“Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life,
what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will
put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the
birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your
heavenly Father feeds them. Are
you not of more value than they? And which of
you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? And why are you
anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they
neither toil nor spin, yet
I tell you, even
Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. But if God so
clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown
into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?
Several years ago I bought my husband a Purple Martin house, but he never got it put up. He was waiting for us to retire and move to our present house. So the time is right and today was the day to put it up.
Thought I would share with you what we decided to do to make it easier to take down our bird house and clean out.
Materials needed:
Poles
1- 8 foot long 4″ x 4″
1-12 foot long 4″ x 4″
1 (80 pound bag of concrete
Frame work for bird house
1 pc (1/2″ x 16″ x 18″ plywood)
2 pcs.( 2″ x 4″ 13 by inches long)
2 pcs. (2″ x 4″ by 18 inches long)
2 (3/8 x 8 inch long, carriage bolts with nuts and flat washers.)
The above parts are to match our bird house, yours may be different according to the dimensions of your bird house.
Our grand sons were at our home when we decided to put the bird house up. So we enlisted their help in digging the hole, setting the pole in the ground, mixing and pouring the concrete and leveling the pole.. They did a great job. We are so thankful for each of them.
Here is how they did it. They dug the hole a minimum 3 feet deep. Mix concrete with water according to the directions on the bag. Set the 8 foot long, 4″ x 4″ pole in the hole and pour the concrete in around the pole. They made sure the pole was straight by using a level. Then we let concrete set up until it had hardened.
Using a 7/16″ drill bit, we drilled a hole, 6 inches from bottom, in the 12 foot long 4″ x 4″, (This is the pole we were attaching to the 8 foot pole we concreted into the ground)
Now we drilled a 7/16″ hole, 8 inches up from ground in the pole that is concreted in the ground.
We used a 3/8″ x 8 inch long carriage bolt and bolted the two 4″ x 4″ poles together.
The purpose for this is to be able to swivel the twelve foot pole with the bird house on it down, when you need to clean out the bird house each year.
Next we built the platform base for the birdhouse and attached it to the top of the 12 foot pole that swivels, as seen below.
I drilled 6 holes in plywood to match holes in bird house.
Attach birdhouse to the framework.
Next we mounted bird house to frame work.
Attached the roof of the birdhouse back on house.
Now the house was ready to swivel the bird house vertically into the air.
Once the house was vertically in line with the pole that is in the ground,we C-clamp the poles together as shown in the picture, and drilled a hole through the two poles and use an 8 inch carriage bolt to attach them together.
Now the house is ready for the Purple Martins to start nesting.
This house will hold up to 12 families.
Our bird house was made to mount on a round pole so you can lower it and clean it out every year, but we thought this would be easier to do without any climbing. All we would need to do is loosen bolts and swivel the pole down and clean it out.
Funny thing, a bird went to the bird house before we finished bolting it together.
I am so glad we have got it up and the birds are starting to make it their home.
We put it where we can sit in our sun room and watch them build their nest and care for their young. We enjoy birds and so we have provided many nesting places for them. Go here to see other Nesting Homes for Birds we have made.
Blessings,
Parties I Link Up To:
Monday:
Skip to my Lou , Craft O Maniac, Keeping it Simple, Creating Really Awesome Free Things, Make Ahead Meals for Busy Moms Between Naps on the Porch, The Girl Creative, Mad in Crafts, I’m An Organizing Junkie, Sew Can Do, I Should Be Mopping the Floor, Making the World Cuter, The Gunny Sack, Mrs. Happy Homemaker,
Tuesday:
Coastal Charm, A Bowl Full of Lemons , Tip Junkie , Sugar Bee Crafts , Not Just a Housewife , Today’s Creative Blog , Balancing Beauty and Bedlam , 5 Minutes for Mom , Funky Polkadot Giraffe , Hope Studios , Time Warp Wife , Chef in Training Home Stories A to Z, My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia, Vintage Wanna Bee, The Blackberry Vine, Carolyn’s Homework, The Kurtz Corner, Growing Home, Cornerstone Confessions, Mercy Ink, Ginger Jamboree
Wednesday:
Raising Homemakers , Crystal & Co. , We AreThat Family , Women Living Well, The Trendy Treehouse , Handy Man, Crafty Woman Someday Crafts , This Chick Cooks , Seven Thirty Three, Sugar & Dots A Creative Princess , Dragonfly Designs , Creations by Kara, Gingersnap Crafts , Uncommonly Yours, My Girlish Whims, DIY Crafty Projects, Southern Lovely, Adorned from Above
Thursday:
Shabby Creek Cottage , Delightful Order House of Hepworths, The Frugal Girls , Miz Helen’s Country Cottage , The Thirty Sixth Avenue, Thrifty 101, Diary of a Stay at Home Mom, Beyond the Picket Fence, A Glimpse Inside, Mandatory Mooch, Think TankThe Real Thing with the Coake Family,Life we Live 4
Friday:
The Shabby Nest , Fingerprints on the Fridge , Chic on a Shoestring, Life as Mom , Miss Mustard Seed , Tidy Mom , Whipperberry, French Country Cottage 30 Handmade Days , Finding Fabulous , Naptime Crafters Tatertots and Jello,My Romantic Home , While He was Napping , Comfy in the Kitchen, Bacon Time with the Hungry, Hungry Hippo, The Country Cook, Six Sister’s Stuff, Kitchen Fun With My Three Sons, Ann Kroeker Writer,, Simply Sweet Home, Craft Junkie Too, Simply Designing, Happy Hour Projects, A Little Knick Knack, Young and Crafty, Five Days Five Ways, At Home With Bobi
Saturday:
Funky Junk Interiors, Young and Crafty , Be Different, Act Normal , A Vision to Remember, Sweet as Sugar Cookies, Positively Splendid, It’s Overflowing, The Artsy Girl Connection, Craft Envy, Too Much Time On My Hands, Or So She Says, Something Swanky Sassy Little Lady
Sunday:
Under the Table and Dreaming , DIY Showoff , Nifty Thrifty Things, Homemaker on a Dime , Sumo’s Sweet Stuff