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 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.
Apple pendants
A good idea for a feeder would be apples cut into rings and hung on strings from a wire rack.
If you want to add some nutrition to your bird's dinner, brush the apple rings with melted pork fat. You don’t have to take fresh apples – dried ones will do.
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.
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.
Briefly about the main thing
Birdhouses come in different types, shapes and sizes. To decide on these parameters, you need to decide what kind of birds you want to keep near your house. It is best in this matter to proceed from the benefits for the environment (for example, the destruction of pests in the garden naturally).
The most common options are wooden, plywood, cardboard, plastic and paper houses. The first ones are considered the most suitable if you choose the right wood (aspen or birch). You cannot sand the surface of the boards, as the birds' feet will slide along the walls.
It is important to pay attention to individual design details. You should not make the hole large - squirrels or predators can enter it to occupy the house. The same goes for the entry threshold or perch. It is not advisable to do this for security reasons. Also, we should not forget the roof - it should protrude from the front part to protect the birds from the rain.
It is also important to know when birdhouses are made. On average, this is the spring period, namely March or the first week of April. However, it is also necessary to take into account the characteristics of the climate, since the return of birds after winter differs in different regions. If you hang a birdhouse late, residents may not move in. If you follow all the above rules, you will get a real house for birds.
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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.
What to paint with?
Coloring adds aesthetics to the craft and protects the plywood from moisture. However, birds do not like bright colors. They scare them away. The feeders are painted in natural shades of blue and green. Classic white or gray color is acceptable.
If you want patterns, it is better to draw leaves, flowers or an image of a bird. Safe acrylic paints are used for painting. Enamels with chemical solvents are not used, they are toxic to birds.
Acrylic paints are used for painting. Can be mixed with PVA glue. Painting with such a mixture will create an additional protective layer from moisture in the form of a film.
Advice! It is better not to paint the roof, but to cover it with moisture-resistant material.
