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Showing results for tags 'pole'.
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Just run across this picture of bird houses in the air
Smallpatch posted a topic in Patio and Outdoors
and thought if any one is thinking of wanting bird houses up in the air then this is great if you can weld. This type of set up makes cleaning and repairing the bird houses very easy to bring them down to the ground for maintenance instead of falling off a ladder like you might do. These are oil field pipe which is 1/4" thickness walls of both the 2 3/8" and also the 3 1/2" walls which is the common sizes and very useful for a welder for everything I have here except the house was made with oil field pipe as the back bones of my dock, the dock walkways, the garage, the shop and the three decks around the house is all pipe as the starting points. The break over pole is about 20 foot long. You can see the bolt in the middle of the smaller pipe and an extra pipe has been added down at the bottom of the swinging pipe to offset the weight of the platform and the bird houses on the top so when ready to lower the houses to the ground simply take out the bolt through the pipe down at the bottom after you have attached a rope to that end so you can gently let out some rope till the houses touch the ground. I had installed a large I beam on top of the retaining wall when we first moved herea few feet back from the water and this is what I welded the shorter large pipe to for the foundation of said breakover set up...
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Some one mentioned maybe doing this to their poles. I originally built the tall pole for just one bird house but then I decided to add another house and a larger platform. So to offset the extra weight at the top I added the extra pipe on to the bottom of the swing away pole. You have to experiment with the right balance. To work right the top has to be just a little heavier than the bottom . I welded two flat pieces to the bottom of the both poles with holes lining up for a bolt to tie the bottom ends together when in position..To get the houses down, tie a rope on to the bottom of the swinging pole, remove the bolt and have one person pushing the pole out while you stand back holding the rope. Start pushing the pole out and hang on to the rope. To work right you should feel pressure but not enough to be uncomfortable doing it. There is a bolt welded to the pivot point sticking through a hole in the other pipe with a spacer welded in the middle ..I think I used a 5/8" bolt and nut. Now I have to trim some limbs on the two trees before it will come down far enough to get the houses all the way to the ground. These houses have been up 17 years and are of metal so only thing a person has to do is let them down and clean them. Wood houses don't last very long and are not worth anything outside... You can buy a little metal break from HF for the bending or like I did for a long time, use two 2 x4"s clamped together for a break. I do use a wood bottom of the houses and I do cup out the wood of each house so the eggs will stay in the middle of each house. Martins only use a very few big sticks so this helps.. The book I read said to bury the wood for a good time to be used to remove any odors that might be too stout for the birds. Martins like metal houses and they won't use one if it has any odors in the wood.. Close to water, up high and have clear falling areas for the young birds coming out of the houses... for their learning to fly....And I do keep the limbs cleared in the drop zone. Its also better to keep the houses covered so other birds can't use them then when the black males show up in the spring they will stay around for a week or so then un cover the houses. The males will leave and go back to where they spend the winter and get the females and here they come back.. They will use the same houses each year. Swallows will stay twice as long as Martins. Martins go south in the middle of summer where the swallows stay until in the early part of winter then leave. The swallows we have will not use bird houses of any kind.. They make their own nest under our dock roof and make all kinds of poop on the walk ways.. That's okay for the amount of insects they eat in my way of thinking is worth it.. All the books I have read says all it takes for people to attract Martins is lots of trees and a body of water close by. The trees will have insects. They like to be next to water. I have 8, 8 room metal houses and most don't have the cupple out wood floors. I got lazy there for a while. It is important to keep the houses covered or where the birds can't get in and only open them when the martins around.. or else sparrows and eastern starlings will take over.. and then the martins will fight the other birds all the way to the ground and still be fighting...
