Bird House or Feeder

by john pedersen in Outside > Birding

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Bird House or Feeder

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My wife wanted a bird feeder made so I thought I would make one that could be a bird feeder or a bird house depending on the time of year.

Materials and Tools

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I used one of the 1 x 10 x 4 foot pieces of wood that was stored from my https://www.instructables.com/id/Backyard-Project-W... rack.

The roof pieces are long ,thin ,approximately 1 1/4" wide by 3/16" thick x 15" long pieces of wood I had purchased, they were being sold for kindling by a high school sports team at a craft show fund raiser.

1 1/2" #6 wood screws for the assembling the house were used and 1/2' #4 wood screws used to fasten the roof and the two angle brackets.

Two 1 1/2" angle brackets for holding the front piece of the house that the roof attaches to.

Cordless drill, combination bit with drill /counter sink bit, screwdrivers for the Robertson head screws that I used.

Hand saw, pencil, combination square.

Cutting List

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Bottom piece 12" long

sides (2) 6" long

back 11 1/2" long

front (for the bird house feature) 6" long

A 1/2" x 3/4" piece cut to length to fit between the front and back peak.

I made a two 45 degree cuts on the back piece and used the two cut off pieces glued together for the front of the house.

Narrower pieces of "kindling" were used for the front and side edges of the open end of the feeder.

Assembly

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With the bottom on a flat surface I attached the sides using wood screws using pre-drilled holes, then I attached the back using pre-drilled holes for the screws again.

The front part of the roof support having been glued two days before was attached to the front using two screws through pre- drilled holes, the angle brackets were attached to the bottom of it and to the sides.

Putting on the Roof.

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All the roof pieces have pre-drilled hole because the boards are so thin. I used a short 3/4' x 1/2" piece of wood to fasten the back to the front of the roof at the peak to add some structural integrity to the roof.

Using the 1/2' wood screws the roof pieces were installed into more pre-drilled holes, using a screwdriver. I started at the bottom of the roof so that each roof piece over lapped the previous one this gives the look of how shingles are fastened to a roof.

The roof over hangs the front and back of the Feeder / House.

The Bird House Conversion Part

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A 1 5/8" hole was drilled in the front piece and four holes also drilled to mount it to the front of the feeder.

What It Looks Like When Done

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With bird seed and a ceramic Chic-a-Dee as a model.

Same bird peeking out of the hole.

Advertising printed on the back side of the bird house front part.