How to Make Bird Houses

Bird houses are decorative for your house and backyard alike. But if you want to make a bird house to attract birds for nesting, there are some extra little things that are needed. Not all birds will nest in houses, but for the ones that do, specifics are required for each individual species.

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderate

Things You’ll Need:

• Bird identification guide
• Wood
• Saw or other cutting tool
• Hammer or drill
• Nails
• Nontoxic glue
• Hinge (if desired)
• Nontoxic paint
• Chain or post

1. Choose which bird you’d like to attract and make sure they use bird houses to nest. Some species, like some sparrows, mockingbirds and orioles, don’t use houses to nest in. But many other species will, such as bluebirds, wrens and swallows. Identify the bird you’d like to make a bird house for using an identification guide.
2. Cut your wood to the specifications to the species. Make the wood at least ¾ inch thick to keep the house insulated. For small birds like wrens, you’ll want your dimensions to be close to 4 by 4 by 6 inches. For larger birds like bluebirds, you’ll need closer to 5 by 5 by 8 inches. You can make the roof look however you’d like, but it needs to fit snugly onto your box.
3. Make your entrance hole in one of the pieces of wood. The entrance hole is also species specific; the smaller the bird, the smaller your hole needs to be. For tiny birds like wrens, 1 ¼ inches or smaller across should do it. For larger birds like bluebirds, you’ll want around 1 ½ inches. The hole needs to be large enough for the bird to enter but small enough to keep predators out.
4. Cut the corners of the bottom piece of wood off for drainage. Without drainage holes, your bird house can cause disease among birds. Water needs to be able to drain out so that your house won’t develop mold or any other bacteria inside and make your birds sick. The easiest way to make drainage holes is to cut off the corners of your bottom piece to make an eight-sided shape.
5. Create a hinge design on one of the sides to open, or allow the roof to slide off, if you’d like to use the bird house more than once. If you do get a bird nesting inside your bird house, you’ll need a way to clean it out after the babies have flown away. This is also to prevent disease from spreading and to keep bacteria away.
6. Assemble all the pieces together and add a coat of nontoxic paint if you’d like. If you use any type of glue to make your bird house, make sure it’s also nontoxic. You want to make sure the birds are safe!
7. Hang your bird house or attach it to a post. Again, this is species specific. For most species like wrens, hanging the bird house is fine. But for other species like bluebirds, the house needs to be mounted on a post (wood or metal) to ensure that the bird house stays stationary.

Tips & Warnings

• Stores like Wild Birds Unlimited also sell functional bird houses if you'd like to purchase one, or find accessories for your newly created bird house like chain and post kits (see Resources below).