How to Build a Coconut Birdhouse for Small Birds

Birds are a valuable addition to anyone's yard. They eat many times their own weight in insects, which can help to keep vegetable and flower gardens pest free. In order to attract some of these birds to your property, build a simple birdhouse that will blend in with nature and attract wild birds from miles around to your property.

Difficulty: Moderate

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• A medium to large size coconut for each birdhouse
• 2 feet of #12 copper wiring for each birdhouse
• A long metal bolt to be used as a perch for each birdhouse
• 2 lock washers and two nuts for each birdhouse
• A good-sized washer for each birdhouse, larger than the door entrance you will make
• An electric drill
• Several different sizes of hole-saw drills
• A corkscrew
• A small knife suitable for carving

1. Select a nice, well-shaped coconut for each birdhouse you would like to build. It's a good idea to make several at the same time, since birds who are small enough to fit into coconut shells are quite neighborly and enjoy living in groups.

2. Look at the ends of the coconut and find the small round spots on one end. Take the corkscrew and drill into two of these holes in order to let the coconut milk drain out. Drill another small hole on the opposite end of the coconut. This is where you will pass a length of wire to be used as a hanger for the birdhouse.

3. Attach a hole-saw blade of the size you have decided is necessary to make the door opening of the birdhouse to your drill. Drill a hole towards the top of the coconut. You can eyeball the exact location of the door, but do not put it too far down or the birds will not want to make their nests in it. Drill another small hold by the door with a regular drill bit. This hole is for the long metal bolt that is to be used as a perch.

4. With the knife, take off some of the coconut meat around the door opening and around the hole for the perch. Thread the proper length of copper wire through the top hole and pull it out through the door hole. Wrap this end of the wire around the good-sized washer so that it cannot be pulled back through the door hole. Take the opposite end of the wire and twist it in such a way as to make a loop suitable for hanging the birdhouse in a tree or on a pole. Place the nut on the long metal bolt about 1/2 an inch from the end of the bolt. Put on the lock washer. Insert just the end of the bolt into the pre-made hole. Now reach inside the door with your fingers and add one more washer and nut to the bolt. Tighten the inside nut, but be careful not to make it too tight! Tighten the nut on the outside as well. Your birdhouse is almost complete!

5. Allow the coconut meat inside the birdhouse to dry out in a shady place for about a week. Check the tightness of the bolts once the meat is dry as you may need to tighten them a little more, as the coconut will have done some shrinking. Now you can hang your birdhouses where you like, and watch the birds flock to their new little town!

Tips & Warnings

• You can paint these birdhouses in colors to match your own home, if you like, but they do blend in with mother nature's own colors if left in their natural state.
• Avoid hanging the finished birdhouses in direct sunlight. No only will birds avoid them, as the sunshine will make the houses too warm, but the coconut shell could crack, rendering the birdhouse useless.

[SchoolOfLife]

on 3/15/2009 Great article, I enjoyed reading it. Keep up the good work. :)