How to make a simple bird feeder. Advantages of wooden products

Sadly, but on average, out of 10 birds, only two manage to survive the winter and meet spring with their cheerful singing. The rest die from hunger and cold, as the lack of food reduces the ability of birds to fight frost. However, it is important to feed the birds not only in winter, but also at any other time of the year, especially if you do this in your garden or summer cottage. The fact is that our feathered brothers effectively fight midges and insects, thereby protecting the crop from pests. In addition, a do-it-yourself bird feeder will allow you to show your imagination and decorate the site with an exclusive accessory. What a fun way to do it with kids!

Choosing the material and a suitable place for the feeder

For many, a bird feeder is associated with a wooden birdhouse resembling a miniature house. This form is ideal for organizing a feeding place for birds:

firstly, the birdhouse has a roof that protects food from rain and wind;

secondly, a wooden feeder is usually durable and reliable;

thirdly, a birdhouse made of wood harmoniously fits into any landscape.

However, do not limit your imagination, because the bird feeder can be embodied in almost any form.

The main thing is that it meets the following criteria:

reliability and durability. When choosing material and fasteners for the feeder, keep in mind that they must support the weight of feathered guests;

material durability. In order for the feeder to please the birds and you for a long time, make it from materials that do not deform from precipitation. Of course, a small birdhouse can be made from cardboard or food packages, but keep in mind that such a feeder will last until the first rain or snowfall, then it will have to be replaced;

safety. When making bird houses, you will have to cut out the entrance, windows and other holes in them. So that guests who arrive at the meal do not get hurt on the edges of the product, treat them with protective materials - electrical tape, polymer clay, resin, etc.

In addition, it is very important that feeders and birdhouses are located in places convenient for birds. You do not need to place them in the thick of branches, in a strongly blown area, as well as in places where cats can get. To attract the attention of birds, hang a birdhouse in an open and well-viewed area.

Examples of beautiful do-it-yourself birdhouses

And now the most interesting thing is a selection of beautiful bird feeders that are not so difficult to make with your own hands.

wooden house

To build a birdhouse out of wood, it is not necessary to have the skill of a carpenter. You can make a wooden bird house from planks, beams, small logs or even wine corks, the main thing is to securely fasten all the elements and install them on a solid foundation. To make it convenient for the birds to eat, take care of a wide entrance.

Alternatively, a wooden feeder can be made from an old log. To do this, you need to cut and clean its core, as well as come up with a solid suspension. Such feeders are often used for poultry, for example, in chicken coops.

bottle feeder

Even a child can make a bird feeder from a plastic bottle. To create it, you just need to cut a wide entrance in the container, process its edges and choose the right pendant. However, so that the plastic feeder not only serves as a dining room for birds, but also decorates your garden, complement it with bright drawings, inscriptions and decorations.

You can glue the bottle with a rope, wrapping it very tightly, and decorate natural materials- tree bark, cones, dry leaves, mountain ash, etc.

From an ordinary plastic bottle, you can also make a feeder with automatic feed supply. To do this, it is necessary to cut paired holes on both sides of the container and insert wide wooden spoons into them. If the bottle is filled to the top with food, the grains will be poured into a spoon in small portions. Yes, and the bird is conveniently located on it.

A similar feeder can also be made using a product in the form of a hollow tunnel instead of spoons. You can also use food containers instead of a bottle.

Feeder from old dishes

A dish feeder is unlikely to accustom your feathered guests to table etiquette, but it will certainly become an original decoration of the garden. Glue the cup to the saucer with super glue, pick up a reliable suspension (chain, rope, wire) and install the resulting feeder, for example, on a tree branch.

If you want to make a design that will simultaneously be a bird feeder and drinker, make a hanging product using a cup, saucer and deep plate, fastening them with strong decorative chains.

Such feeders look very nice in which the cup is turned upside down. In this case, it also needs to be glued.

A ceramic teapot can also be used as a feeder, the hole of which will become an entrance for birds. The teapot must be turned to the position on its side, make a hole for the rope or wire on the side wall, as well as on the lid, and hang the structure as shown in the photo.

Right on your site, you can make such an original feeder, in which saucers with cups are attached to the legs from the old table, and the legs themselves are in a bucket of sand. It would seem simple, but at the same time original and not like everyone else.

And here's another one interesting idea for a bird feeder, which can be made from a saucer by attaching a roof to it. And there can be a lot of such ideas using old dishes.

Feeder from a saucer with a roof photo

A very beautiful feeder will turn out from an old wine bottle turned upside down. All you have to do is find the right holder for it. But such a feeder is suitable only for small feed, but if the grains are larger, it is better to use a glass bottle with a wide neck, for example, from dairy products or juices.

Pumpkin feeders

From a round pumpkin, you can make not only vases, autumn decor and Halloween decorations, but also bird feeders. It is enough to cut a through hole in a pumpkin, clean it of seeds and hang it by a rope to a branch.

Mesh feeders

A simple and original bird feeder can be made from a mesh that is used in supermarkets to pack fruits and vegetables. To do this, you just need to fill the net with food, firmly tie it into a knot and hang it in any suitable place. From such a feeder, birds will freely get grains, crumbs, porridge, while even the most strong wind. If you're decorating your yard for the holidays, a food net can be used as part of a Christmas wreath or any other accessory. In fact, these are disposable feeders, and when they run out of food, you just need to make new knots. By the way, such knots are more often filled with ready-made porridge for birds than with dry food.

In winter, it is not easy for birds to get their own food under the snow. You can help them by making a bird feeder with your own hands. Get your kids involved in this fun activity. In the process of working together, children can be told about how important it is to feed birds in cold weather, what kind of food should be poured, and which birds fly to the feeder in winter.

Why is it important to feed birds in winter?

Ornithologists give the following figures: out of every ten tits, nine die during the winter, mainly from hunger. The metabolism of birds is designed in such a way that they need to eat throughout the daylight hours, and in cold weather, even more calories are required to maintain life. A well-fed bird retains heat without problems until the morning, and a hungry bird has little chance of surviving a frosty night. There is especially little food in the second half of winter, when most of the berries and fruits have already been eaten or covered with snow.

The device of the feeder is not difficult at all, by making it yourself, you will save many bird lives if you do not forget to fill it in a timely manner.

What birds can be seen at the feeder in winter

In central Russia, more than ten species of birds fly to feeders. In cities, tits, sparrows, pigeons, and crows are more common. In large parks, gardens, on the outskirts or in the countryside, woodpeckers, goldfinches, waxwings, nuthatches, bullfinches, jays and many other birds can be seen on feeders. The most frequent visitors to the bird canteen are tits - a large yellow-breasted and black-and-white Muscovite and their closest relatives - blue tit and princelings.

Feeder in a hurry from a plastic bottle

Despite the unpresentable appearance, plastic bottle feeders can most often be seen on trees. They can be made from any container, but it is better to choose transparent plastic so that you can see how the feeder is empty. They have a lot of advantages:

1. Waste plastic containers can be found in any household. Instead of filling the trash can with them, you can do a useful thing.
2. To make such a feeder, you only need a kitchen or clerical knife and a piece of rope. If you want to do it as neatly as possible - mark the cutting lines with a marker and give it to the children - let them paint the future feeder. Such a beautiful bird canteen will be clearly visible on the white snow, and you will not miss it when you fill up the food.
3. from plastic bottles you can make several - different shapes and types. By carefully observing the arriving birds, you can see the flaws in the design and make a new one without any problems.

And, finally, a person with any skills can easily and quickly make such a feeder. Teenagers can be instructed to make their own.

Rinse containers of strong-smelling liquids thoroughly. Birds have a delicate sense of smell and a strong smell can scare them away. It is better to take a container from under bottled water.

The easiest option is to cut a large hole in the side wall of the bottle. It should not be done too high so that the feeder does not turn into a trap. There should be a few centimeters left to the bottom. The cap on the bottle must be left so that snow and rainwater do not get inside through the neck. Choose a place for the feeder so that cats and other animals cannot jump into it from the ground or climb through a thick branch. At the same time, the bottle must be well fixed.

There should always be a variety of food in the feeder. Make sure you don't run out of food.

An interesting and convenient design of several inverted bottles mounted on a wooden pallet. It allows you to simultaneously feed a larger number of birds with different food.

How to make a tree feeder

Surely you have already made a few pieces from plastic bottles and hung them in a park or your garden. Now you can take on a more difficult task and make a do-it-yourself bird feeder out of wood. The simplest and most affordable material for it is plywood. It is durable and quite resistant to moisture. For work you will need:

• a sheet of plywood of a suitable size;
• wooden slats;
• pencil;
• jigsaw;
• hammer;
• nails or screws;
• screwdriver or screwdriver.

Plywood needs to be cut with a jigsaw according to the dimensions shown in the photo below. It is advisable to nail slats to such a bird feeder along the perimeter of the bottom so that the food does not spill out of it. Plywood can be replaced with fiberboard, OSB or hardboard.

The assembly must be carried out in the same sequence in which the house is being built. The bottom is screwed to the base, then the gables. The roof is attached to them. Provide fasteners to a tree, pole or any other high structure.

The dimensions in the picture are approximate, and you can change them, but it is not desirable to make a large feeder with only corner posts, so that it does not turn out like in the photo below:

For the same reason, you should not mount your craft directly on a tree trunk or a thick branch.

What food do winter birds need

Now you can make any bird feeder with your own hands. It remains to find out how to fill them and how to prepare food so that the birds are satisfied.

You can start collecting food for birds in the summer. Collect and dry the seeds of watermelon, melon, sunflower, pumpkin, hemp. All seeds must not be roasted. Shredded dried up will go into action White bread, cottage cheese mixed with dried bread so that it does not stick together, unsalted bacon, acorns, bunches of mountain ash, elderberry. For granivorous birds, bunches of weeds are dried in autumn - nettles, quinoa, burdock, horse sorrel.

If it was not possible to prepare the food in advance, ready-made grain mixtures for parrots and other ornamental birds are suitable.

You can not pour salty and spoiled foods into the feeders, including putting salted lard, moldy bread, millet, fried seeds. Brown bread, pies, whites and pizza are also not suitable.

Having made a bird feeder with your own hands, you will save a lot of birds, and you will meet spring with their cheerful singing. And in gardens and parks, they will help get rid of many pests on trees.

Homemade feeders - video

Hi all! In the warm season, birds actively destroy harmful insects, benefiting people, and in winter they die en masse due to poor nutrition and frost. Feeders, even of the simplest designs, will help our feathered friends survive the winter and can be a handy object for birdwatching. And how to make a bird feeder with your own hands with minimal labor, we will talk below.

Basic design requirements

Classic wooden feeders will last more than one season if they are properly made. Their advantages include the environmental friendliness of the material and the functionality of the design. It is convenient and safe for birds to cling to the wooden sides with their claws, settling for a meal.

A wooden feeder should be strong and at the same time light enough. For the manufacture of the bottom and pitched roof, you can use a thin board or plywood 3 - 6 mm thick. Vertical elements are made of a wooden block with a section of 20 x 20 mm; for original designs, rounded lumber can be used.

The feeder must have sides - they do not allow the wind to blow off the food and serve as a reliable support for feeding birds. The optimal height of the side of a rectangular bar or board scraps is 40 mm.

The size of the feeder depends on your preferences and installation location. The best option is a wooden feeder with a square or rectangular bottom, with a side length of 250 to 400 mm. The height of the feeder is on average 200 - 300 mm. If the distance between the base of the structure and the lower edge of the roof is large, large birds will readily use the feeder, displacing the small ones.

To protect against precipitation, a wooden feeder should be equipped with a pitched roof with one, two or four slopes. The slope can be a solid element, cut out of plywood or board, or mounted from separate rails. For aesthetics, it is allowed to use a decorative and protective roofing - for example, it can be trimming a soft roof or other suitable material. Avoid using metal or plastic - birds often land on rooftops and they can simply slide off metal.

If the design provides for plywood walls, make large arched holes in them - birds do not like dark and cramped feeders. The end walls of a rectangular feeder can be made deaf.

It is often advised to treat the elements of a wooden feeder with an antiseptic or varnish. On the one hand, this will protect the wood, help make the feeder more aesthetic. On the other hand, harsh chemical odors will scare away birds, and birds will not use the feeder until the smell wears off. In addition, while eating, birds often clean their beaks on a wooden frame, and antiseptic impregnation of wood can be dangerous to their health.

A wooden feeder can be hung on a rope from a thick branch of a tree, attached to a trunk (like a birdhouse), mounted on a fence post or on a terrace railing, mounted on a special wooden support made of timber. It is important that there is easy access to replenish food.

Tools and materials

Making a wooden feeder does not require any effort, you just need to stock up essential tool and you can start. For work you need to prepare:

• tape measure, pencil and carpentry corner;
• a jigsaw or a hacksaw, a drill with thin drills for wood and a screwdriver + self-tapping screws (or a hammer + nails);
• plywood or boards, bars for racks and sides, sandpaper and wood glue.

Please note that a feeder assembled on self-tapping screws instead of nails is more durable.

Preparatory stage

First of all, you should prepare a project for the feeder. You can find suitable drawings on the Internet or come up with an original design yourself.

Based on the prepared drawing, where the dimensions of all elements should be indicated, calculate the number necessary materials. Correctly select the length of the fasteners for the sides, taking into account the thickness of the bottom and the section of the bar.

But we chose not such a drawing as presented above, but the most a simple feeder, which can be easily assembled in five minutes, we will describe it in the future.

Assembling the feeder

Step 1: We mark up and use a jigsaw to cut out the components of our "structure".

Step 2: We nail or fasten the bars to the bottom or screw them onto the screws, which will serve as the sides, from the two smaller sides we fasten the bars end-to-end with the edge of the bottom, we fix the other two with an indent from the edge of 5 - 7 mm, it should turn out like this:

Step 4: From the sides where we screwed the indented bars, we fasten them with self-tapping screws side walls.

Step 5: Our feeder is almost assembled, it remains to securely fix the side walls together. To do this, we cut another cloak to the size of our feeder and fasten it from the inside to self-tapping screws.

That's all, our "house" for feeding the birds is ready, passing a rope through the roof, you can hang it in any convenient place.

Attention! Before installation, all wooden elements must be carefully treated with sandpaper - there should not be any burrs and splinters that the bird can get hurt on.

Video on the topic "Do-it-yourself bird feeder made of wood":

(17 ratings, average: 4,18 out of 5)

Making a bird feeder with your own hands is a fascinating and useful thing, especially if the kids help you. After all, it is very difficult for our feathered friends to survive the winter cold. Sad statistics show that out of 10 birds before spring sunny days only 2 birds survive. And by placing the original bird feeder with your own hands in a square, park or on your own personal plot, you will save more than one bird life from hunger.

How to make a bird feeder with your own hands?

arranging breeding ground for birds in your garden or summer cottage, you kill two birds with one stone: you save the birds from hunger in the winter and protect your crop from numerous pests in the summer. Our feathered brothers are effective fighters against midges and other harmful insects. Pichugi will delight you with cheerful chirping, flooding trills or funny games and fuss around food, and all this is exciting to watch.

Having shown a little imagination and made an original bird feeder with your own hands from improvised materials, you will decorate your garden with an unusual accessory! So what do you need to have on hand, how to make a bird feeder with your own hands? Of the materials, empty tin cans, corks from wine bottles, plastic canisters and bottles, cuttings of branches, unnecessary pieces of plywood, roofing material and boards, unused dishes (cups and saucers, mugs, teapots, decorative glass bottles), metal or nylon mesh can fit and other household junk. Rope, fishing line, various chains, ribbons and nylon ribbons, wire will fit for fastening and decoration.

Despite the variety of materials, all designs can be conditionally divided into four groups:

1. Strong and durable feeders, similar to birdhouses, made of wood.
2. "Disposable" feeders made of cardboard boxes do not require any costs, but will not last long.
3. Easy to make, designs from plastic canisters, cans or bottles.
4. Food suspended on strings.

What to use for feeding?

Experiencing a significant lack of nutrition in the cold months, pichugs will peck with great pleasure everything that you offer them. For feeding, use any ground cereals: buckwheat, rice, oats, millet and millet - everything will be eaten. Grind any nuts and grains, add a little honey to the seeds of pumpkin, melon, watermelon, quinoa, thistle, hemp, sunflower, quinoa.

In the bird feeder put small pieces of lard or chicken, boiled and finely chopped egg. Any dry berries and fruits, especially viburnum and rowan clusters, will not be left without attention.

When setting up a dining room for birds, one should not forget to regularly fill the feeder with a nutrient mixture, since birds, getting used to feeding in one place, are ready to fly quite a long distance for food. And not finding food in the usual place, tired and hungry, they can die. Do not use rye bread, roasted nuts, cereals, grains and seeds, salty foods, citrus fruits, fresh rolls for bait. Such products will harm the birds.

When choosing a material for the manufacture of a feeder, you need consider a few things:

How to make a bird feeder accessible and safe?

It is necessary to arrange feeders in open, well-visible areas, that is, in places accessible to birds. In dense branches, heavily ventilated areas, or in places where cats can get to, you should not organize bird feeding areas. Bird feeders attached to the trunk or branch of a tree, or walls outbuildings at a height of about one and a half meters, easily accessible to birds, it is convenient to add food to them and they are inaccessible to domestic predators.

Most of us imagine a bird feeder as a small house or birdhouse. This form is an ideal solution for organizing bird catering.

Whatever material you choose, design must include:

Lightweight bird feeders made of plastic or cardboard are easy to make heavier by laying a piece of unnecessary linoleum or plywood on the bottom.

The most original bird feeders - grain

To make it, you need a mixture of raw grains, seeds, nuts and bread crumbs. We will make the basis of the feeder with our own hands from thick cardboard and nylon thread, using scissors and a thick needle. Adhesive base made from oatmeal mixed with egg and honey, or from gelatin. Mix 2 tablespoons of oatmeal (not cereal), 1 egg and 1 teaspoon of honey, leave for 30-40 minutes. At this time, we cut out the base for the feeder from cardboard in the form of hearts, stars, and any other geometric shapes.

To fasten a delicacy treat on branches, using a thick needle, we thread a thread, lace, braid or ribbon through a hole in a cardboard blank. We apply the swollen sticky mass to the base and roll it in the prepared grain mixture. We put it in the refrigerator for solidification and after a few hours the treat for birds is ready!

With a gelatin base, the manufacturing process is even easier. We mix the prepared nutrient mixture with a warm gelatin solution and pour into silicone baking molds. Having put a loop for fastening on branches, we send it to harden in the refrigerator.

The original solution for such feeding will be old crockery. We leave the food prepared in any way to solidify in mugs or a teapot that has become unusable. We tie the fastening thread to the handle of the product. We hang sweets on trees and watch the feast of birds.

Cardboard box feeder

How to make a do-it-yourself feeder from a box of sweets or parcels, milk or juice. Having put the edges of three candy boxes into each other in the form of a triangle, we glue or use adhesive tape, thread any cord or ribbon through the roof and fasten it to a tree. The feeder is ready. Designs from packages from any drinks will last a little longer, since they have a laminated layer inside and out, moisture-proof. An entrance is cut with a knife or scissors, a round or square hole in one of the sidewalls, a little higher than the bottom of the box. A rope is attached to the top for hanging on a tree. The feeder is ready in a few minutes.

Similarly, you can make a feeder with your own hands from plastic containers: bottles, canisters, cans.

It is easier to fix a plastic feeder with a wire. And to protect the birds from injury, glue the inlet with tape or tape. From plastic bottles, spending a little more time, you can make an elementary bunker feeder. To do this, two through holes are made in a one and a half or two-liter bottle: the first at a height of 10-15 cm from the bottom and the second in the center of the container, perpendicular to the first. Two wooden spoons are inserted into these holes. Holes on the wide side of the spoons expand to spill feed. It is convenient to pour food into the feeder through the neck of the bottle; under the weight of the grain mixture, the plastic feeder is not afraid of gusts of wind, the food remains dry and accessible to birds for a long time.

Having warmed from the inside, with yarn or sisal, one and a half or two-liter capacity, you will know how to make a birdhouse from a bottle.

A little more time and skill will be required to make a plywood bird feeder.

It can be with a gable or flat roof, open or with a bunker compartment. To make even the simplest feeder, like a birdhouse, you will need a drawing that can be found on the Internet or calculate the design yourself. Of the tools needed: hammer, jigsaw, nails, glue, sandpaper. In addition to plywood, you will need a bar.

Procedure

A plywood feeder is suspended by a rope threaded under the roof or a hook screwed into the roof. The service life of such a structure will be extended if it is varnish or oil paint.

Classic dining room made of wood

However, with a little imagination and ingenuity, you can create a real masterpiece!

Of the tools at least you will need: a hammer and nails, self-tapping screws and a screwdriver. Cuttings of boards can be combined with croaker or branches, preserving the bark of the tree, small twigs or straw will decorate the plywood roof of the feeder in an original way. The roof of the wooden feeder can be mounted both on four support posts and on two flat supports located opposite each other. In addition, a two-leg feeder can be duplex or bunker. And, having certain skills and appropriate equipment, the sides of the birdhouse dining room can be made in any shape.

The manufacture of a double-walled feeder does not require an exact drawing of a bird feeder and adherence to exact dimensions. But there is unlimited space for creative thought.

The assembly of the structure takes place in the same sequence as the plywood feeder. The bottom is fastened with supports, then the sidewalls and the roof. Since a bird feeder made of wood is quite heavy and durable, it can be installed either on a support pole or hung by a wire or rope on tree branches.

For the convenience of small birds, titmouse and sparrows, thin perch branches can be attached parallel to the sidewalls. And having sawn round “windows” in the walls and threading a knitting needle or a metal pin through them, it becomes possible to diversify the feathered table with apples, pieces of pumpkin or lard.

The ideal solution for "remote" food outlets, especially near birdhouses, is dispenser installed inside a double-walled structure. One of the options for the bunker is with glass or plastic sidewalls. On the inner side of the walls, vertical grooves are sawn, not reaching the bottom about a centimeter, into which sidewalls made of glass or plastic are inserted. The food will spill out through the gap as it is eaten by the birds.

An easier-to-make feeder in which a plastic bottle serves as a hopper. Cut off at both ends, with the help of a wire, it is suspended in the center of the feeder a couple of centimeters above the bottom. For the convenience of filling the hopper with nutrient mixture, the cover of the feeder is removable.

Not being able to frequently replenish food in the feeder, a full bin will keep the bird treats well and allow the birds to stay full for a long time.

By placing a do-it-yourself birdhouse made from improvised materials next to the dining room, you will provide tits and other small birds and housing and food.

Whatever idea of ​​​​making a feeder with your own hands you would not choose, the birds will certainly be grateful to you! Having tried your hand at making a feeder, you can also make a birdhouse with your own hands from improvised materials.

Bird feeders