Affordable Housing

The bird house that you see here is of my own design.

Sure, it's adapted from something else but it is unique. It is not patented but rarely imitated. It has a hinged roof for easy clean-out. A hook for locking the lid. And an entry hole too small for English sparrows.

For more than a decade and a half we have been installing nest boxes here on the Platz to provide homes for cavity-nesting song birds.

You know - tree swallows, house wrens and blue birds namely.

The first two boxes I made in 1994 were constructed of scrap plywood and lasted only a couple of years. It was a whim that took root.

Since then I have eschewed nails and Thompson's Water Seal (although after ten years a few of those boxes still stand).

The box you see here is somewheres around the fourth or fifth generation prototype. It is made of simple pine and treated with an oil-based sealant/stain. It's design adheres to a standard template and it has a life expectancy of about a decade.

Because this latest iteration is assembled from standardized parts - ala Henry Ford - that means I can make multiple copies of this box and as the boxes are damaged or need components replaced (a broken lid is the most common followed by the occasional split side) all I have to do is back-out the non-corrosive deck screws, slap-in a pre-sealed part and we're back in business.

There are 47 of these nest boxes strategically situated on our 80 acres. I'm adding another 10 in the next couple of weeks.

The hardware (hinges and hooks) for these boxes were recycled from previous bird houses.
I spent last weekend strolling about the Platz with girlfriend and the Frau. We stained the lids on some four and five year-old boxes.

They're holding-up pretty well.