Friday, March 1, 2013

How to Make a Cheap, and Easy Bird House in 15 minutes

Super cute, cheap, easy bird house in less than 15 minutes
Last year a wren built a nest on a shelf on our back porch.  In the past couple of days, with the weather warming up, we have seen a couple of wrens.  We have since moved that shelf and taken down the nest.

So, I made a simple, easy, cheap bird house...

Let's hope they like it!

You will need:

  • Empty oatmeal container (or cardboard box)
  • Decorative paper, paint, stickers, etc. - go wild!
  • ~ 1/4" dowel
  • Scissors
  • Glue
  • Wood glue
  • Saw, steak knife, or other cutting tool
  • Ice pick or something sharp and pointy
  • Dryer lint


oatmeal can
Small, empty oatmeal container

pretty paper
Find some pretty paper or paint

oatmeal can
Remove the label

polka dot paper
I chose this paper

polka dot paper
Fit it around the oatmeal
container and cut it out.

rubber cement
Glue it on.
Rubber cement is so nostalgic!

compass pencil
Cut a hole in the lid 1 1/8"
(any larger and you'll have
other birds sneaking in) 

DIY bird house
My nice Olfa circle cutter doesn't go that small,
so it's a little jagged, uneven cut. 

DIY bird house
Cut out (with my Olfa circle cutter)
a top circle

polka dot paper circle
Remember where the
original center was.

Like a "porthole quilt" design (sort of), you'll open up the paper to the inside of the lid. This will protect the birds from the jagged plastic.
Glue that paper to the topside of the lid.
It should come out like a sun
towards the inside of the lid. 

Cut out another circle, same size, and a center circle for it,
and glue it to the inner side of the lid.
Just to cover the "sun" 

Inside of lid

DIY bird house
So, the circle is not perfectly round,
but it's cute! 

Then, with a honkin ice pick, poke a hole in the lid for a perch.
A little smaller than a dowel.

Super cute, cheap, easy bird house in less than 15 minutes
Put some wood glue on a 2 1/2" dowel piece,
and snugly fit it into the small hole you made.
But make dowel/perch
whatever size you want.

Super cute, cheap, easy bird house in less than 15 minutes
ta da!

Super cute, cheap, easy bird house in less than 15 minutes
To keep it from rolling,
glue two dowels to the underside of the container.
Super cute, cheap, easy bird house in less than 15 minutes
Put it on a shelf 5-10' high, and
wait for the birds to come.
Female wrens are a little picky about their nests, so put out a couple of these to woo her into the neighborhood.

dryer lintI also added some dryer lint inside the container to get her started with a nest.


When I put the bird house out, I said, "Oh no! I put the perch in the wrong spot."  D'oh! The lid comes off and can be turned around to any position.  Silly me!

I hope you and your wrens enjoy their new home!

Super cute, cheap, easy bird house in less than 15 minutes


2 comments:

Anonymous said...

One of my boys and I just made two, but for bluebirds. Did you get wrens to nest in yours?

MuttNut said...

We got wrens, but they setup their nest nearby the house I made :). Maybe next year!