Give Feathered Friends A Home

This “red barn” birdhouse is one of six shelters and feeders that do-it-yourselfers can build to provide shelter and food to the bird population. This one measures about 9 inches tall by 9 inches wide by 10-plus inches long and makes a fine home for bluebirds, house finches, chickadees and, if there’s a lake or pond nearby, swallows.

All six shelters and feeders (three of each) can be built easily, inexpensively (with scrap lumber) and with simple tools. The shelters call for redwood and can be mounted on a post or hung from a tree. By slightly varying a shelter’s location and the size of its entry holes, do-it-yourselfers can choose which birds they’d like to attract.

The feeders are a post feeder, a seed feeder and a fruit feeder. The post feeder and seed feeder call for redwood and plexiglass and hold about 5 pounds of birdseed each. The fruit feeder calls for redwood and holds three pieces of fruit.

The Bird Feeders and Shelters plan, No. 684, is $6.50. Each project includes complete step-by-step directions with photos, full-size traceable cutting patterns, exploded diagrams and a shopping list and cutting schedule. Tips for sizing the holes and determining locations are also included.

Plans for seven other easy-to-build birdhouses, No. C12, are available for $8.50. A catalog picturing hundreds of do-it-yourself projects is $3.95. Prices include sales tax, postage and handling (for first-class mail, add $1 per item).

MEMO: To order, clip this article and send it with a check or money order to U-Bild Features, c/o The Spokesman-Review, P.O. Box 2383, Van Nuys, CA 91409-2383. Please specify plan numbers.