In the tale of Sinbad the sailor, the ROC bird plays a part.
                                 In the tale of modern birds, the rock birdhouse can play a part !!
One day at work, near my home, we had some mortar left over and no where to put it so I brought it home.
Half a bucket. What to do with it?  No stone or projects planned. I got some small stones from the vegetable garden and some gravel from the side of the house and made some birdhouses.
Here they are! They are built on some split logs and 5 screws were drilled in around before the mortar was put on.
      I used flowerpots as roofs.
The middle of a toilet roll provided the mold for the hole for the bird to get in. After a few days, people decided that the flowerpot roofs looked ugly and I built them higher with stone and now they look like Ankor Wat ruins!
 After that, I decided to build some more as easter presents.
Here they are. 
They were made on a proper wooden base from large gravel and a 3 to 1 fine sand to cement mix. (A wet mix  is used because you want it to stick well to the stones.)
The flat roof was a cedar shake and the sloped roof is thin 3 ply wood.  The bases are held to the mortar with screws (put in before the mortar and stones were laid down. The shake roof is held on with screws into plastic tubing buried in the mortar (you can easily replace the roof). The flat roof is held on with nails stuck in the mortar (not so easy to replace it).
I had intended to clean them before giving them away but as soon as they were seen, they were taken!
These houses are heavy even though the walls are only about 2 inches thick. You need a wall or ledge to put your birdhouse on (away from cats).   If you live in a rocky area,  you can make your houses directly on outcroppings where the birds can live safely.  Do not be afraid, these houses are super easy to make and very little material is needed.
I have been told today ( 28 april 2001) that the sloped roof house already has a resident!
I thought it was too late in the year.  Happy families!
Send me pictures of your bird or animal houses and I might put them online. Laurie Jurgens from washington state built this one after seeing this page in spring 2005! and after some conflict, bluebirds moved in Brian White
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