Make a bird feeder quickly and easily. Original designs of bird feeders, made by yourself

Bird feeders have long become something more than just a device for feeding them. We admit that we not only want to make life easier for birds, but also to observe the behavior of wonderful birds, decorate our yard, realize ourselves in front of others and teach our children to love this world. If at the same time our wards help in protecting the garden from pests, it will turn out very well.

Bird feeders: what should they be?

When starting to make a feeder, it is useful to remember Exupery’s remark: we are responsible for those we have tamed.

In other words, having accustomed the birds to easy food production, we are obliged to think about them all winter.

Otherwise, they will experience big problems, losing food overnight, and may even die. Now we list a number of characteristics that a poultry canteen must meet:

the bird table must have sides that will prevent the wind from blowing away the food;
the craft should not have sharp edges that could injure birds’ legs;
a roof over the table will protect food from rain and snow;
the feeder should be, if possible, inaccessible to cats;
the holes in the walls of the craft must be of sufficient size so that the birds are not afraid of closed spaces;
the product must be moisture resistant in order to last at least one season;
the craft should not sway too much in the wind, that is, it is better to weigh it down with a piece of linoleum or pebbles.

The birds won't like this feeder.

Bird feeders: what are they?

There are so many people who want to make an exclusive table for birds that they have created an innumerable number of hand-made works. Obviously, everyone's preferences and capabilities are different. We intend to offer you a range of different products with a description of their features and designs. Of course, we will also discuss the wishes of the birds themselves. Putting everything together, you will have the opportunity to compose your own “symphony” called “bird feeder”.

Made of wood - most options

The picture shows feeders made from planks. Depending on preferences and availability of material, you can choose one or another design. The very first option has a twist: a gap on the side bar for water to drain. Any product will last longer if it is treated with impregnation, painted and varnished.

These products are a little more complicated - they are all made of bars and slats. This material allows you to make quite interesting and exclusive options. Pieces of roofing felt on the roof will significantly increase the durability of the craft. The bars and slats can be secured with small nails or glue.

Using tree branches will bring your craft closer to nature. The product can be quite simple and unusual. The use of impregnation and varnish is also advisable in this case.

Feeders made from birch branches look very interesting. Given such material, I would choose this option. Various roof construction methods are possible. Birch bark already has protective functions, but varnish will not hurt.

The photo shows several feeders for mounting on a wall or to a tree trunk. They all have a back plate with a hole for fastening. You can independently make options of varying complexity. The glass jar feeder is very simple and easy to use.

The photo shows surprisingly simple and original wood structures. It’s quite possible to make such feeders yourself. Treatment with protective impregnation did them good.

Carved products are fraught with considerable possibilities. However, in this case it is difficult to do without a jigsaw. A piece of galvanized steel on the roof is correct. Treatment with a blowtorch will give the product a special color. It is simply necessary to protect a product on which a lot of time has been spent from moisture.

The images above show a selection of products made by professionals. All parts of the feeders were first processed and painted, and then assembled into a single structure. As a result, we have impeccable appearance and durability. Nothing prevents you from repeating the same thing!

The photo shows feeders that will decorate a mansion of any level with their presence. Probably, such products are made by specialists in a workshop. I am sure that if you set a goal, it is quite possible to repeat the elite version yourself.

In the photo above we have selected the most interesting ideas for wood feeders. They differ in materials and design. Moreover, it is quite possible to make such products yourself.

Made from plywood – its features and capabilities

Here are several designs of plywood feeders. There are quite a lot of products made using this technology. The parts of such feeders are cut out on a machine and sold in stores in the form of sets. Crafts are assembled easily and quickly. A set from the store is interesting and useful to process and paint to your taste.

These products are made in a workshop from thick plywood. The designs are assembled from simple parts and can be easily replicated yourself if you have a jigsaw. Clean plywood clearly requires coating and decoration.

It is much easier to make a plywood feeder using bars and slats. In this case, you can do without a jigsaw. The designs shown in the picture are different, but simple.

Plywood feeders using wood are quite popular. We demonstrate several more possible options. Simplicity of execution cannot create barriers to exclusive options if creative people get down to business.

The picture above shows evidence of the effectiveness of using paints in making a feeder. In the hands of craftsmen, fairly simple products can easily turn into fabulous attributes. In this case, desire is more important than the inclinations of an artist.

Especially for those who want to make a feeder from plywood and blocks, we have prepared product drawings. All parts are numbered for convenience. To assemble the feeder you will need 4mm thick plywood, a block with a cross section of 20x20mm and wood screws.

Here is a drawing of the parts of the feeder. The number of the latter is given in the table. The cross-section of the 20X20 bar is not shown in the drawing.

From bottles - simple and reliable

Very often bird feeders are made from plastic bottles. This is due to the availability and durability of available materials and ease of manufacture. Transparent plastic bottles allow you to easily observe the behavior of birds.

The sharp edges of the plastic must be treated with electrical tape or a PVC tube cut along the length. Then the birds will not injure their legs and plumage. Light bottle feeders should be weighted with pieces of linoleum or pebbles to prevent them from swaying in the wind. The image above shows the simplest options.

Containers made from automobile fluids make it possible to obtain more reliable and voluminous structures. Unfortunately, they are not transparent. In feeders made from any plastic containers, small holes should be made in the bottom to allow water to drain.

Five-liter eggplants can be decorated beyond recognition. Burlap, twine, washcloth and small twigs will do. To prevent beauty from fading quickly, it is necessary to use moisture-resistant materials and glue.

As you can see, there are plenty of options for decorating feeders made from five-liter bottles. Show your imagination and make it your own and unique. Don't forget about the reliability of the design.

In the photo above there are several more typical techniques for using plastic bottles:

In the first picture, two holes were made in the bottle opposite each other, closer to the neck. A stick was inserted into the holes - a stick. A hole for food was made just below the perch. It should have optimal dimensions: the seeds do not spill, but are accessible to the bird. Then they poured in the food, turned the container upside down and secured it to the tree.
In the next image, the role of dispensers and shelves is played by the two upper parts of the bottles, tightly inserted with their necks into the holes on the sides of the main bottle. The lower edges of the specified parts are bent and turned inward so that the birds do not injure their paws.
The picture on the left below shows the possibilities of using paints. The simple, tasteful design brings the technical transparency of plastic to life.
The presence of wooden spoons helps to call the birds for dinner. They are simply threaded through the holes in the bottle. It is better to place the spoons at an angle so that two birds can eat at once. The holes for food above the spoon should not be too large so that the food does not spill out all at once.

Made from cardboard and bags - cheap and cheerful

Bird feeders made of cardboard and cardboard boxes are the most unreliable. But you can make a large feeder and decorate it as you wish. You can increase the service life of a cardboard bird canteen by covering it with tape or film.

Dairy and juice bags are a good way to make feeders. They cost nothing and have good moisture resistance. Of course, bottles are more durable, but bags are easier to work with. You have several options for execution.

We decided to make a fun and simple feeder from a 2 liter juice carton. The idea came up to feed the birds on a makeshift bus. The master class on assembling the craft is quite simple:

Unusual – bunker, transparent, designer, funny

Of particular interest to us are bunker feeders, which provide automatic feed supply as it is consumed. This way, bird food is not blown away by the wind, and we do not have to constantly monitor the availability of grain. The design of such a feeder can be very different, but the essence is the same: through a hole of a certain size, food pours in from above and replenishes the bird’s table.

In the above examples, the dispenser is:

gap between two glasses;
narrow neck of a glass bottle;
holes at the bottom of the plastic bottle.

We have already considered similar options in the description of feeders made from plastic bottles. Based on these principles, you can certainly come up with something new.

Feeders using plexiglass look elegant. Birds and food are clearly visible. The design approach makes you want to repeat a successful experiment.

I don't want to throw away the rest of the tea set. Here are four options for using dishes as a feeder. The moisture resistance and appearance of the material are beyond doubt. Securing a cup or teapot in the garden is not difficult.

Particularly persistent and talented home-made people create funny feeders - jokes. We must be determined to repeat the best examples. It’s especially nice to compose something of your own.

To begin with, you can try a simpler option made from plastic bottles. Much depends on the materials you have at hand. The above examples are quite subject to female hands.

Here are four options for a “male” cool wooden feeder. The design of the crafts is quite obvious. Repeating the proposed ideas is a very real task.

Here are images of several more options for unusual bird feeders. The main idea is obvious: don't be afraid to experiment. It’s easier not to torment yourself with searching for exactly the same materials, but to use existing ones.

Let's make a feeder together - a snowman from a plastic bottle

Of course, I want to make a bird feeder simpler and more interesting. It seems to us that a snowman with gifts from Santa Claus for the birds is a suitable option. The master class for making crafts is as follows:

On one side of the bottle we mark the snowman's mouth with a marker. Now this wall will be the face. We cut out the outlines of the mouth according to the markings. Bend the resulting tongue down 90 degrees.
On the side we mark the ear in the form of an inclined oval, narrowed at the bottom. Cut a hole simulating an ear.
Place the resulting piece of plastic on the other side and outline it with a marker. Cut out the second ear.
Mark a large rectangular hole at the back of the head and cut it out.
The result was a blank, as in the photo above.
Paint the snowman's cap the same blue as the bottle cap. Paint the bottom of the eggplant with white paint.
We paint the tongue with red paint.
We put a plastic corrugated tube with a diameter of 16mm on the edges of all holes. In an electrical goods store, 2m of such pipe will cost absolutely nothing. We first cut the tube along its entire length.
To weight the container we use linoleum. Place the container on it and trace it with a marker. It is better to cut out two such parts.
We prepare plugs, screws, a sealant cover and a stick in accordance with the picture. We make holes in the corks for screws. We make a hole in the red cork for the stick.
We make two holes to install the nose stick. We punch one at the place of the nose, the other at the back of the head. We insert a stick into them. We first put the red plug on it, and then the sealant cover. The result is a snowman's nose.
We collect the eyes from small white and large blue caps. We screw them into place with self-tapping screws. From the inside, we screw two more covers onto the protruding screws to securely fasten the eyes and protect against sharp screws. All is ready!

Master class on making a classic feeder

At school, my youngest son was encouraged to make a bird feeder. The following materials were found:

painted galvanized corner 50x50mm;
wooden slats with a cross section of 20x40mm;
a piece of plywood 4mm thick.

From which it was decided to compose my work. The sequence of the master class is as follows:

Cereal biscuits for birds

Sometimes you can do without creating a feeder to help the birds. You can hang special bird cookies on tree branches. Note that bird cookies made from grains look so tempting that I would eat them myself.

The first way to make a delicacy is as follows:

prepare molds for making cookies;
place pieces of twine in the molds that will serve as pendants;
dissolve the gelatin packet in warm water;
pour grain feed into the prepared solution;
pour the mixture into the prepared molds;
place the food in the refrigerator to harden;
We hang the finished cookies on tree branches: accessible to our eyes and out of reach of cats.

In the absence of forms, beautiful food for birds can be made in another way:

cut out figures of various shapes from cardboard;
we make holes in the cardboard blanks, thread twine through them and tie rings for fastening on the tree;
to attach the food to the cardboard, we prepare special glue, which consists of an egg, a spoonful of honey, 2 tablespoons of oatmeal and flour;
mix the mixture and leave to mature for half an hour;
When the glue is ready, lubricate the cardboards with it and roll the latter in bird food;
send the semi-finished product to the refrigerator to harden;
When the cookies are ready, we hang them on the tree and go to the window to observe.

Bird food: “what is good and what is bad”?

Take a close look at the birds that have remained to spend the winter in our area. The hope was frozen in their eyes that we would not give them an “expired product” or harmful food for them, from which the birds would suffer. Let's remember what we cannot treat our charges to, what should never be included in their diet:

salted and fried seeds;
cream pies and cake;
fresh white bread;
Rye bread;
nuts;
chips;
cereals;
leftover bananas and other citrus fruits;
fresh fruits.

Fortunately, the range of possibilities is much wider. Birds can be offered:

bread crumbs;
sunflower, pumpkin and watermelon seeds;
cereals: oats, wheat, millet, barley;
rice, buckwheat;
unsalted lard especially for tits;
viburnum and rowan, maple and ash seeds especially for bullfinches.

Eggshells, coarse sand, and crushed chalk will serve as seasoning for birds' dinner, especially during the nest-building period. Thus, we know almost everything about bird feeders and bird food. By the way, observing the behavior of birds in spring and summer is no less fascinating than in winter. We wish you good luck and offer a video to help.

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Bird feeders in winter help save birds from hunger. However, this is not the only reason why it is worth making them.

The beautiful and original feeders themselves can become a unique decoration for your garden.

And the process of their creation instills in the younger generation a sense of responsibility and care for weak creatures.

In addition, this is invaluable time, which allows parents to spend time with their children with interest and benefit.

Wooden bird feeders

There are several types of feeders that can be made from wood. Firstly, these are feeders that look like a base made of plywood or other similar material with sides around the edges that prevent treats for birds from falling apart.

Most often, such a structure is suspended from a tree branch on thick ropes.

But such a feeder has a number of disadvantages. The most obvious thing is that this design does not in any way protect the food poured into it from precipitation and bad weather. It is also quite light and can move or tip over in the wind.

The second version of wooden feeders looks more like a house and has a roof. In such feeders, the food is reliably protected from bad weather. The base of the structure looks the same as in the first version, only there are supports on it that support the roof.

The roof can be either straight or pitched. Any child can make a straight roof, because essentially it is a rectangular piece of plywood, only slightly larger than the base.

A pitched roof has a slightly more complex design, but it is better in that, unlike a straight roof, snow does not accumulate on it and does not have to be cleaned periodically.

There are also original versions of feeders made of wood. For example, a feeder can be made from ordinary logs. To do this you will need a chainsaw, a chisel and a hammer, as well as a chain and rings for hanging.

To begin with, you need to saw off two round pieces of wood on both sides of the future feeder. Then a wedge is cut along the entire log, and longitudinal and transverse cuts are made, not reaching the bark by about 5 centimeters.

This is necessary so that later it will be easier to remove the middle from the workpiece with a chisel. After all the work is done, the previously cut round pieces are nailed on both sides of the feeder.

All that remains is to screw in the rings and attach a chain on which you can hang the feeder.

Feeders made from plastic bottles

Plastic bottles are also used as feeders to feed birds. These can be either 5-6 liter containers or small 1.5-2 liter bottles.

Most often, a plastic bottle is turned into a feeder by cutting out several windows in the body.

Then such feeders are hung horizontally or vertically, depending on the design. For the convenience of the birds, cross perches are installed near the bottom of the feeder.

But sometimes you can find quite original feeders that provide automatic addition of feed. These are the so-called bunker feeders.

Such a feeder can consist of two wooden spoons inserted at an angle into through holes in the bottle. Thus, food from the bottle will gradually pour out onto the spoon.

A bunker feeder can be made from a 2-liter bottle. To do this, just cut the bottle in half, make round holes in the bottom, and turn the top over and place the neck down. The top can be covered with a lid or a disposable plate. You won’t need to add food to this feeder for a long time.

Useful materials for making bird feeders

The simplest feeder you can come up with is a garland of rowan, pine cone or berries. A treat for birds strung on a rope will decorate young trees in the garden. The only disadvantage of such a feeder is that as the food is eaten, the garland loses its appearance.

An interesting solution would be to make a feeder in the form of lumps of grain or seeds. Such decorations can be placed on benches, tables, or simply hung on trees in nets, in which tangerines are usually sold in stores.

They are based on fat or gelatin. The lard is melted and the main food is added to it. Then the finished substance is poured into molds (this can be baking molds or a regular balloon) and placed in a cold place to harden.

The same goes for dissolved gelatin mixed with grain.

If you have coconut shells lying around idle, then they can also be used to make a feeder.

As a result, such a design will be invisible on the tree. Juice or milk boxes are also suitable for making feeders. Their design itself will not differ much from simple feeders made from plastic bottles.