Hay Shed Bird House (2009)

We live in an old farm house. Because it's been used as a normal living house for decades, not much of the farm elements are visible anymore. None the less we did have a stone hay shed at the back of our house. It was mainly used as a storage room as well as a garage.
This shed was old and we broke it down to rebuild a new one.

Seeing the building it gave me an idea for a Christmas present for my father:
A bird feeding/breeding house shaped like the hay shed.

For this I first checked online to see if there were some standards for openings/ doorways for pigeons.
These sizes were used in the building plan, therefor the building isn't perfectly sized to scale in comparison to the real one, because then it would simply become too big/ wide.

Finished birdhouse with closed doors.

I made the walls etc. from Multiplex, this because MDF isn't waterproof; it will dissolve when it absorbs liquid. Multiplex is alright in the outside environment, although it does need to be varnished or painted because it will deteriorate in time, due to the weather. (there are some waterproof versions, but they are way more expensive.)

Unpainted version.

For the poles I used squared rods.
As an original hay shed the rooftop is removable.

The big doors are meant for big birds like pigeons, the small one above can be used for smaller birds as a resting place. Both doors can open forward.

At the right there's a little door and its window leads to a closed room (where in the real shed the workshop is). The closed room can be used as a breeding room. At the back is another door, which can be opened to clean out the breeding room.
I let the back be open so birds have more free space to walk, turn and land.

Finished birdhouse with closed doors.

Finished birdhouse with opened doors.

Finished birdhouse, backside.

The pillar it stands upon was made with some spare wood we had lying around and a multiplex plate.

I used decoration sands to fill the bottom of the plate. It was glued to it using diluted wood glue.

For the top I used long satay sticks to mimic the cane roof.

I used pieces of hobby lead to make a topping.

As for the other roofs; I used waterproof sanding paper

Finished birdhouse; right side.

Backside, the left door opens upwards.

 As for detail I made a tiny wind vane; a miniature version of the real one.

It was made from a combination of wood, plastic and iron wire.

Close up of the miniature wind vane.

Maybe one thing I should've added were some miniature haystacks at the roof side (like the real one).