Homemade Bird House

by Terry
(Birmingham)

I spent a lot of money buying fancy carved and crafty bird houses, trying to attract birds to my yard. At first, one or two ended up visiting but they never stayed. The paint peeled and cracked off the sides and roof. The thin plywood cracked and went swollen so the base fell off and the nails rusted away. What a waste of money!


Then I figured out that a homemade bird house was not only easier and cheaper, but the birds actually liked them and kept coming back year after year.


The best homemade bird house I made came from a piece of firewood I found. It was a lovely round log piece about the same width as the circle I can make with my forefingers and thumbs together and about as long as my forearm.


I used a chisel to chip away some of the inside of the log until it formed a nice hollow, but I left one end closed for a bit of protection. I drilled a small hole at each end of the log and screwed in hooks to hang it.


I hung the hollowed out log on a sturdy branch on a tree in our yard and put some of the smaller wood chips in the hollow to serve as the beginnings of a nest. We had birds come to visit within the week and now there are three eggs in there. The mother is very protective of them, but I make sure we keep food out for her, so she knows we're looking out for her.


I hope you try making a homemade bird house like this for your back yard. It's good for the birds, as there's no toxic paint to worry about, and it's all natural so the birds prefer them.