Do Metal Roofs Turn a Bird House into an Oven?
Article excerpt
Birdhouses can be a great way to help out nesting birds in your area, but they can be a bit intensive to make. As part of a 500 birdhouse marathon, …read more
Birdhouses can be a great way to help out nesting birds in your area, but they can be a bit intensive to make. As part of a 500 birdhouse marathon, [Of Human and Nature] decided to test whether a metal roof would be safe or turn the birdhouse into an oven.
Most DIY birdhouses are made of wood to encourage cavity nesting species that would naturally find a hole in a tree to use the house. Unfortunately, an unprotected chunk of wood will deteriorate much faster than a whole tree full of holes might. A metal roof reduces the exposure to the elements, but does it make the box too hot?
[Of Human and Nature] heeded concerns from commenters and actually tested his hypothesis with a simple set of thermocouples, a heat lamp, and an assembled birdhouse. While the metal roof was held at 70˚C for four hours, the inside of the house stayed in the mid 20˚C range thanks to the separation between the roof and the actual box which allows air to flow between the two.
Maybe a metal roof could help you house your homing pigeons as well? If you want to spread the mesh with your birdhouse instead, how about a solar panel roof with a LoRa node?