Project_Nesting+Box

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Nesting Boxes
Nesting Boxes are useful for attracting birds to your property and are fun to build. They make great gifts and promote an appreciation of nature and the sites and sounds around us.

Each species of bird has preferences for nesting box size, shape, door size and other parameters. Did you ever wonder what was the optimum height for mounting a nesting box? A good resource for finding this info is here: []

Many sites on the Internet contain plans, pictures, hints for building great nesting boxes. Plans for a nesting box for the Eastern bluebird may be found here: [] These work for swallows as well. A good site for learning about Nesting boxes for swallows is []

A slightly different design is shown below: The front door opens to allow cleaning and the roof is made from a cedar "fletch" (part of a log) which overhangs the door slightly to keep the inside of the box dry. Eastern Cedar is very rot resistant and works well for the roof and sides if available. Pine will also last many years. Boxes should be cleaned after each nesting season and shold have a way to clean out the box. Which ever type of species you are trying to attract has a preference for nest box characteristics. Do some of your own research before you set about designing your box. Be sure that the size and construction materials are available (see your teacher) and draw up (or modify an existing plan) in Sketchup. Relevant dimensions are the thickness of the wood, size of the hole, amount of overhang, floor size, depth, height of the opening hole, etc. Be sure to have a way to mount the nesting box.