My bird sanctuary

[rpcrowe]

The Bird Guardian ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n7OlF396pyM ) is an entrance cover to a bird nesting box that is touted to help prevent predators from gaining entrance. I added a few to some of my existing bird nesting boxes mainly because I like the looks...

I hope that the songbirds in my yard, which I am turning into a bird sanctuary, like the looks of these bird nesting box entrances as much as I do.
I have just purchased an electric brad nailer which will make it easier to build bird nesting boxes than using hammer and nails. I plan to build several types of nesting boxes as well as placing feeders for the various types of birds that live in or visit my yard...

[Marwus]

Those look really great. I bet that "your" birds will love it.

[joebranko]

Nice work Richard. The Brad nailer will make the work easier and faster.

[rpcrowe]

When you assume something- it makes an ass out of u and me.

I purchased a DeWalt staple and brad nail gun from Amazon.com. It did not state the length brad nail it could drive but, it had 1.25 inch nails as items frequently bought together with the driver. I assumed that this driver would accommodate the 1.25 inch nails that were frequently bought with it. Wrong, the driver would only accommodate 7/8 inch nails. This would not be suitable for the thickness of wood I would be working with so - I returned it to Amazon. Return was free - so nothing lost!

I then visited my local Home Depot store and purchased a Ryobi 18 volt One+ battery operated brad nail driver. I have several other One+ battery operated tools so I have some extra 18 volt batteries. The driver will accommodate 18 gauge brad nails of lengths from 3/4 inches to 2 inches. I purchased some 1" and 1.25" brad nails - so I should be set up for the bird houses and for some other work; like replacing door trim scratched up by rescue dogs.

I have an acre and a quarter of yard so I plan on fabricating a large number of bird nesting boxes... Using cedar fence slats, the cost of the nesting boxes are quite minimal and I can customize the boxes for the type birds I want to attract, As an example, doves will be happy with a different type nesting box than bluebirds...

[rpcrowe]

These are two nesting boxes that I just built. I used water based exterior stain on the outsides of these boxes to give them a weathered look. No paint of the inside is recommended for the safety of the newly hatched birds...



The gray box (image left) uses my one remaining commercially purchased "Bird Guardian" entrance while the brown box (image right) has an entrance that I fabricated from a segment of pine branch (about 3'' or 75mm or so in diameter). I cut this at an angle and used a 1.5 inch (about 38 mm) spade bit to drill the entrance hole and then mounted the unit to the house with outdoor glue and brads.

The reason for switching the entrances is because the commercial "Bird Guardian" costs about ten U.S. Dollars while the fabricated pine branch entrance is, of course, free! I already have the parts for three more boxes cut out and plan to fabricate many more. I build the boxes from six-inch cedar fence planks which cost less than two U.S. Dollars each - so the savings on the entrances really counts when considering the bottom line cost of each box. I have an assortment of hinges left over from other projects so there is no cost for them...

I have about an acre and a quarter of property with a bird fountain and lots of cover for birds...



I want to place at least a dozen bird nesting houses throughout the property; both this type and dove nesting boxes with more of an open front. This is a COVID-19 project.

BTW: the electric brad nailer really speeds up the construction of these boxes.

Speaking about COVID-19 projects, we have set up a seed starting rig using grow lights (LED Tubes) and have many different plants beginning to sprout. I purchased two galvanized steel raised garden beds into which we will transplant the sprouted seeds.https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/...?ie=UTF8&psc=1 and will post images of those when I get them set up. I also have a large raised garden that I built using cement blocks as walls. I plan to sprout watermelon seeds under the grow lights and stagger the planting of the batches of sprouted melon seeds a week or so apart - so I will be able to harvest watermelons all summer. We tend to get quite hot here during July through September which can result in very sweet and tasty watermelons... BTW: my chickens also love watermelon and it is a great way to keep them hydrated on the hot summer days...



We are also planting healthy greens for the hens...

Starting plants from seeds is fun and is a quantum savings in cost over purchasing plants from the local garden store. Ordering online also gives me a great choice of different type seeds to try out, I have three different types of watermelon and about six different types of tomato plants...

[selig1656]

Nice work