Build-A-Birdhouse Take 2!

Yesterday, Finn and I decided to build a new milk-carton birdhouse in celebration of spring. If you are curious, you can check out the 2009-edition birdhouse here. Finn loves to watch our feathered friends come to feed in our yard (heck, so do I!) and birds are great garden helpers as well: they eat pesky pests and they fertilize with their poop!

To build this birdhouse, you will need:

• an empty and clean milk carton
• dowel
• scissors
• sturdy string or wire (I used hemp)
  
• glue (I used hot glue)
• a small square of cardboard
  
• construction paper, paints, glitter, stickers, or any other decorating materials.

First, poke a hole through both sides of the milk carton, near the bottom. Now insert your dowel through and you have a perch! Choose one of the sides that already has a hole at the bottom, and cut out a door/window for the birds to feed from.
Next, poke a hole through the center of the top lip of the carton. Measure your cardboard square so that it is the approximate correct size to make a roof. Fold the roof in half, so that it slopes, and poke a hole on each side of the roof, close to the center line. Thread your sturdy string or wire through one roof hole, then through the carton, then through the other roof hole. Tie a knot in the top of the string and whatever length you want it to hang. Now, fold the roof edges down until they touch the sides of the carton, and glue the edge where roof meets carton. Your roof should be stable and secure.
Now decorate your feeder, fill the bottom with bird seed and enjoy your day bird watching!