The range of bird house designs is extensive, with new ones being added all the time. Although they may be considered ornamental, they are also functional – birds like living in ’em. Most of the houses (especially the larger ones) have access doors to allow cleaning and maintenance, only the smallest ones are ‘fully contained’.
A variety of materials are used in their construction depending on the particular design. Typically there are three broad categories of material:
Plywood:
We only use structural grade ply and these houses are always painted; some with plain colours and others decorated with simple embellishments or more elaborate artwork.
Pallets and Recycled Timber:
Part of our philosophy is to re-use and recycle wherever we can; we scrounge pallets and old wood from all over and anything that is destined for the dump or the fire is perfect for us.
Specialty Timber:
Generally these are made to order and we prefer to use Tasmanian timbers and then only scraps or offcuts; popular choices are Huon Pine, Myrtle, Blackwood, Celery Top Pine, Cypress and Sassafras.
For a whole lot of information on the types of finishes we use (and a great recipe for natural beeswax polish) – click here.
