How to Build a Bird Shelter

Bird shelters offer wild birds protection from bad weather and allow pairs to raise their chicks in a safe and undisturbed shelter. Bird shelters will attract wild birds to your garden, particularly during the breeding season. Once secured in a tree, your bird shelter will provide wild birds the opportunity to breed without fear of predators. Although these shelters are commercially available, you can design and make your own.

Things You'll Need

  • Clean section of floor
  • Clean work surface
  • Wood board, 12 feet long, 10 inches wide, 1 inch thick
  • Jigsaw
  • Screwdriver
  • Wood screws
  • Two hinges
  • Hand drill
  • One, ¼-inch diameter dowel stick, 9 ½-inches long
  • Sand paper
  • Wood glue
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Instructions

    • 1

      Place the board on a clean section of floor.

    • 2

      Cut a 9 ½-by-22-inch piece of wood from the original board. This will be the front of the roosting box. Place the piece to one side on the work surface.

    • 3

      Cut out a 9 ½ -by-30-inch piece of board. This will be the back of your bird roosting box. Place the piece to one side on the work surface.

    • 4

      Cut a 9 ½ -by-10-inch piece of board. This will be the roof of your bird box. Place the piece to one side on the work surface.

    • 5

      Cut two pieces of board, each 8 inches by 24 inches, from the original sheet. These two pieces are the sides. They'll slant down from a height of 24 inches at the back to 22 inches at the front. Place these pieces to one side on the work surface.

    • 6

      Cut an 8-by-9 ½-inch piece from the original sheet. This is the floor. Place this piece to one side on the work surface.

    • 7

      Cut a 2 ½-by-1 ½-inch piece out near the bottom of the 9 ½ -by 22-inch front piece of board. This will be the entrance door.

    • 8

      Drill a hole that is one-quarter-inch in diameter in each of the two 8-by-24-inch side boards. These must be the same height from the floor and in the same place on each board.

    • 9

      Screw the various pieces of the box together, using a screwdriver and screws. Do not screw the roof to the walls though.

    • 10

      Use a screwdriver to screw two hinges to the roof. Screw these hinges to the back wall of the box so you can gain access to the box as needed. Use a power drill if you have difficulty getting the screws in with the screwdriver.

    • 11

      Use the sandpaper to rub the dowel stick until you can push it from the one side of the box through to the opposite side. Apply a teaspoon full of wood glue to each end, to secure the stick in the holes.