Hi,

Well as most of y'all know my husband is disabled and can not work. So we are trying to
think of ideas to make some extra money. Would anyone be interested in bird houses ?
We are thinking of blue bird and wren size boxes, robin boxes and larger condo style ones. Either in cedar or pine

What do you think ??

also bat houses or butterfly houses? I have seen those for sale at the local garden show. I don't know how well they sell.

I was thinking that selling locally- farmers market, craigs list, ect might be the best way to sell birdhouses, because otherwise they have to be shipped and the mail can be pricey and make it not worth the money? Maybe you have garden clubs in the area you could advertise through as well?

Shannon,
I agree with Frillylily that if the birdhouses are made of wood the cost of shipping might be prohibitive for many folks but bird houses and bird feeders are popular items for many gardeners so I'd say post a couple of photos with prices and see if you get any hits! Advertisements are free and it never hurts to try!

Lin

oh carpenter bee houses I just bought one but would like another one.
or say if you could make a bee hive kit.
If he could make a kit like this with directions and ship it large flat rate box that would be great.
Or sell them localy.

Pictures of what your husband is creating would be a definite plus for possible future sales Shannon.

What's the size of the house, or at least what is the size of the largest panel of wood? Those flat-rate boxes are pretty doggone small.

Do a little checking around between the different services, and online from sites that sell birdhouses.

But first you need to get a box, pack your birdhouse and weigh it so you know what your dealing with.

Ken's right. Those "Large" flat rate boxes don't really hold that much. They are fine for SMALL heavy items but as far as Priority Mail goes, most times regular 2-3 day Priority mail is cheaper.

I ship hundreds of USPS boxes each year and only a handful will be flat-rate ones.

Hundreds? Are you selling all those Orchids and Tillandsias from propagations grown in just those two 12 X 10 Harbor Freight greenhouses you've shared in the past Ken, or are you reselling from wholesalers?

We have many wholesalers here in the Apopka area that sell blooming Orchids from 1.50 ea. to 30.00 or so. Some of those 30 dollar Orchids sell for 200 in a florist shop.

Thanks for all the Help. We are actually thinking of Mason Bee houses as well as Bat houses . Selling on Craigslist
was one of my ideas.

I know a couple of the houses as I already have them in the yard and my birds Love them. Mostly for small birds But, we even have a nice plan for Robin boxes that look cool.

I will post some pics as soon as I can locate them.

Wren and bluebird houses would be delightful. I'm not sure but I think individuals can also sell on Amazon.
Post some pics in the classified section here and see what happens.

You can sell on Amazon (a few more hoops to jump through), on eBay , and on Craig's List. Of course, list what you have on ATP classifieds as well.

Sorry to be so late answering you, David Paul. Other than dividing mature, BS orchids, I don't propagate. I have to get my plants, from tiny ones to BS size ones, from commercial growers in Hawaii. Since I am now more interested in native Tillandsia (grow in S. Florida), I don't really purchase any of those hybrids any more. I don't have Harbor Freight greenhouses.

@Shannon I do hope you will consider placing an ad here on the ATP Classified Forum with a few photos of the birdhouses you are selling. You can list prices and state "Plus Shipping Charges".

Other than using the free flat rate priority boxes I don't know what shipping charges would be because of trying to find boxes of the right size to hold fully constructed, heavy wood birdhouses.

You can pick up free flat rate boxes from your post office. Large facilities usually have them sitting out somewhere on display. One of our smaller post offices carries them but I always have to ask because they don't have space in front to put them on display; sometimes they don't have all sizes in stock. You can order them for free on-line too, each size comes in bundles of ten: https://store.usps.com/store/b... and the mailman will drop them off at your house; if you aren't home they leave them by the front door. I don't think any of the flat-rate boxes will hold an assembled birdhouse though, except possibly the shoe box size might hold a small one.

Another suggestion I think someone mentioned earlier would be shipping the birdhouses un-assembled. Your husband could cut the wood to size/shape so that the un-assembled pieces could be packed flat with instructions included for assembly. That way you could definitely use the different size flat rate boxes for different size houses.

AT the U.S. Postal Service website: https://www.usps.com/ on the left there's an area where you can calculate the cost of shipping from you to someone else by typing in your zip code and the destination zip code but it doesn't matter the distance or where you are shipping to when you use priority flat rate; whatever fits in the box goes for that flat rate. For instance I typed in my zip code of 32119 with shipping to zip code 90210 (California) and also zip code 29605 (South Carolina) and the price for a medium flat rate box was $12.65 to both destinations and the price for a small flat rate box was $5.25 to both locations.

I look forward to your ad and seeing what birdhouses you have for sale,

Lin

Problem with those flat rate boxes tho is that they often don't hold much. Sometimes ( more often than not) regular Priority Mail is cheaper.

MJ: I think I need one of those "smack myself in the head smilies"

Regular Priority Mail is definitely cheaper and because of their limited sizes, Flat Rate boxes won't work unless the birdhouses are shipped unassembled. Regular Priority boxes come in an array of sizes, much larger than the flat rate boxes!

@Shannon, scroll down this page for the regular priority boxes ... just below the flat rate: https://store.usps.com/store/b... These can be ordered free of charge and delivered to your door also.

[quote="plantladylin"]MJ: I think I need one of those "smack myself in the head smilies"

Regular Priority Mail is definitely cheaper and because of their limited sizes, Flat Rate boxes won't work unless the birdhouses are shipped unassembled. Regular Priority boxes come in an array of sizes, much larger than the flat rate boxes!

Lin, NO NO Smacking. The way USPS promotes those Flat Rate boxes they make it sound like it's the best deal.
I figured it out a long time ago with all the plant trading.

Does Shannon care?

Does Shannon care? Blinking YES... She does. My husband has been to sick to get any of the houses together . Hopefully he will be feeling better. He has been researching bird house plans on the internet and has even found somewhere to get cedar planks for a good price.

Thank you Lin for the link.. I was thinking about the assembly required style. All you would need to do is screw it together they would be marked as to where to place screws so very easy to assemble

Hopefully I will be able to get pictures of the ones in the yard this weekend before the snow and without bugging the resident Downy Woodpeckers .. they like bluebird houses LOL

Thank you everyone for all the help