Date: 1/12/25 8:46 am From: jerry Kruth <00000005ead0dac6-dmarc-request...> Subject: Nestbox building opportunity -- Pittsburgh
Hello Everybody, and Happy New Year!
The "dead" of winter is the optimum time to be building nestboxes for our feathered friends. If you've wanted to get it done, but lack the tools, or the experience, or just haven't done it yet, well, now's the time of year to "just do it."
I've built a few boxes myself over the years and am willing to help!
If you live near the Pittsburgh area, and have the boards, and need them cut and milled to the right size, and the entrance hole drilled out, etc.,bring them to me! I'll cut them to the right size, then help you screw them together (better than nails), and prepare them for mounting outside!
After decades of "dumpster diving" for wood sheeting boards, at 75, I'm not climbing into dumpsters much these days to retrieve boards. But you can! That's where I have been able to obtain my "raw materials," for building. But if you live in any urban area, you'll always see a dumpster somewhere, and those long, wide boards with paint and nails that often get discarded are just perfect for"recycle/reuse/" In all the hundreds of boxes I've built, I've never bought a board --always got them dumpster diving (it did help once, that a lumber supply house gave me a pallet full of warped sheeting boards, that were perfect when cut into 9" and 15" pieces), So you can ask at the local lumber yard if they have any warped or split sheeting boards and will they give/sell at a discount?
Maybe next weekend, January 18-19, or the one after, Jan 25-26, I might hold a little gathering in my own cellar in the East End of Pittsburgh, if anyone is interested? Bring your boards, we'll cut them for you. They should be 3/4" thick (called 1"), and either of 4" MINIMUM width, and up to 6 1/2" width. If the boards are wider, no worries, we'll mill them down for you, but they shouldn't be the 1 1/2" width; they are bulky and heavy, but possible. If used board have nails in them, we'll pull and clean. Paint? No problem! We'll sort that out too! I'll have screws, nails, and tools. If you have your own cordless drill that would be helpful; I have only one.
If you want a screech owl (or kestrel) box, you should have boards 9 1/4" wide, and also some 11 1/4" wide, as the optimum. We can work with a smaller width possibly, depending on what you have and what you want.
I've often been active with the local Audubon chapters, both with Bartramian (Slippery Rock), and ASWP (Pgh) Chapters. If either would like such an activity, I'm happy to help, so anyone interested, send me a note, and we'll see how things shake out!
