Let Yourself Go     by Steve Frye

At the Wild Bird Company, I spend a lot of time dissuading customer's "rules" about bird feeding that they have acquired over the years from popular knowledge and hearsay. These "rules" usually spring forward from paternal and anthropomorphic notions of the natural world. Some customers are down-right petrified to feed or house birds in fear of getting it wrong and harming the birds. I am here to tell you it's okay, take a breath, feeding the birds should be relaxing and fun. There are, of course, a few guideline/rules which you need to pay attention to in order to keep your feeders in good condition and healthy, but these are mostly common sense kind of rules. (If you don't possess common sense, then your problems are greater than just bird feeding).

	Charlie's Bird House ©Steve Frye

One area of bird attraction that has rules is bird houses. Don't fear, these rules are not too complex and here they are. If you are constructing a house for a specific bird, then you need to have the proper hole size, interior space, and distance of hole above the floor. I won't bore you with a long list of dimensions, but we can answer those questions at the Wild Bird Company or you can easily find them online or in books. The other features which are required for healthy bird housing are floor drainage in case water gets in and ventilation so the babies don't bake. After all of those concerns are met, you can let your creativity flow!

One of my favorite bird house books in my library is Build a Better Birdhouse (or Feeder) written by architect Malcolm Wells. He pioneered earth-sheltered architecture and many of his bird house designs are partially earth-sheltered; so creative. The basic premise of this book is that your basic square bird house is boring and the birds deserve better. Now, I don't have a problem with square bird houses, they work fine, but sometimes it's fun to let yourself be creative and build something of "beauty" that also houses the birds.

Several years ago, my son Charlie and I visited the ReSource Store, looking for anything we could build bird houses out of. I encouraged him to look for non-traditional items to build his creation. He ended up at the plumbing fittings and decided on some sections of pvc sewer pipe. I had my trusty tape measure along so we could tell that one of his sections had a 1.25" diameter hole-perfect for a chickadee house. I focused my attention on lighting fixtures. I ended up buying a recessed lighting can which had a 1.25" hole on its side. Also perfect for a chickadee box. Both Charlie's and my items had the correct amount of interior space that chickadees require.

	Steve's Bird House ©Steve Frye

The large tube which made up the house portion of Charlie's Cre ation was open on both ends. We capped both ends with wood to create a floor and roof. Using a drill, Charlie simply made both drainage and ventilation holes. The only thing left was to attach another plumbing fitting which acted as the entrance hole. To give the white pvc a little panache, we burnt the outside with my blowtorch which gives it a rougher, non-white, barky texture.

My creation was even more simple to transition into a bird house. A proper sized and placed entrance hole already existed along with ventilation holes. We added a wood bottom with drainage holes and it was ready to mount.

Charlie's House had been used by chickadees and we think a house wren has been checking it out this year. Houses don't always get used every year or right away, but a little patience will pay off and eventually your properly sized house will be used. Some of you may recall the screech owl box I mounted in the pine in my backyard a few years ago It has been occupied by squirrels and flickers, but not by an owl yet. 

 

So go at it, have some fun and see who comes to use your fanciful bird house. Remember that only a small portion of the birds use houses so you can also be creative making nesting shelves and baskets. I would love to see your creations. You can post them to the Wild Bird Company facebook page!