DIY Bird Box for Robins, Wrens, Pied Wagtails, Eastern Bluebirds, Northern Flickers and Purple Martins.

Spring is the time when birds begin to look for good nesting sites. They may try many possibilities and even actually start the makings of a nest before they actually make their final choice. You can help them and attract many of these birds to your garden by providing them with a good choice of homes. In the last blog we looked at one design to attract a specific group. Now I'm going to proffer this design to attract some others. Over the decades the natural nesting sites, cracks in old buildings and garden walls and shakes in ancient trees, have become rarer. Our aim is also to create something which would blend into the background to attract these often shy birds.

As a rule, in Europe these boxes are expected to attract mainly robins, wrens and wagtails. In the USA there are over 50 species who prefer to use an open-fronted cavity nest. However, wherever you live you should research the individual habits and volumes needed for any specific  bird. Martins, for example, prefer to nest in colonies so you should provide either 5 or 6 boxes placed closely together or one large box with separate nesting chambers. Blackbirds may also use this type of box but would need it to be enlarged by around 50%.

The materials and construction are the same as for our previous box but I will repeat them here in case you have not read the post. If you have, then please continue down the page until you come to the section on the positioning of the front planks.

Materials

The box is based on the same design as my Apple House but is formed around a larger 140 mm - 5½" pallet block. You will need 1 or 2, 100 mm - 4" wide pallet wood planks and the wood strips from a fruit crate or orange box. We decorated it with water-based acrylic varnish and tinted it with earth and mineral pigments. For information on mixing these: http://thegreenlever.blogspot.fr/2012/02/using-natural-earth-and-mineral.html

Construction

 

For the four sides, mark out the first length, which corresponds to the length of the block plus plank thickness. Cut four sides to this length.


 

Pre-nail the planks, if the wood splits at this juncture, then drill a pilot hole at a slightly smaller diameter than the nail shank and then nail. 














Position and nail front.

 

 

Cut base to make a platform suitable for nest building, 100 mm x 100 mm - 4" x 4" and mitred at 45°. 

 
 
Mark the position of the shelf from the inside.

 

Drill pilot hole and screw the shelf in position.

 


Trim the edges. 

You now have something which looks like this.

 

 

Select wood for back of box and trace round the box as a guide for drilling pilot holes for nailing the back and screwing in the shelf.

 

  

 

Nail back wall and screw shelf into place.

Trim

Drill pilot holes for wall mounting box at bottom...

...and top.

 

Drill a drainage hole. This is very important with an open-fronted design.

 

Cut fruit crate wood to length to make shingles. Due to the open aspect, these should project well over the front of the box to protect it from rain, sun and to give more privacy.

 

 
To finish, we use earth and mineral paints and acrylic water-based varnish... 

...with a design which mimicked the golden hearted ivy growing on the wall where we were going to site it. 

We made another to fit snugly under the eaves of the pallet wood hen house.

Now, if you'd like to, sit back and enjoy he film.

The previous post has another nesting box - a design for blue tits, chickadees and pied fly catchers

Thanks for dropping by and please feel free to share this article, comment, ask questions and if you'd like to be assured of getting the next post, then sign up to follow this blog.

All the best, Andy

© Andy Colley 2014

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DIY Nesting Box for Blue Tits, Chickadees, Pied Fly Catchers, Sparrows and Nuthatches.

It's Spring and the birds are still out looking for nest sites, which over the past decades have dwindled. You can help them and attract them to your garden by providing them with a suitable desirable residence. The example below is a simple design, requiring a minimum of tools and in particular to obviate the need for a hole saw or large bit.

Natural nesting sites do not come with standard size front doors but for the above 'hole-in-the-front' design, there is a general rule of thumb, with some examples, given below. It is interesting that of the two bird boxes we gave as presents last year, one had an exact  25 mm round hole and the blue tits spent a couple of days enlarging the opening before they used it. Whilst the other box, at a location, some 10 miles away from the former was of the above design and was used without problem. However, making the box of pine means it is easy to modify with a beak and why shouldn't birds, like most of us, enjoy personalising their own home.

This one has a round entrance but is harder to make than the above design as it requires a large boring bit. Both the designs were recently given as Birthday presents and I'm happy to say all have tenants!

25 mm - 1" for blue, coal and marsh tits and chickadees.

28 mm - 1 1/8" for great tits, tree sparrows and pied flycatchers 

32 mm - 1¼" house sparrows, tree swallows and nuthatches

45 mm - 1¾" starlings

150 mm x 150 mm - 6" x 6" for the barn owl box I am in the process of making

Materials

The box is based on the same design as my Apple House but is formed around a larger 140 mm - 5½" pallet block. You will need 1 or 2, 100 mm - 4" wide pallet wood planks and the wood strips from a fruit crate or orange box. We decorated it with water-based acrylic varnish and tinted it with earth and mineral pigments. For information on mixing these: http://thegreenlever.blogspot.fr/2012/02/using-natural-earth-and-mineral.html   

Construction

 

For the four sides, mark out the first length, which corresponds to the length of the block plus plank thickness. Cut four sides to this length.


 

Pre-nail the planks, if the wood splits at this juncture, then drill a pilot hole at a slightly smaller diameter than the nail shank and then nail. 

 

 
Cut base to make a platform suitable for nest building, 100 mm x 100 mm - 4" x 4" and mitred at 45°. 

Position and nail front.

 


Put each plank in place and from the back draw the outline of the frame and use that as a guide for the pilot holes to avoid splitting the wood.

 

 
Trim the edges. 

 

With the shelf in place, mark its position from the inside. This will enable the correct location for the retaining screw. Drill and screw in place.



 
 

Select planks for the rear of the box. It is a good idea to screw these into place in case you need to clean out the box after use. 

The centre piece is put on first so that the correct position for the screw holding the shelf from the back can be easily located.

 

Mark out the outline of the box onto the remaining planks.

Drill screw holes.



 

Screw to the back. Trim the top with a generous border. This allows for mounting holes for screws and nails.

Cut lengths of fruitcrate wood to make shingles for the roof. Attach to roof with staples or panel pins. 

 
You can finish with a coat of linseed/hemp oil or acrylic water-based varnish.

To create an illusion of the box being a natural nesting site, we decorated ours with the same climbing ivy as was growing in the place we intended positioning our box.





Now if you'd like to, sit back and watch the film. 

Next post will be a design for an open-fronted box, suitable for Robins, Wrens, Eastern Bluebirds, Northern Flickers, and Purple Martins.

Thanks for dropping by and please feel free to share this article, comment, ask questions and if you'd like to be assured of getting the next post, then sign up to follow this blog.

All the best, Andy

© Andy Colley 2014

RETURN TO GREEN LEVER CONTENTS PAGE FOR MORE ARTICLES