Bird feeders in winter period 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 the better 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.
Photos of bird feeder ideas
Birds and wild animals living in nature do not have to rely on anyone's help in winter, as their domesticated counterparts can. But despite everything, there are many people in the world who understand this and try their best to help in any way they can.
Bird feeders, which can be easily made from almost any box - for example, from a shoe box or a cake box - will serve as a help for birds during cold, hungry times. The main thing is not to forget to add food there - for example, unsalted, unroasted seeds.
Most people know very well that during the winter cold it is very difficult for our smaller brothers to find food for themselves starting in the fall. No matter how much a person wants, it is impossible to help absolutely everyone. It is most difficult to help those animals that live in remote areas or in the forest. But if you live in a village, town or city, then helping smaller brothers will not be difficult for you.
In this article we will talk about feeders that will be made from the material at hand. which could end up in a landfill.
If you accustom the birds to your feeder, you will receive additional unique bonuses:
- Having become accustomed to your site, birds will live there more often. With this, they will constantly delight you with chirping, bustling and playing, thereby filling the space around you with vital energy.
- In the summer, many birds thank their feeders. They do this by destroying pests and insects that are present in almost all vegetable gardens and orchards.
It should be remembered that you can feed the birds in the summer..
Selecting installation location and material
Before choosing a place to install a feeder, it will be useful to learn the types of birds that are most common in our area. These include: chickadee, long-tailed tit, Moscow tit, tufted tit, blue tit, great tit, greenfinch, common bunting, siskin, goldfinch, common grosbeak, waxwing, bullfinch, nutcracker or nutcracker, jay, crossbill, spotted woodpecker, pika, nuthatch.
It is generally accepted that the feeder should be made in the shape of a house, reminiscent of a birdhouse. This configuration, in fact, is optimal for organizing feeding of birds. The advantages of this form are:
- The roof protects from snow and rain;
- The configuration, made of wood or plywood, is reliable, durable and strong;
- It will not look alien on your site.
But don’t limit yourself to one shape and one material.. These two parameters can be very diverse.
The most important condition is compliance with the requirements:
- The material for the feeder should not deform over time and be resistant to natural factors. Simply put, it is not advisable to make a birdhouse out of cardboard, since it will not withstand wet weather.
- You can, as a last resort, build a feeder from packages of dairy products (ryazhenka, milk, kefir, etc.) and juices. Tetrapack and similar cardboard packaging are more resistant to moisture compared to ordinary cardboard. But this feeder cannot be classified as durable. But this is a favorable temporary solution that will last you a whole season, weather permitting. But you need to realize that this will serve as an excellent dining room only for birds of small breeds. Large breeds of birds will not fit in them due to their size.
- The material must be selected stable and durable. This is due to the fact that it must withstand, in addition to climatic conditions, the weight of the bird. In some breeds it can be significant. One should take into account the fact that the material will also wear out due to the bird’s claws, since they will sit in the cut out window.
- The edges of the window should be free of points. If they are there, your bird may injure its paws.
Gallery: bird feeder made from scrap materials (25 photos)
Where should a bird house be located?
An important factor is the location of the dining room for birds. By possible, avoid installing in places where they are difficult to reach. For example, you should not place feeders in dense branches and other similar places.
You should also pay attention to ensure that cats cannot approach this place. As is known, all over the world they are excellent hunters. Many people start them in the country, in the village, in private buildings and in cottages.
Experts advise placing the bird canteen in places where it will be clearly visible.
Popular and most common ideas
Let's look at what are the most popular options for hand-made feeders. There are many such options. Each person has his own idea for designing a bird canteen. But despite these many options, the goal is to feed and help birds during a difficult period.
Wooden house
You can bring this idea to life without much difficulty on your own. Have special knowledge and skills are not necessary at all. In such design and construction, unnecessary or improvised boards, logs or pieces thereof and other wooden elements are mainly used. The main task is to firmly connect the veneer or boards to each other.
Wooden feeders can also be used for feeding chickens and other domesticated birds.
Plywood feeder
This type of plywood dining room can be easily made at home with your own hands. For this you will not need special conditions or tools. But you will need to find drawings for construction. If you don’t want to search, then it won’t be difficult for you to draw a drawing according to the desired dimensions yourself. It's not at all difficult to do.
Hopper feeder
People borrowed this type from Agriculture. Its main advantage is the exclusion of discrimination against any breed of birds. Surely every person has noticed that if one breed of bird settles near the food, then they try to keep another breed away.
It is for this reason that a very important task is to limit the area where birds can feed. In such cases, homemade bunker feeders are used, which, in other words, are called anti-passerine feeders.
Feeders made from plastic bottles
This bird canteen is considered the simplest and most common type. Even a child can make it. To make it, you just need to cut a couple of holes in the bottle (one is possible) to pour the food inside and for the birds to get in. There is no need to rush during the manufacturing process. Be as careful as possible. The holes must be symmetrical and even.
The most common types of bottles are:
- Mineral water or drink bottles, the volume of which is 1.5–2 liters;
- Large volume bottles from drinking water- more than 5 liters.
Let's take a closer look at each option proposed above. If you are using a bottle with a volume of 1.5 or 2 liters, then you should make identical holes on both sides, which will have a square, rectangular or round shape.
For the option where a large-volume bottle is used, you can make a visor. It will cover the hole, thereby protecting it from raindrops and snowflakes getting inside. To make it, cut a U-shaped hole, but do not cut off the top side. The cut out part of the bottle is bent upward, thereby forming a visor. You can do this on both sides of the bottle.
To make it more comfortable for the birds, you can make two small holes under the main openings and insert a long stick into them, on which they will sit before getting inside the feeder. Regarding the lower edges: it is advisable, for greater safety, to cover them with electrical tape or tape in several layers. You can use a fabric adhesive plaster for gluing.
The most simple option is the manufacture of a canteen for birds from a 5-liter bottle. To do this you will need strong scissors or a knife.
When the plastic bottle is positioned horizontally, holes are cut at the neck and bottom. If you place it in a vertical position, then you can make from 2 to 4 holes on several sides. But this is only in the case of rectangular or square bottles. As for the round ones, you can cut 2 or 3 holes in them. By the way, a large-volume bottle can serve as the basis for a bunker feeder. It should also be taken into account that it is best to place the holes at a height of more than 5 centimeters from the bottom.
Such a dining room is attached very easily: either by the handle, which is integral part lids, or by the neck. In this case, a thin wire or twine is used. But this is only for vertical options. When fastening horizontally, two small parallel holes are made using a sharp object and a rope or wire is threaded through them.
Poultry table from juice or dairy packages
Almost every person has such boxes in their home. As a rule, we throw them away, thinking that they are ordinary garbage. The technology for making a dining room from such a box is very simple and resembles the technology for making it from bottles.
Your actions, in order to make such a feeder, should be as follows:
- Using a felt-tip pen, marker or pen, mark the location where the hole will be located;
- Using a sharp knife or scissors, cut out the intended holes;
- Cover the lower part of the window with adhesive tape or tape;
- Make a hole at the top of the bag through which you will thread wire or rope for fastening;
- Hang the resulting feeder from a juice or milk box to a branch so that it does not fly off in the wind.
To make such a dining room sway less when the wind or birds land, hang a small brick or some other weight to the bottom. The same can be attached to plastic containers.
It must be remembered that there are cases when the feeder is attached to the wall.
Bird canteen made from a shoe box
As we said above, such a dining room will not serve you for a long time. This is due to the fact that the material from which it is made is cardboard. But remember that there are boxes made from moisture-resistant cardboard. You can also make your own protection from bad weather by covering the entire box with tape. This will naturally increase the service life, but remember, it will not work like plastic or wood.
As for the technology, it is very simple. Make several holes in the box and on the lid and secure them. You can also secure the components using tape.
Other options for making poultry canteen
All of the above options were the most common. But there are also alternative options. The first is the feeder, which is made from tableware. You can also make a birdbath out of it. It is also very necessary for birds. Such original products are made from a saucer and a cup, and by adding a deep plate, you can get a drinker and a feeder at the same time. Some people manage to make bird food out of old plastic buckets. But the disadvantage of such a dining room is its large dimensions, due to which the structure cannot be placed everywhere. But the disadvantage, oddly enough, is also a significant advantage: they can feed big birds, several pieces at a time and you can add more food.
Looking out the window at the snow-covered ground and bare trees, it is easy to imagine how serious difficulties birds experience in finding food in winter.
To ensure that their ringing trills and chirps continue to delight us, our feathered friends should be helped by installing a feeder and periodically replenishing it with grain.
The easiest way to make feeders is from boxes. How to make a bird feeder from a box with your own hands? We will now consider several options.
A good feeder should have the following elements:
- sides, or better yet walls: to protect the feed from the wind;
- roof: to protect feed from precipitation.
If you now take a closer look at any fairly large box, you will notice that it is an almost finished feeder, since it already has both walls and a roof.
But not only a voluminous box, but also a flat box, for example, a candy box, can be used for this purpose. How exactly will be described below.
Obviously, the paper from which boxes are made cannot withstand atmospheric moisture for long.
Therefore, to make a feeder, it is better to choose a box made of laminated cardboard - it will be more durable. Good stuff are boxes of liquid products - milk or juice. It is clear that they will resist moisture better and longer than others - this follows from their purpose and is explained by the presence of a special coating inside.
Any poultry farm or small feed breeding farm should have a feeder. – Read manufacturing tips on our website.
Methods for arranging automatic chicken feeders are described.
Photo
The simplest bird feeders
A child's toy box used as a feeder
Shoe box feeder
Juice box
Cardboard packaging for products - the so-called tetrapacks - are very, very popular today. They often sell juice, so such a box can be found in almost every home. To turn it into a feeder, you will need a little:
- wire or nylon cord;
- scissors or stationery knife;
- fabric electrical tape or adhesive tape;
- marker or pencil.
Having prepared all this, you can get to work:
- Wash the box, filling it with water and emptying it several times.
- On opposite walls, use a pencil or marker to mark the contours of two holes located opposite each other. The holes can be of any shape - even round, even rectangular, even in the form of an arch. It is only important that the bottom edge is a few cm from the bottom - then food can be poured into the bottom of the box.
- Using scissors or a knife, cut out the holes according to the markings. Do not throw away the cut out fragments - they will still be useful.
- Cover the sharp edges of the holes with plaster or tape to make them safe for birds.
- On each side, pierce the wall just below the entrance with scissors, forming a hole with a diameter of several millimeters.
- Roll up the fragments cut out at the stage of making the “door” openings into a tube and insert them into the holes you just made, so that you get something like perches.
- Punch a couple of holes in the top of the box and thread wire or nylon cord through them for hanging.
Use scissors and a knife sharp enough so that they cut and do not tear the cardboard. In this case, the cut site will be more resistant to moisture.
The feeder needs to be hung so that it is inaccessible to cats and other land predators, but at the same time it is easy to pour food into it. The optimal height is considered to be 1.5 - 1.7 m.
Milk carton
Making a feeder is a simple process that even a small child can easily handle. Get him interested and the child will be happy to make useful crafts under your guidance. You can also use a milk tetra pack as a preparation.
- The inside of the box is rinsed several times (it is important that no odor remains).
- Let's make a feeder for several people: the box is laid on its side and a long hole is cut out in one of its walls, but so that between it and the bottom (one of the side walls) there remains a small side. Instead of one long one, you can cut out several square “dispensing windows”, leaving jumpers between them. It will be more convenient for the birds to eat if you attach a perch made from a thin twig in front of the openings.
- We make holes at the ends of the box and pass a wire or nylon cord through them. If the place where you plan to place the feeder is poorly protected from the wind, it is better to attach it to a tree trunk. To do this, we pierce two small holes in the wall located opposite the inlet hole and pass the wire through them.
Milk carton
All that remains is to tie the feeder to the tree with this wire.
Do you want to feed birds in winter? It is very easy to do, and it can be made from a variety of materials.
You can look at homemade feeders for pigs. Photos and description of manufacturing stages.
Shoe box
This box can also be easily adapted to serve as a feeder. When choosing, you should pay attention not only to the density of the cardboard and the presence of a laminated coating, but also to the coloring: the brighter it is, the easier it is for birds to detect the feeder.
Here's what to do:
- In the wall of the box (this time only in one) cut a hole according to the pre-applied markings. As in other options, the lower edge of the hole should be at some distance from the bottom so that there is somewhere to pour the grain. As usual, we trim the edges with adhesive tape.
- Use scissors to pierce holes on the sides of the box for threading wire or twine.
- The lid of the box needs to be bent into a flat part, and then bent in half, turning it into something like a gable roof. This part must be glued to the top of the box with frost-resistant glue to thus protect the food from rain and snow.
- Now you need to attach a rope to the feeder for hanging. To make it more stable, the suspension must be made like a hanger: holes are pierced on opposite sides into which both ends of the rope are passed; then they are tied into a knot over the feeder.
- To prevent the cardboard from getting wet too quickly from snow or rain, the bird's canteen can be covered with tape or painted.
For interior work use water-soluble glues and paints - they pose a much lower risk to bird health than solvent-based formulations.
The shoebox feeder is ready. To prevent it from swaying too much in the wind, you can pour sand or put a few stones on the bottom.
Candy box feeder
A flat candy box can serve as material for making a feeder of a special design, reminiscent of a hut. In addition to the usual set of tools, you will need a stapler or tape.
Here are the instructions:
- First you need to take the lid and make cuts in its two sides located opposite each other. They should be located in the middle.
- Next, the lid needs to be bent at a right angle, so that the fold falls on the center line connecting the two cuts. In this case, the edges of the cuts in the sides will lie on top of each other and they can be fixed with a stapler. You can also secure the sides with tape, but this is a less reliable option.
The resulting part will play the role of the roof of the feeding trough.
- Let's start making the bottom. It is cut from the box itself to the size of the roof. When marking, you need to provide a margin around the entire perimeter, which will then need to be folded and secured with tape (we will get a bottom with sides).
- The roof is fastened to the bottom, after which a rope or wire is attached to the top.
If the box contained a plastic mold with compartments for candy, you need to cut a fragment from it to the size of the feeder, so that it can be easily installed inside.
Now it will be much easier to maintain the feeder: remove the mold, remove feathers and droppings from it, fill it with fresh food and put it in place.
Conclusion
As you can see, to help our smaller feathered brothers, very little effort is required.
The main thing is not to leave sharp edges or protruding corners that could injure the birds.
If desired, the feeder can be decorated, for which you should choose non-soaking materials: pieces of fabric, colored polyethylene, buttons, etc.
Video on the topic
Winter time is a serious test for birds. Every day it becomes more and more difficult to find food. Take care of the birds - hang a feeder made with your own hands from the simplest materials at hand, which we usually throw in a landfill. We selected photos and original ideas making feeders that do not require special skills and complex drawings.
How to make a bird feeder with your own hands?
Having accustomed the birds to the feeder, you will be able to observe the entertaining avian bustle and the secret life of birds.
Some of them defend their rights in fights with relatives, others enter into competition with other species, but without exception, all of them carefully look around so as not to miss the attack of a small hawk, which is very interested in visitors to the feeder.
A simple bird feeder will bring great benefits to birds
Materials for making a feeder can be very varied, but there are some general rules design:
- the feeder should, first of all, be convenient for the birds; there should be no difficulty in removing food;
- The roof and sides will help protect the food from snow, rain and wind. Exposure to moisture can cause food to deteriorate and become moldy, which means it will turn into poison for birds;
- It is desirable that the material from which the feeder will be made be resistant to moisture, otherwise such a design will not last long and a new one will need to be made;
The feeder must be safe: have no sharp sides and be located high enough above the ground
- walls and corners should not be sharp or prickly;
- feeders for small birds are made small in size so that larger and more aggressive species do not encroach on their food;
- It is better to place feeders on tree branches or attach them to the walls of outbuildings at a height of about one and a half meters, so that cats do not offend the birds, and it is convenient to sprinkle food on your feathered friends.
Advice. Birds get used to a permanent feeding place and are ready to travel many kilometers to the feeder. Therefore, feeding must be constant, otherwise the birds may die.
Plywood bird feeder
You can buy a feeder in a hypermarket, or you can make it yourself in a few hours. A plywood feeder can be made open, with a flat or gable roof, and a bunker compartment can be provided if you cannot constantly monitor the amount of feed in the feeder. Of course, you will need drawings, fortunately, there are plenty of them on the Internet with ready-made dimensions of parts for cutting. Choose a design that you like, the drawing will make the work easier and guarantee that in the end you will get exactly what is shown in the photo.
Lightweight and durable feeder made from plywood sheets
When choosing a design for a future feeder, consider the bird population in your region. Jays, pigeons and magpies can eat all the food, leaving little titmice hungry. To prevent this from happening, make the size of the feeder openings such that large birds cannot reach the feed.
So, you will need a hammer, an electric jigsaw, nails of suitable length, glue on water based, sandpaper, plywood, timber 20 x 20 mm. Let's look at a simple feeder.
Ideas and drawings of a bird feeder made of wood
Wooden feeders are attractive because they last a long time and keep their shape well - this is due to the properties and reliability of wood. To make such a feeder you will need at least minimal skills in working with tools and a drawing. The board for production should be 18 - 20 mm thick. Let's consider the option of making a feeder, which you can do yourself or take a photo as a basis for a drawing. We will need a beam measuring 4.5 x 2 cm for the racks, a square of plywood 25 x 25 cm for the bottom, two pieces measuring 35 x 22 cm for the roof, nails, screws and glue.
Feeder made of wooden beams
Such a feeder can be installed permanently on a dug-in post or drill two holes in the ridge, screw in a screw with a hook and hang it on a wire. Several birds can fly up to the feeder at the same time, the food is protected from the wind by the sides and roof, the feathered friends of the garden will love such a cozy dining room.
Finished wooden feeder
If you have a gazebo on your site, hang a simple feeder there without a roof. It is enough to make a side and a bottom. If you want to paint the feeder or open it with varnish, then use water-based compounds so as not to harm the birds.
Advice. To prevent the wood from splitting, you need to make the tip of the nail blunt, and drill a hole for the screw before screwing it in.
Making a feeder out of cardboard (suitable for children)
One of the simplest feeders. The cardboard version is interesting because it can be made in a place with children and at the same time have a great time with them. This would be a great craft for kindergarten or primary school. There is a lot of room for creativity here. Cardboard is an excellent option; it is only afraid of direct water. But if you want to play it safe and make the feeder more resistant to moisture, then you can glue the external elements of the feeder with wide tape, especially its upper and lower parts. In a forest or park, such a feeder can easily last all winter and part of spring.
Collage of a cardboard feeder. Photo livemaster.ru/topic/179659-delaem-kormushku-iz-kartona
The set of tools and materials is minimal, and if you don’t have something from this list, you can always find a replacement. So we will need these materials and tools:
- A couple of sheets of cardboard (A4 format or more);
- Ruler;
- Scotch tape (for structural reliability);
- Stationery knife;
- A rope or piece of nylon rope to hang the feeder;
- Pencil or felt-tip pen;
- Cardboard glue or glue gun;
- Hole puncher.
If such a feeder is going to take the prize for the best craft in your kindergarten, then you will have to work a little in terms of external design. Here our cardboard will give a head start to any Tetra-Pak (this is a milk or juice carton), you can beautifully draw on it and decorate it in every possible way. Undoubtedly, the prize from kindergarten will be yours!
Pumpkin feeder
But here, as they say, words are unnecessary - everything is visible in the photo collage. I would like to add that such a feeder looks very attractive and unusual and will be a real decoration of your garden, this is due to the shape of the feeder and its color, which looks great against the background of white snow. 
This option is also suitable for making with children. And such a beautiful, bright craft will definitely not go unnoticed in kindergarten.
Bird feeder from a box (package) Tetra Pak) from juice or milk
You can make a feeder from a milk carton or a tetra pack of juice, like this. Even a child can do this. For this you will need:
- clean juice box;
- a piece of nylon rope or wire to hang the feeder;
- adhesive plaster;
- marker;
- scissors or stationery knife.
Milk carton bird feeder
First of all, mark and cut holes on opposite sides of the tetra pack. To make it convenient for the birds to take food and fly out. We cover the bottom side of the window with adhesive tape for the convenience and safety of the birds. We poke a hole under the holes with scissors and insert the cardboard rolled up into a tube, which is left over from cutting the holes above. In the bent corners we make small holes for wire or rope. And we tie it to a branch.
The feeder can be attached to a tree trunk. Such a feeder will not sway in the wind. To do this, feeding slots are made not on opposite sides of the bag, but on adjacent ones. On the opposite side we fix the wire in the slot and screw it to the tree.
Horizontal feeder made of tetro pack
You can make a feeder out of two juice bags. We cut the first package along the narrow sides, leaving the top uncut. From the second tetra pack we cut off the third part and cut a hole on the front side of the bag - this will be the feeding board or the bottom of the feeder. We combine the bottom with the first package so that we get a triangle. The parts can be connected with glue, wrapped with tape, or by piercing the bottom of the sides and inserting straws for cocktails.
Bird feeder made of plastic bottles 1.5 - 2 liters
Let's look at some variations of making a do-it-yourself feeder made from plastic containers.
Option #1. The simplest feeder
Symmetrically, on both sides of the bottle we cut out two holes: round, square, rectangular or in the form of an arch. There should be bridges between the holes. If you make a slot in the form of an inverted letter “P” and bend the plate upward, you will get a rain canopy. You can stick an adhesive plaster or fabric tape to the bottom edge of the hole - the edges will not be sharp and the birds will sit comfortably. We make symmetrical holes in the lower part and insert a stick - the result is a feeder with a perch.
A simple feeder made from a plastic bottle
You can attach such a dining room for birds to a tree by wrapping the jumper with tape, rope or other suitable material, as seen in the photo. If you make a hole in the bottle cap and insert the ends of the twine, and then tie them in a knot, you will get a loop that can be thrown over the branches of garden trees.
Be sure to make the edges plastic feeder safe - cover the cut areas with electrical tape
Option #2. Bunker feeder.
This design is rational to use because the feed can be poured in for several days. As the birds eat it, the food will automatically be added to the feeding area itself.
Hopper feeder made from plastic bottles
You will need two bottles of the same volume. We mark one bottle with a marker before cutting. We make holes at the bottom, as in feeder No. 1, and remove the top third of the bottle. We make two symmetrical holes at the top - a ribbon or twine will later be tied to them for hanging the feeder. In the second bottle we cut several holes at the narrowest part - food will spill out of them. Do not make large holes right away; it is better to expand them later. We pour food into the bottle, tighten the cap and insert the bottle into the first bottle, cut by a third.
Option #3. Feeder with spoon
We make a hole in the cork and insert twine for hanging. Then we make two holes symmetrically the size of the spoon. We cut a hole in the bottle above the bowl-shaped deep part of the spoon, slightly widening it so that the birds can take the food. Fill the feeder and hang it up.
Feeder with spoon
Advice. Using a hot needle or small nail, make several holes in the bottom of the feeder to drain moisture that gets inside.
Bird feeder made from a plastic bottle 5 liters
Probably in every home there is an empty five-liter plastic water bottle. Making a feeder in one evening to feed birds in winter from this material is very simple. Such a container will hold much more food than a smaller plastic bottle, as can be seen in the photo. Several holes will allow several birds to feed comfortably at once.
Feeder made from a five-liter plastic bottle
This is a very simple and quick option, invite your children or other family members to take part in the manufacturing process: find a ribbon or wire to tie the finished feeder to a tree branch, prepare a treat for the birds. Prepare a clean bottle, a sharp knife, pruning shears or a utility knife.
We cut the hole based on how we plan to secure the container to the tree:
- horizontally - cut a wide hole from the bottom of the bottle and the same from the neck;
- vertically - at a height of 5-7 cm from the bottom of the container, cut several square holes or three rectangular ones.
Materials needed to make a feeder
It is convenient to tie the bottle by the neck to a branch with wire or twine. If the feeder is made in a horizontal version, then use a knife to make two holes on the wall through which you pass the twine for tying. To prevent the feeder from swaying in the wind, place a quarter of a brick on the bottom to weigh it down, and load a treat on top.
You can also build a bunker feeder from a five-liter bottle. To do this you will need a five-liter bottle and two 1.5-liter bottles, a marker, a stationery knife and a rope.
You can place the feeder under the roof to make the birds more comfortable
With a little ingenuity, you can use the simplest plastic bottles to create unusual dining rooms for birds that will decorate your area.
Shoebox bird feeder
Everything is simple here. Take a thick shoe box with a lid. We make a round hole in the lid. The hole needs to be moved slightly from the center to the bottom edge of the box (a little different in the photo), this is necessary so that the birds can reach the food, which will lie at the bottom of the box.
We make a small hole in the top of the box and insert a tourniquet or rope through it. We tie an old pencil or stick to the end of this rope. We will then tie the other end of the rope to the branch of the tree on which we plan to hang the feeder. Then you can wrap the box with wrapping paper, but this is for aesthetic purposes, you don’t have to do this.
We make a roof out of ordinary cardboard and put it on glue. Next, we glue the lid to the box itself with tape, as in Figure 3, 4, and also thread a rope through the lid.
At the moment when we hang the finished feeder on a tree, the roof may come unstuck from the box, but this is not scary, it won’t be able to get away anywhere, because it will be held in place by a rope.
And in the picture below is an even simpler version of a shoebox feeder. But there is no need to explain anything here, everything is already visible in the photo. The entire box is simply wrapped with tape, which, by the way, is very practical. And in our opinion, it turned out to be original and unusual.
Cardboard bird feeder
For making poultry canteen with my own hands the simplest material will do, which is stored in abundance on the balconies of most families: boxes from electrical goods, cardboard packaging from food products. Choose thicker cardboard with a laminated coating; laminate will slightly increase the service life of the feeder. Although, as written above, you can use wide tape for these purposes. The advantage of this design is that there is already a bottom, walls and roof of the future feeder, which needs to be slightly modified by cutting square or rectangular holes on the sides.
Even a schoolchild can make a cozy feeder from a mailbox with his own hands
You will need a nylon cord, scissors or a stationery knife and tape. Since cardboard is a very short-lived material and is afraid of moisture, a finished feeder wrapped with tape will last until the next season. Having cut the side holes and secured the cord, you can hang the feeder and fill it with treats for the birds, which will not keep you waiting long. Place sand or some pebbles at the bottom so that the structure does not sway too much in the wind.
If you cover a cardboard feeder with paints, it will last longer.
You can do it a little differently. We glue the lid of the box perpendicularly so that the lid serves as a stern stand, and the second part of the box serves as a side and a roof. We glue the structure with tape. We make two hooks from wire: we bend a piece of wire in half and pierce the “ceiling” of the feeder with the ends, twist it and bend it from the inside. By connecting the hooks, you can hang the feeder on a branch. As you can see in the photo. Now pour in the food and wait for the guests.
Window bird feeder (with suction cups)
Such feeders are very interesting option For general development children, and adults too :). The feeder is attached to the window, or rather to the glass, using suction cups. Usually such feeders are also made transparent in order to fully enjoy watching the birds. If you have suction cups, you can make such a feeder yourself, for example, from the same plastic bottle, but you must agree that it will still not be as aesthetically pleasing as the ready-made version from the store. Children will probably start taking pictures of all this, and photos with yellowed, cloudy bottles will, to put it mildly, not be so hot. The purchased options look very nice.
Conservationists, tinkerers and those who simply love the idea of breathing new life into something completely ordinary, they will not be able to pass by the idea of making a bird feeder out of a box. If you involve children in needlework, then such a simple, at first glance, activity can turn into an interesting, almost magical event. And at the same time, yesterday’s trash, which no one needs, will turn into real help for little feathered friends.
First of all, it is worth noting that when making a feeder from a box with your own hands, you will need cutting objects. Therefore, very young children should be supervised by adults. But you shouldn’t leave the older kids either, because it’s better to do this fun activity together.
The idea itself is simple, it only requires a box, sticks and self-adhesive paper, which can be used as desired for decoration. A wood pattern will look very nice; it will fit harmoniously into the landscape. List of what you might need:
The list is approximate, almost all parts can be replaced with something else, it all depends on ingenuity. Bird feeders are also made from boxes for other purposes, for example, shoe boxes. But the most convenient one is still made from milk.
