Building a Birdhouse

I'll be the first to tell you that I flunked woodworking in grade school. Because of that, I've resisted the idea that I could build a simple birdhouse, thinking it would look more like an ashtray. As it turned out, even I could construct a decent looking birdhouse. You can find plans for building birdhouses on the internet. One place I found useful is 50birds.com. They have free birdhouse plans for all types of birds. Also, one book I have found to be very informative is the Stokes Birdhouse Book by Donald and Lillian Stokes. The pictures below show the construction of birdhouse #2. The dimensions are for chickadees.

The floor is 4"x4". The corners are cut away to provide airflow. It will also provide drainage if necessary.

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The hole is 1¼" diameter. It is about 6" above the floor. The grooves shown below the hole will provide grip for the fledglings.

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All the screws are brass and were pre-drilled to prevent cracking the wood. The top was cut at a 25º angle to provide a slope for the roof.

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The roof overhangs to protect the opening. You can see that grooves were cut under the hole to provide grip for the birds. Brass hinges are applied enabling the top to open for cleaning or adjusting the camera that was installed.

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