Cedar and Cypress Birdhouses

sprague lake, estes park, colorado, 09.19.2004

Cedar and Cypress Birdhouses With spring getting closer, you can hear the birds in the morning. I decided it was a good time to use some scraps and make some birdhouses.
When we bought our house in 2000, it had a 2" wide painted mantel which was both useless and ugly. The very first improvement I made to the house was putting in a mantel of 4x6 rough cedar.
I had almost a 3' length leftover that has been laying around for four years.
I jointed one edge, then resawed four 13/16" boards from it.
It wasn't quite thick enough to make five boards, but all I had enough to make two birdhouses.
The two end houses were made from the mantel. The middle one is made out of cypress scraps.
The left side opens up for cleaning by loosening a single screw.