Out With the Old - In With the New (Part Two)

For as long as we've owned our patch of wildness there have been nest boxes for the song birds. It began in the first year with a couple fashioned out of scrap lumber and evolved thereafter with a dozen boxes or so being added in alternate years.  After a couple of decades passed the inventory of bird boxes plateaued around five-dozen with the standard of bird box design evolving to this - a pine box, treated with a sealant and manufactured in the basement workshop using a template. The hinged and latching roof can be flipped open for inspection or cleaning. Constructed of affordable materials it also boasted standardized, interchangeable parts. 

 

Taking a page from Henry Ford's success story the beauty of this design was that if a roof or wall failed it could easily be replaced new or with parts salvaged from an earlier box. Some boxes that remain in use contain parts traceable to three different generations. 

The 2010 boxes on the left have received a new roofs and a coat of UV sealant. 

The drawback to this design is the wood used in its construction - pine.  Even if sealed - the effects of sun, precipitation and the outdoors eventually compromises the wood with the roof usually going first followed by a wall or floor. 

The latest iteration of nest box is this… 

Clean design lines with minimal hardware - including a wall that flips-open for inspection and clean-out.  It is also constructed of rot-resistant cedar and the exterior treated with a non-toxic UV wood sealant for lasting duty.

Following their roll-out the new cedar box design has held-up nicely over the last seven years of service without any replacement parts required. Nevertheless, these are also constructed of interchangeable parts – and a supply of spares can be found in the workshop.

If you decide to place affordable housing on your property for your fine feathered friends always remember to clean-out your boxes late winter or early spring before nesting season to provide for a clean and sanitary place to live.

Out with the old - in with the new.......