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hendi_alex
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Location: Central Sand Hills South Carolina

New Bird House

I recently built a birdhouse for my sister in law. Here is a photo and specs if anyone is interested. The size of the house and the hole diameter could easily be altered so that the house size and area is adaptable to many species. We used scrap lumber and repurposed tin from an old barn.

Image

Image

LIcenter
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Location: Long Island, NY Zone 7a/6b-ish

No pictures, but when I build mine I hinge the floor for easy cleaning.

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hendi_alex
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That works well also, but we love to use the door to peak at hatchlings. They never seem to mind, and it is always a treat for us.

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applestar
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Location: Zone 6, NJ (3/M)4/E ~ 10/M(11/B)

1-7/8 inch hole.... What kinds of birds are expected to use this nest? 8)

I mostly only hang small entry houses with 1" to 1-1/8" metal limiters for house wrens, chickadees up to titmice because bluebird house is always overtaken by bullying house sparrows.

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hendi_alex
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We have lots of larger birds. Whether they nest in our box or not, who knows. Maybe just the squirrels will show interest. Maybe these particular houses end up just being decorative. I do have a list of requirements for a variety of birds and will use those as a guide for the next batch of smaller houses to be distributed around the yard. I do know that lots of birds seem to have not read their bird house requirements as they nest in some other bird's box.

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applestar
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You are so lucky to live on such a wooded property with wide variety of bird species. :D

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hendi_alex
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We cut our pines, so not many of those trees left. Though pines are mostly monocrop, they attract a wide array of birds. Still we have some mixed pines, large canopy hardwoods, heavy wooded swamp, transition field areas, newly planted pine fields, and lots of intermediate shrub/bush types of areas. Surely their are at least 30-50 different bird species. We see at least a half dozen kinds of wood peckers alone. It is definitely one aspect that we enjoy living here on our parcel in rural S.C. Now if we could just get real high speed internet, the location would be perfect!

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hendi_alex
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I was curious about the heat issue and decided to put an underlay of 3/4 board under the tin. That probably would not be necessary however as these house will likely be hung under the canopy of oak or dogwood trees. I also leave some space on each side of the floor and near the roof for natural air flow.

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hendi_alex
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Location: Central Sand Hills South Carolina

Project complete. Now to the next size, maybe different shape, maybe not. Next batch will have 1.5 inch hole and smaller nest area.

Image

LIcenter
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Location: Long Island, NY Zone 7a/6b-ish

The roofs really give them character. Nice job!



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