44 hand-made birdhouses stolen from 80-year-old Oregon man

Junction City, Ore. (KVAL) — Del Rose builds custom birdhouses. He said it started as a way to kill two birds with one stone, “I retired, and I needed more money, you know for my Social Security.”

He sells them outside of his son’s Junction City, Oregon home — just off of river road.

Del said he put out a sign right in this area, hoping to catch the attention of some drivers right on river road. Unfortunately, he also caught the attention of a thief.

This past weekend, Del left the houses just outside of the gate. He says he’s never had any trouble before. But on Saturday — that changed. Del said, “I had quite a few made and they disappeared.”

44 custom built birdhouses disappeared on Saturday. “The cabinet hardware on, they took all those. And then I had nine planters, and they left one,” said Del.

Del showed a list of the houses that flew the coops. It’s a lot of lost work, a lot of lost time, and a lot of lost money. “How did I feel? Well, it’s a lot of work starting over,” said Del. “$1,080… yep.”

But the biggest question — why steal 44 birdhouses? “Where they going to sell it? You know, nobody makes birdhouses with hardware on them.” That’s a question Del is still trying to answer.