Projects for Pets, Wild Birds, and More!

As it gets a little colder outside, I've been answering a lot of reference questions about planning and constructing animal shelters. Some of these questions have been about building projects for pets, like doghouses and rabbit hutches, and other people have asked about building outdoor structures for wild animals, like birdhouses. Whether you're catering to domesticated animals or wildlife, we've got books for you!

Searching the ECRL catalog by the subjects “Pets” and “Housing” will help you to find a couple of books on pet projects, including one called Making Pet Palaces: princely homes and furnishings to pamper your pets by Leslie Dirks, which has lots of fun ideas for amateur builders.

 

Photo by Flickr user libraryrachel; used under Creative Commons license

If you're more interested in helping out your fine, feathered friends, we can help you with that, too. Try searching by subject for “Birdhouses” and “Design and Construction,” and you'll find many books on building birdhouses. Here's just a sample of what we have on that topic:

ñ  Birdhouses: From Castles to Cottages—20 simple homes and feeders to make in a weekend by Alison Jenkins     

ñ  Architectural Birdhouses: 15 famous buildings to make for your feathered friends by Thomas Stender 

ñ  Rustic birdhouses and feeders: unique thatched-roof designs built to Audubon specifications by Colin McGhee with Tracy Breyfogle  

Photo by Flickr user virtualphotographystudio; used under Creative Commons license

 

If you're interested in making shelters for wildlife other than birds, you might try the book titled
Beastly Abodes: homes for birds, bats, butterflies, & other backyard wildlife by Bobbe Needham. There's also Woodworking for Wildlife: homes for birds and mammals by Carrol L. Henderson.  

 As always, we're happy to help you find what you're looking for at the library!

-Robin Duple, Branch Librarian, Pine City Public Library