Bluebird Bird House Plans
Free plans to build a bluebird house.
Bluebird House Plans
The Bluebird may be found during the summer months in most of the states east of the Rocky
Mountains. It spends its winter in the southern states and southward, returning north in March and
April. The principal items of food are grasshoppers, caterpillars, meal worms and beetles.
The bluebird bird houses should be so located that cats and other bird enemies do not
have easy access to them. The openings ought to be turned away from the directions from which storms
and winds most often come; and the house must hang or tilt so rain does not run in at the entrance.
Houses are more apt to be occupied if placed in position in fall or winter before the spring
migration, especially houses made of freshly dressed or newly painted wood. However, the bluebird
rear more than one brood each season and so a house set up in May or June may have a tenant.
The bluebird should have a house measuring about 5" in length and width, inside
measurements, and 8" or more in depth. The entrance hole should be 1-1/2" in diameter and
placed near the top, so that the young birds cannot get out until strong enough to have some chance
of escape from their enemies after they leave the nest.
While the surfaces of lumber used for these houses may or may not be planed, care
must be taken that all pieces are sawed or planed to the correct sizes with edges and ends square
and true so there will be no bad cracks for drafts and rain to enter. Be careful to nail the pieces
together so that they will not have occasion to crack or warp. A good way to save time and lumber is
to prepare a piece of stock, getting it of the right thickness, width and length, and then to saw up
this stock on lines carefully laid out as shown in the drawings of the bluebird house. Sometimes the
bottom is hinged on two screws or nails, and held in proper place by a dowel.
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