bird feeders made from milk cartons
In this article we will look at the most practical material for making bird feeders with your own hands - milk cartons. While you can use almost any material to build a simple box with a roof that can hold a handful of birdseed and a sturdy perch, why not use the materials you have on hand to be eco-friendly? Firstly, making a bird feeder from a milk carton is very easy, and secondly, aside from a little cutting with a sharp knife, this project is completely suitable for children of any age. You can usefully spend a family day at the craft table and teach children not only how to make feeders from milk cartons , but also from other scrap materials, and at the same time tell them what benefits they will bring to nature. These 35 projects have been carefully collected from the Internet so that you can use instructions and step-by-step photos on how to make a simple DIY milk carton feeder .
DIY milk carton feeders
Winter is a difficult time for entertaining children. It gets dark early and it's below zero outside. We have already made snowmen and went sledding. What can you do to keep them occupied when they start complaining that they're bored? Creative bird feeders made from milk cartons are the perfect craft for you and your kids to spend time together indoors. This is not only fun, the craft teaches children how important it is to be kind to other living beings - birds, which can find it difficult to find food in winter. There are two types here: a simple milk carton feeder and a barn feeder, which is a little more complex.
Simple instructions. Parents should cut an arched hole in the cardboard box on the side opposite the spout. Using an X-Acto knife, carefully poke a hole 25cm below. To enlarge, rotate the knife slightly. Trim the raw edges with scissors. Make a hole at the same height in the back of the box and in the top above the “roof” for the hanger. Paint the outside of the box and let dry. Add stickers or decorations.
Break branches to fit on the “roof” or parents should trim them with pruning shears. Glue the top of the cardboard box on both sides. Carefully insert a 20cm branch into the hole under the door and push it through the hole on the back, leaving about 8cm in front for the perch. Thread about 60cm of twine through the hole at the top. You can use a nail to pierce. Fill it with food and tie it to a tree branch. The second barn style feeder is a little more work. (Same instructions except changes noted below) Cut a rectangular hole in the cardboard box on the side opposite the spout, making sure both sides of the “door” are attached to the cardboard box. Paint the cardboard red and let dry. Using scissors, cut about 10 popsicle sticks in half and paint one side brown. While drying, cut more sticks according to the design shown on the doors and paint them white. Glue brown sticks on both sides of the roof and white sticks on the door.
Photo source: www.yakimaherald.com/playdate/diy/do-it-yourself-milk-carton-bird-feeders/article_57eafd68-ff79-11e6-b8ee-db074157665e.html
The need to make birdhouses with children
By creating useful “crafts” together with children, such as bird houses, adults simultaneously teach children to care about the world around us. As soon as birds arrive from warm countries in the spring, they immediately begin to build nests for themselves, and a ready-made birdhouse made of cardboard can serve as a kind of “test” for the birds. If you like the “short-lived” model, you can soon make a durable house from plywood or wood.
A decorative birdhouse made of cardboard created by a “little creator” will be appropriate for themed holidays. They can decorate the interior of rooms, terraces, gardens, balconies.
Examples of ready-made crafts made from paper and cardboard
The birdhouse you created yourself from paper is particularly original; the use of bright design elements gives the product a spectacular and solemn look.
Models made of colored cardboard, intended for birds, are sure to attract the attention of birds with their color, catchiness and beauty. Decorative crafts can be styled to suit any taste, experimenting with shape, color and design.
Milk carton bird feeder
Winter is coming and the birds need some food, why not make a bird feeder out of things you can find everywhere?! Everyone loves projects where you don't have to buy anything.
Here's a list of what was needed for this milk carton bird feeder , but feel free to use your imagination if you can't find these exact items! This includes a carton of milk, popsicle sticks, paint, glue and string for hanging. If you have everything, wash the milk carton and let it dry. Paint the feeder (we used black paint here).
Cut a square hole on both sides. Make a hole 6x6cm 2cm from the bottom edge. Make a hole for the perch and place it in the center so birds can sit on both sides. Cut the popsicle sticks in half and glue them on top to create a roof. Make a hole at the top to hang the house in a good place. Fill with bird seeds.
Photo source: makencreate.com/?p=1833
Dimensions of birdhouses and hole diameters for wagtails, titmice, and various birds: table
Wood is the only natural material that can provide birds with protection from the cold and rain. Let's not forget that birds are part of nature, and they are not adapted to life in an artificial environment.
What characteristics should a tree have:
- The most suitable types of wood for birdhouses are birch and oak.
- Pine trees are not suitable for these purposes because they emit resin.
- The thickness of the boards must be at least 2 cm to retain heat.
- The inside of the birdhouse must be rough so that it is convenient for birds (especially chicks) to get out of the house.
- Boards should not be fastened with glue; it can release harmful substances.
- There should be no nails or screws protruding from the boards, as this could injure the birds.
Let's talk separately about the size of birdhouses. Birds come in different sizes, which means that houses must be the right size for different species.
Table 1 “Sizes of birdhouses for different birds”
Paint the item in a bright color
To make the birdhouse look more beautiful, it is recommended to paint it in a bright color. It is best to use a water-repellent composition, but this is not as important as in the case of glue. In any case, work in a well-ventilated area or outdoors to avoid poisoning.
To ensure that the paint applies evenly, it is recommended to use a thin art brush. If you use ordinary construction tools, the layer may turn out to be too thick, as a result of which the birdhouse will not only take a long time to dry, but also look unsightly.
Sew up the top
If you plan to use a flat box, you will have to cut it around the lid and sew it up as shown in the photo. This stage is very important, since a flat roof will sooner or later get wet from water. Therefore, you should make a good drain.
As for the hole from which the milk was previously poured, it should be covered with a lid or sealed with a piece of cardboard left after cutting out the “entrance door”. In summer, it can be opened to create additional ventilation inside the birdhouse.
Preparatory stage
Before you start making a bird feeder, it is important to pay special attention to the food that will be poured into it. Do not add salted or fried food, rancid grains and seeds, or spoiled moldy foods. All of them negatively affect the body of birds. Wheat, pearl barley, millet, oatmeal (not for instant cooking, but requiring full cooking), and sunflower seeds (unroasted) are best suited. You can also add pieces of unsalted lard.
If a milk carton or a juice pack will be used in the manufacture of the feeder, then such a box must first be thoroughly washed, rinsed several times with plain water.
Add decorative elements
To make the bird house look more beautiful, it needs to be properly decorated. To do this, purchase construction glue and a box of long matches, which are usually used to light gas boilers. Get rid of the sulfur to create small slats that look like roofing.
Remember that when gluing wooden objects to a cardboard surface, it is not the duration of pressing that is important, but the force. Try to connect the elements together as tightly as possible with water-repellent glue so that they do not fall off during use of the product.
It’s good to wash often: myths about shampoo and hair care that only harm
Women's jeans: before you buy them, you need to pay attention to one detail
Rare shot: Viktoria Isakova showed her grown-up daughter from Yuri Moroz (new photo)
Assembly
If you don’t know how to make a birdhouse out of cardboard step by step, then follow the instructions:
- After preparing the parts, they begin gluing them. The side walls are glued to the front part, and then the back part. To prevent the house from falling apart after the first rain, it must be additionally covered with non-woven material.
- In accordance with the dimensions of each part of the house, pieces of non-woven fabric are cut out with allowances of 0.5 cm for better retention at the joints.
- The birdhouse begins to be covered from the sides with allowances for the back and front of the structure. When the non-woven fabric dries, glue the parts onto the front and back walls.
Don't forget to use ballast
To prevent the birdhouse from simply being blown away by the wind, it is recommended to place some weighty object on the bottom. An ordinary stone or construction bolts, the total weight of which does not exceed 300 grams, will be sufficient. Otherwise, the bottom of the birdhouse may not withstand the load and will simply tear.
Also, instead of ballast, you can simply tie the product to a branch, if this is possible. This option is even more preferable, since it provides much better fixation of the structure. However, use quality thread that will not break during the process.
Tools and materials
Making a wooden feeder will not require any effort; to do this, you just need to stock up on the necessary tools and you can get started. To work you need to prepare:
- tape measure, pencil and carpenter's corner;
- jigsaw or hacksaw, drill with thin wood drills and screwdriver + self-tapping screws (or hammer + nails);
- plywood or boards, bars for racks and sides, sandpaper and wood glue.
Please note that a feeder assembled with self-tapping screws instead of nails is more durable.
Paste a VALID AdSense code in Ads Elite Plugin options before activating it.
Preparatory stage
First of all, you should prepare a design 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 amount of materials required. Select the correct length of fasteners for the sides, taking into account the thickness of the bottom and the cross-section of the bar.
But we chose not the same drawing as presented above, but the simplest feeder, which can easily be assembled in five minutes; we will describe it in the future.
Birdseed
In winter, birds are absolutely unpretentious about food and eat almost everything with pleasure. You can pour any cereal into the feeders, for example:
- millet;
- buckwheat;
- oats.
Birds will also be happy with sunflower seeds, only unsalted and unroasted. And even just a piece of stale bread will arouse their genuine interest. You can put a piece of apple and leftover porridge in the feeder. It is important not to overdo it and not to overfill the feeder with food from excess feelings. In the thaw, all this will turn sour, and the feeder will have to be washed, and the wooden one will have to be completely replaced.
Bird feeders are those few crafts that even small family members can make. Often this becomes a family activity, an additional means of communication between children and parents. And how much joy can be seen in the eyes of a child when birds flock to the feeder he has made with his own hands.
Don't forget to create ventilation
If there is a musty smell inside the box all the time, the birds simply will not use the birdhouse for shelter. Therefore, take a thick awl in your hands and pierce the bottom with it. However, you shouldn't get too carried away. For optimal ventilation, 10 to 15 holes should be enough.
Also try to pierce the bottom with an awl as evenly as possible so that air penetrates well inside, but does not cause a strong draft. Avoid box seams as they provide extra rigidity to the product. In addition, it will be quite difficult to pierce thick layers of cardboard.
“We are still friends”: Derevianko commented on the breakup with his wife
"Dad is offended." Agata Muceniece about her relationship with Priluchny after the divorce
Smooth and fresh skin: dermaplaning, or why a woman needs to shave her face
Unusual birdhouse
An amazing birdhouse made of cardboard and branches of a bizarre shape can become a decorative thing that will decorate your living room, or a very real birdhouse. You can make this fairy-tale house in any form, as your imagination dictates.
You will need:
- Dry branches, driftwood ranging in size from 12 to 30 cm, round and flat, in general, whatever you find.
- Durable cardboard tube
- Titebond WW30 or WW60 wood glue (with adhesive applicator)
- Construction hairdryer.
- Wooden stand (optional)
Operating procedure:
Decorating the product, using it to decorate the site
In addition to its main functions, a bird feeder can also serve as a decorative accessory for a garden plot. By showing creative imagination, you can give these products an unusually original look.
Paper and cardboard products can be decorated with drawings. For this purpose, oil paints should be used. Plastic bottles and eggplants can also be beautifully painted.
Using paints, the container can be imagined as a house with windows and a door. The feeder can be stylized as a wooden frame. Crafts with images of birds and flowers will look beautiful in the garden.
To decorate products, ropes, twine, and burlap are used. Compositions of pine cones, spruce trees, chestnuts, straw, and artistically selected scraps of fabric are placed on top of the craft. Particularly talented craftsmen can decorate their products with forged elements and carvings.
If ceramic dishes act as a feeder, this option can be beautifully played up by using items from one set to create an integral composition.
You can decorate the area using disposable feeders in the form of cardboard figures. These can be stars, Christmas trees, hearts, bears and other molds.
Gelatin or a nutritious adhesive mass based on oatmeal mixed with raw egg and honey is applied to a cardboard base. The figurine greased with “glue” must be rolled in a food mixture of grain, seeds, nuts and bread crumbs.
Next, a hole is made in the figurine for the fastening thread, threaded through it and the products are sent to the refrigerator for 3-4 hours. After hardening, the cheerful and nutritious figures are hung on trees. If it happens on New Year’s Eve, such figurines can act as Christmas tree decorations.
How to quickly make a beautiful feeder:
Add structural rigidity
Remember that birds can break the product with their heavy weight, so we recommend using a few more matches in order to create something like a reinforcing frame. Just glue a couple of slats in the corners and make a small ladder on the front side.
As for strengthening the hole itself, it plays an equally important role. To do this, you can use an old metal decoration, which will add rigidity to the structure and also add a touch of personality to the birdhouse. Well, the birds will be able to use the beads to grab onto them and hold on.
A Brazilian travels 36 km by bike every day to take his loved one home.
Lost weight: what Sofia Tarasova sacrificed for the sake of “VIA Gra” (new photos)
The money tree pleases with lush flowering: my secret is in caring for the leaves
