General rules for making a feeder
To make a “bird canteen” you don’t need any special materials. It is important to select them so that:
- The feeder was convenient for the birds and it was easy to get food from it.
- The lid and sides should protect the food from wind and moisture: wet grain quickly becomes covered with mold, which is dangerous to the lives of birds.
- The material for the feeder should be moisture-resistant so that it does not get wet in the rain or snow.
- It is important that the walls and corners are not sharp and cannot injure the bird.
- It is better to make the feeder small: then large birds of prey will not covet food.
It is better to hang the feeder on a tree or attach it to the wall so that cats cannot reach the birds, and serve the “dining room”, it would be convenient to add grains: approximately at a height of 150-160 cm.
It is advisable that the feeder always hangs in the same place: birds get used to finding their lunch, so when you decide to help your feathered friends, constantly make sure that the container is not empty.
What to feed tits???
There are different opinions and whole theories on this matter. I will speak briefly, from my own experience.
- Millet. I thought that tits would eat raw millet. I had a wavy parrot who trampled him for his dear soul and knew no grief. I filled it with millet, but my tits flatly refused to eat it. They boycotted me. And until I poured it out, they did not touch the feeder. Especially due to the fact that a competitor’s feeder is located nearby on the windowsill. With seeds!) And the tits grazed at my competitor's. They chose seeds.
- Crumbs of loaf or black bread. Not the best idea. Yes, they will eat. But! Firstly, bread becomes stale in the cold, turning into crackers. Secondly, almost all bread is made with yeast, which is why it quickly disappears and becomes moldy. I don't recommend it! It is harmful for people to eat yeast bread, and it is also harmful for tits. The microflora of the ventricle is disrupted, and putrefactive processes develop in the beak.
- Black sunflower seeds. Perfect option. Stopped on it. In general, it is recommended to use unroasted seeds. If you have the opportunity to get unfried ones, do so. I don’t have this opportunity, so I found the cheapest roasted seeds “From Epifan” in Magnet. There is a pack of 300 grams, big. In Magnit it costs 21 rubles. Considering that there is a competitor who also feeds them. Mine is 1 liter full. A bottle of seeds lasts for 2-3 days.
Other guests for seeds
Nuthatch visits me periodically. A small gray bird that lives in the forest here. He also loves seeds, takes 2-3 pieces at a time and flies off to stock up. She lives in hollows made by a woodpecker. Likes to sit upside down in a tree. A very sneaky bird! The tits are inferior to her, she is an authority for them)
Peculiarities.
If you have a feeder next to a window, it may knock on the wall or you can hear the beaks of tits knocking when they sit “without leaving the cash register” and knock on the seed. Get ready!)
What can you use to make a bird feeder?
You can get a variety of ideas for feeders from the Internet or come up with your own. The simplest feeder can be made from a box or juice box.
What is important to birds is not the appearance of the “dining room”, but the convenience and availability of fresh food, especially in cold, frosty winter.
From a juice box
You need to cut holes on the opposite sides of the tetra-pack, slightly retreating from the bottom, so that the food does not spill out of the feeder and is not blown away by gusts of wind. Strengthen the edges of the cut-out window with adhesive tape, then the bird will not be injured by the edges of the window.
Make a “perch”: pierce a through hole under the window with scissors, insert cardboard or paper rolled into a tube.
Make holes in the top and stretch a cord or wire to hang the feeder. If you attach it to a tree trunk, the wind will not rock it and the food will not fall apart.
Filling with feed
Tits are small predators that are not averse to eating both grain and seeds. However, they are very picky, unlike sparrows. To attract chickadees to the garden, it is recommended to coat the feeder with peanut butter. But regular salted lard will do.
Tits love meat cut into small pieces and raw fish. As food, you can use ready-made mixtures that are sold in a pet store, as well as any grains, for example, millet, wheat, oats, crushed cereals (corn, pearl barley, rice, buckwheat).
You can also install the feeder on the balcony or window of an apartment building. But at the same time, you will have to try to ensure that it is the titmice that come to visit, because usually the yellow beauties are replaced by sparrows.
Making a bird feeder will bring a person closer to nature. Isn’t it happiness to watch how little creatures scurry around by the window, chirping gratefully and delighting the soul!
From a plastic bottle
A bottle feeder is easy to make. Here are some simple designs:
Opposite each other, windows are cut out on both sides of a 1.5-2 liter bottle - round, rectangular, in the form of an arch. Cover the bottom edge with something soft so that the bird does not injure its paws.
Make a through hole under the window and insert a stick-perch. If you make the hole rectangular, you don’t have to cut through the top part, but bend it back - you get a small canopy.
Feeder-hopper. Take 2 bottles of the same volume. Cut holes in one, as in the previous version, cut off the top third.
For the second bottle, you need to make several holes in the neck area so that grain can fall through them. Place the bottle, neck down, into the first container after the food has been added and the lid has been screwed on.
A large-volume feeder can be made from a 5-liter plastic bottle using a similar principle. In a large bottle, do not cut off the neck, but make large holes through which birds will fly into the feeder.
Fill a 1.5-liter bottle with grain, make several holes near the lid and place the bottle inside the large one, after turning it over.
Wooden bird feeders and houses
A wooden feeder will last for a long time. It's easy to make, you'll need:
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- plywood sheets;
- wooden bars.
You can make a simple drawing of a bird feeder yourself or find it on the Internet. Assembling the structure, which is a small box of plywood and blocks, two racks and a roof on them, is not difficult. If desired, the feeder can be “ennobled”: painted in any color.
A feeder using the decoupage technique will look impressive. Any design can be transferred using glue and napkins, and then varnished. Such a “dining room” for birds will not only feed the birds, but will also become a decoration of the garden or park.
Product Features
There are many ready-made options in stores, but you can make a bird feeder with your own hands. It will become not only a useful thing, but also a design object in the garden.
Before starting work, there are some points to consider:
- The presence of a roof on the feeder will protect the feed from rain and snow.
- The hole in the product must correspond to the size of the birds, so that the “guests” can freely enjoy the treat prepared by the owner.
- An important point is the choice of material. The durability of the product depends on this. It is preferable to use a material with high strength and practicality.
- The color should not be flashy. It is preferable to use calm, natural tones that will not scare away birds.
Making a feeder is a simple creative process, and the variety of manufacturing options will allow even a child to cope with the task. By the way, involving kids in this process is a great reason to spend time with the whole family.
