Bird "House" Gourd

My 1st attempt at a gourd bird house.

Way back in October (2015) we went and bought pumpkins and yes I wasted $2.00 and got a gourd we didn't really need but I just really wanted it so home with us it came.  I was pretty and green and looked great next to the pumpkins we displayed on the patio table.

Makes me wish I had taken a better picture of it now but you get the idea. 

Then winter came and well I didn't really take care of it.  The pumpkin remains were all fed to the goats and chickens but I couldn't bring myself to feed them the gourd as I wanted to keep it and turn it into a bird house.  I read all about how you are supposed to put them in cool dry areas and then the process of how to turn them in to bird houses once they cured but time got away from me and I never actually took care of the gourd.  Thinking it was too late for it I just left it where it was frozen for winter.  Then one day I picked it up and it had started to cure all its own so rather then mess with what was happening I chose to leave it there all winter and see what happened?

By midwinter it was looking quite nasty....Yuck!

By the time spring got here that gourd was looking quite nasty.  Thankfully I did my reading or I would have just tossed it at the sight of it.  Thankfully the gourd had also become quite hard too so I guess it cured all on its own right there on my patio over the winter....Now how do I clean it????  Believe it or not simply soak in water and scrub with a scouring pad and done in minutes.  Really is it that easy?  Sure was and it was looking so nice I wasn't sure I was going to paint it or not.  You saw the pictures so you know I ended up painting it and I love it.

After a 20 minute soak in water and easy scrub with a scouring pad.

So I'm not exactly sure what it turned into....Turkey, Chicken, Rooster (what it was supposed to be), Hawk or as the kids call it a "Weird Eagle" but I still think it turned out pretty good for a first, neglected attempt at a bird house from a gourd.  

Oh and if you haven't done this before you may be as shocked as I was to find so many seeds in this gourds after I opened it.  There were TONS!  I was expecting maybe like one would get from a pumpkin but honestly I think there were double or triple my expectations.  It looked like there was more then should have even fit in the gourd.  Well what else would I do with those seeds but grow them......   

Working on next years bird house gourds.

......Good news it that I can now save myself the $2.00 this year as I can now grow my own.  The second seedling in the back of the photo is from the kids Earth Day Gifts they handed out to the 4-H club and it is a seed from this very gourd!  Guess next year I will have lots more bird houses.....Smiling.