Squirrels need winter residences, and they do make their own. What you usually see is a “cottage” made of twigs and leaves high up in the forks of tree branches. However, these don’t strike me as what I would want to live in over winter! So, inspired by what I’d seen at a wildlife rehab, I’ve been installing squirrel cabins at the front and back of my house.

The cabin out back (pictured in other squirrel posts on this blog, namely Gladys!) is there all year round, and has been in various incarnations since 2014. I started doing this out front because one night early in November 2021, a homeless squirrel tried to convert the sparrow house under the porch overhang into a home:

So I took the sparrow condo down and repaired it for next spring, using metal portal protectors so that the same thing wouldn’t happen again.

But as “your wish is my command,” I also went to the SAQ and picked up a wine crate to build them a winter cabin. And ever since, I put it up when it gets cold, and take it down as soon as the babies (if there are babies) move out in spring.

How-to build a squirrel cabin:

You can find many examples of bird houses online, and here I found a decent pattern for a “one board” bird house (seen in the first image below). I had off-cuts of a bunch of old fence boards that I wanted to use, and the measurements worked.

This project shows you how to build a bird house in about 45 minutes (with all the tools), but just like with pancakes, my first version is less than perfect. You’ll learn what to watch out for when starting out with perfectly good-but-used materials. If you have a slightly more meticulous approach, you will end up with a prettier result.

What you’ll need:

• a brad nail gun or a hammer
• finishing nails to put it together and nail sink (a bigger, stronger nail will do)
• two round, smooth nails (not spiral) or else two short deck screws for the door hinge (deck screws are weather-resistant)
• another deck screw to close the front (between nesting seasons, it’s your job to clean the birdhouse out – also an interesting and informative project!), and the Robertson driver for it
• a drill with a bit for the deck screws, and a spade bit ranging from 1-⅛” to 1-½,” depending on the bird you want to attract,
• two spiral nails to fix the birdhouse to the top of a post,
• and a post, either a round fence post or a 4×4 deck post
• either implanted into the ground, held to /as part of a fence by some support, or anchored in a cement deck block with a wood shim.

Use the chart from this post’s header image (found on the Internet Wayback Machine archive from TrueValue Hardware) to determine the sizes you’ll need depending on species of bird. The box size, the height of the door hole and the diameter of the door influences what kind of bird might take up residence.

You can also buy Bird House Portal Protectors to prevent other animals from pecking or excavating the door; they indicate the diameter of aperture by naming each size after a bird (wren, chickadee, nuthatch, Eastern Bluebird; I chose ‘nuthatch’ for the birdhouses I dedicated to the house sparrows).

The birdhouse I’m making today could, if I lived in a more meadowed neighbourhood, house bluebirds. Instead, I’m looking forward to welcoming a pair of chickadees and also some house sparrows, who already live here.