Examples of Simple Bird Feeders
Examples of Simple Bird Feeders
Make a pine cone bird feeder. You’ll need to collect a few pine cones – the larger the better.
To make a pine cone fat feeder, you can simply attach a pine cone to a piece of string and dip it into melted suet or fat, before rolling in wild birdseed.
Alternatively, use a blunt knife or palette knife and apply a coating of peanut butter to the pine cone, and roll it in wild birdseed. The pine cones can then be hung outside.
Log Bird Feeder
An alternative to the pine cone feeder is a small branch or log with holes drilled in it and filled with suet and seed mix.
- Find a small fallen tree or a branch that is about 3 inches in diameter or about 9 inches in circumference. Select one that has firm wood.
- For perching, birds can use the bark on the wood, the bottom of the hole, or a branch that is already on the log, and which you have trimmed to a reasonable length.
- The wood should be cut about a foot long, cut either straight across or diagonally.
- About an inch or so from what will be the top of the feeder, drill a hole so that you can put wire through it to hang your feeder.
- The peanut butter will go into a hole about 1-1/4 inches wide, and about 1-1/4 to 1-1/2 inches deep. An electric drill with a spade bit makes the job quick and easy. (A holesaw can also be used in place of the spade bit, but it makes a circular cut without removing the wood in the centre of the cut. That wood must be removed with a chisel and hammer, and the bottom of the hole will be pretty ragged and could trap uneaten peanut butter that could then become rancid).
- You can mix bird seed, lard, cornmeal or grit with the peanut butter before you put it in the feeder holes.
- Hang your feeder.