My dear brother built this bird house for me, and it has been the focal point of the back yard for over 20 years now.
Weather, time, and critters have taken a tole on it.
There are very few signs of spring here yet, except for the birds that have been checking out the housing facilities in my yard. I thought I’d better confiscate this house for rebuilding before someone moved in and I acquired a reputation of being a slum owner.
I thought this would be a quick fix, taking maybe an afternoon of rebuilding and my plan was to replace the two sections that had been gouged out by predators. But, to get those two sections off, it required a total dissembling of the house. It was put together like a jig saw puzzle and many of the parts were in very bad shape.
A lot of chewing and rotting has been going on here.
Some kind of hornet or wasp had also moved into the top apartment.
I dismantled carefully as I needed the original parts to be my pattern pieces.
And slowly began the process of rebuilding. What I thought would be an afternoon project became a two week project. I felt a sense of achievement when the center structure was together again.
I did lay awake a few nights trying to figure out in my head how the pieces of this puzzle went together again.
At this point, I brought it into the house to begin painting on the dining room table. This bird house has some hard to reach places, and I wanted all of them primed and protected as well as possible.
Once the base was painted, I attached the roof pieces and then painted those. Lots of caulking was used to close up gaps from my not so perfect carpentry skills.
And here she is with all her finishing touches.
I want to give the bird house a few days indoors to dry completely before placing it out in the cold, damp weather. The birds have been sitting on the empty post as if wondering where their housing went. I’m sure they’ll be glad to see it and begin courting and nest making soon thereafter. Hopefully, it will last another 20 years with regular maintenance and have occupancy every year.
It’s still a great bird house despite the wear and tear of the years. Thank you for sharing.
Lovely bird house, nice of your brother to build it for you in the first place, and well done you on the renovation!
Thank you Claudia. If I hadn’t had the pieces from the original one my brother made, I doubt I’d have had the skill to put it back together. It’s a relief to have it done and ready to go outside. It’s been a mess for a few years.
You are so clever! That is the best birdhouse ever! I love that you can get up to three families living in it!
Thank you Ali. Actually, it will hold up to 5 families as the center part has 3 compartments. But birds won’t live that close to each other unless they were purple martins, so I’ve only ever had one family at a time.
This made me smile all the way from start to finish. Loved, lived in and made good again.
Thank you Susan. What a sweet thing to say!