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When I was growing up, my dad had a true love for bluebirds. He and his friend experimented with different designs until they found one that they felt worked well in terms of attracting birds. He built them and gave them to everyone. My dad is gone, but I still have one of his old houses to take dimensions off of. My first project when I got back into woodworking was to build the dark stained box with the white roof. The roof is actually made out of AZEK, which will never rot. I built the roof in such a way so as to create a ridge vent of sorts to aid in cooling the box. Since I built that box, I've kept the basic dimensions the same, but I've experimented with different wood species and style options. I have been interested lately in the Frank Lloyd Wright style houses (and other projects that I've seen here on LJ's), and I was wondering how a box would look with a longer soffit. I built a cedar box out of it and I have to say that I really think it turned out nicely. The cedar grain is absolutely beautiful. My comment below is related to the main photo with the 3 boxes.

Here are 3 of my bluebird houses done a little differently. The rear right one is stained and varnished with the standard roof. The rear left one is done in cedar with the prairie house styled roof. The front one is the newest. It is done in pine with the prairie roof and a different perch in the front. I'm just trying to be creative and see which one most strikes my fancy.

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Comments

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Those are neat looking birdhouses. My dad loves making birdhouses too. He uses scraps of everything. Vinyl siding for the rooves, deck spindles to make log bird houses, logs with large holes bored into them. Its good to make things that we learned from our dads.
 

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Great fun building bird nesting boxes.
I have made them for everything from Wrens to Owls and Wood ducks.
Bluebirds seem to be especially particular about their nest box can you tell us what the particulars are for your Dad's design?
Bluebirds are also subject to predation and harassment from other birds like starlings, English sparrows and even tree swallows. I have been informed that perches only assist the predators in getting at the eggs and hatchlings.
A neighbor of mine has set out hundreds of nest boxes for Bluebirds and his are all tapered towards the bottom. He explains that the narrow bottom saves the birds a lot of work trying to line the bottom with nesting materials.
 
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