will hang on it. The bottom must be reinforced with cardboard or corrugated cardboard, which is attached to the bottom of the container.

All that remains is to decorate our house with laminated paper or craft paper with a protective layer. We hang the house in a suitable place, wait for the singing guests and tell the neighbors that this is the most fashionable house design that you personally found in the Belgian society of birdhouse building enthusiasts.

Home with panoramic bottle windows

We are used to empty plastic bottles being used as bird feeders. A hole is cut in the bottom of the bottle, into which food is poured, and the bottle is hung. Using the same principle, you can make a bird house out of a plastic bottle. In this case, the taphole hole is cut where it should be - in the upper part of such an unusual building material. We make a couple of holes in the lid for the wire, with the help of which the house will be suspended from the tree. To prevent the life of a starling family from looking like the “Behind the Glass” show, the bottle can be covered with beautiful paper or a decorative design can be applied. Although the starlings themselves, judging by observations, treat the “transparent” walls of their home quite calmly.

As you can see, building housing for starlings is a simple matter. At the same time it is very exciting. And also useful for raising your own offspring. Join us! Just not like in the stupid advertisement about sausage. After all, it’s really a good thing to make birdhouses with your own hands.

Building birdhouses is a long-standing and very useful tradition. Step-by-step instructions on how to make a birdhouse with your own hands will help you make it quickly and easily. You can also start building houses with children; this is a great way to keep your child busy and teach him to do manual labor.

How to make a birdhouse with your own hands from wood

This is what classic wooden birdhouses look like

A wooden birdhouse is the most durable and reliable house, but the work to create it is also the most labor-intensive. But the result can exceed your wildest expectations.

To build a wooden birdhouse, you will need:

pine planks 1.5–2 cm thick and 12, 16 and 20 cm wide;
round rail for the perch;
electric jigsaw or hacksaw;
drill;
Phillips screwdriver or screwdriver;
sandpaper or sanding machine;
ruler;
marker;
self-tapping screws;
carnations;
hammer;
paints, varnish and brushes (for decoration).

It is better to take hardwood boards

Manufacturing instructions

How to do:

Create a drawing of the future house and mark the wood according to it. First make markings for the front and back walls.
If you decide to trim a tree before marking, do it with glasses so that sawdust does not get into your eyes, and with gloves so that you do not have to remove splinters
Then - the side walls.
These are the optimal birdhouse sizes
Mark the roof. This birdhouse has a gable roof; you need to make two parts. All parts are cut out using a jigsaw or hacksaw.
The future roof of the birdhouse can be gable or single-pitch
Mark the mounting holes. The boards are quite thick; the center of the holes should be 7–10 mm from the edge. In this case, the screws will accurately hit the middle of the end of the adjacent part.
Sawing and marking of parts should be done sequentially
On the front wall, mark a place for the entrance (entrance to the birdhouse).
The diameter of the taphole should not be less than 4.5 cm, and the height from the bottom edge should not be less than 20 cm
A little lower, mark a hole for the pole-perch on which the bird sits before entering the house. Using a drill with a drill bit of the same diameter as the self-tapping screws, drill the intended holes.
You can start assembling. First, the pole is attached using a thin self-tapping screw.
Instead of a perch, you can make a shelf
Assemble the walls of the birdhouse, fastening them in any order with self-tapping screws.
The boards must fit tightly together
Install the bottom.
The assembled structure must be checked for strength
Assemble the roof and attach the pipe using a self-tapping screw screwed in from the inside.
Screws or self-tapping screws are used
Reinstall the roof.
A pipe on the roof of the house will look elegant
To attach the birdhouse to the tree, attach two loops to the back wall. Decorative details are attached using nails and narrow slats. For reliability, you can glue them with moisture-resistant glue.
It is best to attach a birdhouse to a tree with wire
Paint the product as your imagination dictates.
It is best to use odorless paints

By the way, bird houses first appeared in Russia during the time of Peter the Great, and the idea of artificial nests was discovered in Western Europe.

Making a birdhouse out of a box

A cardboard box may become wet when exposed to rain, so you will have to additionally cover the surface with laminated paper or varnish.

Such houses are easier to make than wooden ones

Required tools and materials

It is better to take very thick corrugated cardboard

To create a birdhouse from a cardboard box you will need:

corrugated cardboard;
glue;
carpenter's tape;
self-adhesive laminated paper;
stationery knife;
scissors;
ruler;
marker;
compass or circle with a diameter of 4.5–5 cm.

Manufacturing instructions

It is easier to make a birdhouse out of cardboard than a wooden one, but the cardboard house will also serve less.

How to do:

In accordance with the selected dimensions, all parts are cut out of corrugated cardboard in duplicate.
Such blanks are made faster than wooden ones, but require no less attention
Using glue, identical parts are connected. This is done to increase the strength of the structure. An entrance is cut out in the front wall with a utility knife, and holes are made in the back wall for string, with which the birdhouse will be hung from a tree.
Finished parts are glued together in pairs
The body parts are glued together. To increase strength from the inside, the joints can be glued with carpentry tape.
The walls are glued together end-to-end
The roof is assembled from two parts. The smaller one is located inside the case. It should protrude 1.5–2 cm beyond the body. For strength, cover the edges of the roof with colored plastic tape.
Be sure to cover the roof; in this case, the birdhouse will honestly serve until the end of the season
To make the house last longer, it needs to be covered with self-adhesive paper or varnished.
You can entrust the finishing to your child

You can also make a bird feeder at the same time. The photo below shows an example of the simplest feeder. While you will make a birdhouse from more complex materials, a child can make such a feeder.

Tell your child what feeders are for and how important they are for birds in winter.

The entrance to the birdhouse should be directed to the south, east or southeast so that the wind does not blow into the house.

This option is the easiest and most affordable

If you don’t want to tinker with wood or cardboard, then in a few minutes you can build a bird house from a plastic bottle. Of course, it will not be as cozy as the options described above, but the birds will be quite comfortable in it. Three- or five-liter containers are best suited for making a birdhouse. But if there are none, then you can get by with a standard one and a half liter bottle.

Required tools and materials

A plastic bottle is one of the lightest and most affordable materials.

It's better to remove the label

You will need:

two one and a half liter and one liter bottles;
about two meters of wire with a diameter of 2 mm;
scissors or stationery knife;
dye.

Manufacturing instructions

How to do:

Make sure that the top does not block the entrance

Make holes in the lid. Pull the wire through them and secure them carefully. But it is much safer to hang the structure by the body. To do this, make two holes in the roof on the sides of the future entrance, stretch a wire through them and attach the body.

Don't forget to use odorless paints

If you use artistic paints, then you need to coat the structure with varnish on top so that the paints do not wash off due to moisture. After the paints have dried, all that remains is to place the tree house and wait for residents.

This birdhouse is a great idea for a craft for kindergarten or school.

The total height of the birdhouse should be from 30 to 35 cm. The size of the bottom should be made from 10*10 to 15*15 cm. The distance from the bottom to the tap hole should be 15–20 cm. The diameter of the entrance hole (taphole) is 30–40 mm. It is worth noting that different sizes of the entrance will be optimal for different birds, so for a starling it is 32–35 mm, for a nuthatch it is 28–30 mm, for a tit or sparrow it is 25–29 mm.

Despite the general opinion that wild birds can eat anything, birds should be fed with caution, since they absolutely cannot eat some foods.

Ideal for feeding birds:

sunflower seeds;
millet, millet, oats and wheat;
unsalted lard and meat;
dried rowan and hawthorn;
maple or ash seeds;
nuts, cones and acorns;
pumpkin and watermelon seeds.

You can give calcium supplements, for example, crushed egg shells.

It is strictly forbidden to feed birds rye and wheat bread, as the yeast in them can ferment. Birds should not eat seeds or skins of citrus fruits. And also you should not feed the feathered inhabitants with salty, fried, spicy and sour foods.

Making a bird house is not difficult, especially since modern industry provides a wide selection of materials. Making a birdhouse with your own hands is a fun activity. If you and your children liked to do construction, then you can provide housing for many inhabitants of the park or forest.

Craft: Cardboard house

I suggest you take a look at my master class.

This master class is designed for children in grades 5 - 7 and creative people. All materials for production can be found in any home. The house is made of thick cardboard, covered with non-woven fabric and painted yellow, decorated with flowers and grass, the roof of the house is covered with dermantin.

Target: teach the technology of making a house, develop a plot idea.

A wonderful house will serve as decoration in your winter garden or garden plot. A little free time and only the desire to create will not prevent you from making such a craft.

To create such a wonderful cardboard craft “Bird’s House”, we will need the following materials:

1. Thick cardboard

2. PVA glue

3. TITAN WILD glue

4. Scissors

5. Simple pencil

6. Velvet paper

7. Fluorescent paper

8. Universal yellow color paste

9. Water-based paint

10. Brush

12. Non-woven fabric

13. Dermantin

We make a template: a rectangle 15.5 cm x 29.5 cm for the roof and two squares 14 cm x 14 cm for the sides of the house.

We take the house templates, transfer them using a simple pencil onto thick cardboard and cut out the details of the house.

Now we begin to assemble the house, glue all the parts using TITAN WILD glue (you can use another glue, I used this one).

From non-woven fabric, we cut out the details of the house according to the templates and begin to glue it with PVA glue. We start gluing from the sides one by one: first we smeared the right side and glued the interlining, the allowances were taken to the front and back sides of the house, we will do the same with the left side of the house. We will do this work with the front and back sides of the house (parts without allowances).

After the house is dry, cut out the window of the house. Now let's start painting the house. We mix the color with water-based paint and a little PVA glue and, using a sponge, begin to paint our house.

The next stage is the decorating stage. We cut out flowers, grass, petals from velvet paper according to patterns, cut out butterflies from fluorescent paper (you can use non-loose fabric).

We start from the front side of the house. Glue on the curly grass, then the petals with flowers and finally the grass.

On the side of the house we glue grass, flowers along the grass and a butterfly in the middle of the side of the house, the same work needs to be done with the other side of the house. On the back side - first glue the grass, and the flowers scattered along the grass.

Then we start making the roof. We will cover the roof part with dermantine.

Not so long ago, birds could find shelter without human help, but with the advent of large cities, it becomes more and more difficult for them to do this. That is why birdhouses were invented - small houses for feathered animals. There they not only hide from the wind or bad weather, but also find food. How make a birdhouse with your own hands from scrap materials? Let's look at the simplest and most practical ideas.

DIY birdhouse from scrap materials

How to make a birdhouse - what needs to be taken into account?

Since we are talking about a house for living beings, there are some requirements for it. The birdhouse should be:

Safe for its inhabitants.
Practical so that birds can lay eggs there and hatch their offspring.
Warm, but with mandatory access to fresh air.
Just the right size for the birds to fit in.

As for the material of manufacture, there is nothing better and more natural than wood. Why shouldn't you use chipboard, fiberboard or drywall? The fact is that the birdhouse is located outside, where it is affected by rain, wind and snow. Wood is able to withstand adverse weather, while remaining intact and unharmed, which cannot be said about other artificially created materials. Birds will be much cozier and more comfortable in a house made of hardwood. Experts recommend not using coniferous wood, since resin appears on it, which makes housing unsuitable for birds.

Some managed to make a house out of metal. But in this case, it is necessary to carefully consider the bedding inside so that the house is not damp. Now let's look at the most popular types of birdhouses that can be made.

Birdhouse made of wood

To do this, you need to take care of the availability of boards made of alder, aspen or birch. An important condition for such a house is the creation of notches. These protrusions are extremely necessary in the first stages of the life of young chicks, for whom the notches will be a support to get out of the nest. Such protrusions can be made using a chisel. To create a birdhouse you will need the following tools: a jigsaw, a drill with an attachment for drilling holes, and a plumber's angle.

First, decide what size your bird house will be. It is very important that it is not too small and too large, otherwise the birds will not be comfortable in it, and they are unlikely to want to settle there. We offer you a rough drawing of a birdhouse, but you can create your own.

Now, having decided on the dimensions, you can start drawing. Draw the details on the board, which you will then cut out using a jigsaw. In order not to create voids through which wind and rain will penetrate, you need to fasten the elements with wood glue. It is necessary to drill holes at approximately a distance of 1 cm in order to then connect the parts using nails. The roof should consist of boards of different lengths: short and long. The short one is attached first, then the long one. Don't forget to make a hole and a perch as well.

Birdhouse made of plywood

Such a nest for feathered animals is no different from the design of a wooden nest. The tools and parts are similar, you just need to decide on the roof, what kind of roof it will be: single-pitch or gable. Making a birdhouse from plywood includes:

Drawing. It is necessary to think in advance about the dimensions of the roof, bottom, and walls.

Collecting parts. Now the cuts are polished. The elements are fastened with glue, after which the structure dries and is connected with nails and self-tapping screws. At the very end, the back wall is mounted.
Strengthening the bottom. The bottom plywood is screwed firmly, but the roof should be easy to remove. This makes it possible to take care of the house. Once a year, the nest will need to be completely cleaned of old inhabitants.

Birdhouse made from plastic bottles

Today, an abundance of plastic bottles are made, so why not use them to create a birdhouse, especially since plastic is a strong and durable material. A 1.5 liter plastic bottle is required for the nest. It should not include foreign odors, drink residues, etc. The process of making a nest from a plastic bottle consists of:

Markings. It is necessary to draw a future hole on the surface of the bottle and cut it out using a knife or scissors.
Treating the edges of the hole with tape or tape.
Insulation. To do this, you can wrap a thick thread around the nest.
The birdhouse is ready.

It is very important to secure the birdhouse correctly and securely, otherwise one gust of wind will carry away the house with the chicks and lead to their death. Use long screws and nails. Where is the best place to install the nest? On a high tree. You can use a stepladder for this.

As you can see, making a birdhouse with your own hands from scrap materials is not at all difficult. To do this, you only need the desire to do good and a little effort. We hope that our tips will help you make a high-quality and reliable birdhouse for our feathered brothers.