A Gardeners Forum Forums General Discussion Hobbies, Crafts and Creativity The Bird Lovers Forum Nest Box Plans.

I now have nest box plans available for over 20 bird and animal species. I scanned them from my copy of Woodworking for Wildlife. This is THE book I use for building nest boxes. It is the Holy Bible of Bird house builders in Tennessee.

Here. Have a sample......

that looks like the blue bird house we bought. I can't make stuff like that. Remember my question about waterproofing? How are you going to do that? If I may be so rude as to ask, how much will making that cost you?

It costs me about 5 cents to make one of those......SERIOUSLY! I go to construction and demolition sites and ask the foremen for their wood scraps. 99% of them are thrilled to give you as much as you want. All I have to do is buy the nails. It takes about a nickel worth of nails to build a bird house. Following these instructions, the birdhouse is as waterproof as it needs to be.

Guess we'll have to call Thorny's place...Birdhouse Alley.

What a great idea about the lumber... I waterproof my birdhouses with vegetable oil

Thornius, do know what the clearance should be for a wren guard on a bluebird nest box?

If we send you a dime will you make us all one. That's 100% profit.

seriously though. I can't do stuff like that but I'm gonna steal your plans and see if Johnny can. I'll try the vegetable oil too.

Naw. I dont use any on any of my boxes.

I gots plenty more plans where that came from. That book has over 20 plans, most of which can be modified for 4 or 5 bird and anmal species, EACH! That way you have nestbox plans for 80 - 90 species of animals!

Are we gonna see pics of all the different houses Thorny?

Oh, just wanted to add that ants don't like vegetable oil, I use it everywhere outside.

tamara, thanks fo sharing that bit of information.--I will remember that when it comes to hummingbird season--

but I thought you said (on 4/08/08) that you bought a BB house??/ did I read wrong??

You can NEVER have TOO MANY nestboxes.

Here's anudder one fer the kiddies!

This is the Peterson bluebird House. I call it a birdhouse-on-a-stick in SEVEN fruit flavors, because it reminds me of a popsicle. This has actually been the MOST often used birdhouse by bluebirds in tests I have run. They will build in these first before using the traditional bird houses. I put one of these up within 100 feet of the grave of President Andrew Jackson and had a nest going less than a week later.

PETERSON bluebird HOUSE



One tip: It is best to cut a pattern of all the parts out of thin plywood FIRST and then use this pattern to trace the parts on to the actual wood of the house. This house hase some odd angles and measurements you need to get just right to make it work.

I read somewhere that I need more than one.

Does that work for all types of ants?
Where all do you apply it? and Does it harm any other bugs or animals.
More Details Please, Im covered up with them already this year...

I wrap a piece of vegetable oil wrapped gauze around the poles near where my feeders hang and also wrap a veggie oil soaked pipe cleaner around the hook where it hangs. Just remember to re-soak them once a week. Works like a charm.

can't see it harming anything...it's only vegetable oil.

...now back to Thorny's birdhouses...

Here's one for all you GOTH Gardeners...... a BAT HOUSE!!

BAT HOUSE



Actually a bat eats 10 - 20 times more mosquitoes per day than the BEST mosquito eating bird. And the amount of bats these houses can hold are phenomenal. They are the size of an average bluebird house, but can hold up to 100 BATS !!!
Bats LOVE to roost in TIGHTLY packed clusters and can fold them selves up to 1/3 their flying size! These Bat Houses shold be placed as high as possible on the EAST side of your house, barn, or pole. At least 15 feet above the ground. In Europe people do NOT put up bird houses in their yard......They put up BAT houses.

AND NO, LADIES AND AGING HIPPIES (like myself), BATS WILL NOT GET TANGLED UP IN YOUR LONG HAIR!

I was thinking just this weekend about building a bat house! Several months back when I mentioned it to my hubby (also an aging hippy) he said he would hang it for me but would NOT climb back up each year to empty guano. Although I think it would be great for the compost? So let me ask you this...does it necessarily have to be cleaned out each year and can you mount it to a tree?

No, You DON'T need to clean it. You can even leave the bottom off or open if you wish. The bottom just helps if they are raising young. I was a cave explorer for years when I was in High School and College. At one point I was even Vice-Chairman of the Nashville Grotto of the National Speleological Society for a year. When we would go in a BAT cave we would take bags to bring out some guano to put on our gardens. It was GREAT stuff. Sometimes we would rouse the bats up accidentally. It is amazing to walk through a cloud made of millions of excited bats and not get touched ONCE. It is amazing how they avoid collision with you, the walls, and other bats in TOTAL darkness.

Wow, 'bat man'! I love watching the bats here in my yard at night, but I don't think I could go in a cave with them. Ha ha. I've been known to duck when I think one swoops too low. We have a couple of HUGE oaks about 30-40 yards from our burn pit. I think it would be so cool to put a bat house up in one of those trees, sit around the fire right before dark, and watch them pile out!

Trees grow and expand, pulling the nails holding a box through the wood. The box then falls. It is better to attach ANY Nestbox to a non-living surface to prevent this happening. If you use a tree, try using long screws that you can loosen outwards as the tree grow and expands.

YOU CAN HELP! The Barn Owl, The greatest natural mouse exterminator ever known is disappearing. We think that this is mainly due to a nesting shortage. Here are plans for a BARN OWL nest box that must be installed in a Barn or shed for those of you who have barns (Dodge!). Put these up and if a Barn Owl couple finds and uses yours, it's Bye-Bye Mousies!

By the way, Barn Owls don't hoot. They make an eerie, spine-tingling hissing noise instead. They ARE in my area, but I have NEVER seen one.


BARN OWL NESTBOX

Barn Owls live in my area;I sometimes see them flying at night and I also hear them once in a while. Bats also live in my area.

gotta get me a barn!
Some kind of owl house is also on my list of critter houses to build! I think 'screach owls' are common around here, if I'm remembering right.

On the bat house though...the bats are already back from their winter vacation in mexico. I'm assuming they are already settled in on where they plan on sleeping during the day??? So, can I assume if I put one up now it would be NEXT spring until I could start looking for renters?

Not Necessarily, my mother put one up on the side of her house one mid-Summer and it quickly filled up with bats.