We make a simple bird feeder. How to make a bird feeder out of wood with your own hands - step by step instructions and drawings

Scientists now unequivocally agree that there are no harmful birds at all. Even from such impudent crooks as gray crows and cormorants, as it turned out, there is still much more benefit than harm. Documented attacks by bearded eagles and lambs against climbers were caused by climbers approaching their nests; a brood is a brood, it must be protected. The second thing experts agree on is that in winter, a bird feeder is needed in residential areas. Many of the smaller and most useful of them do not make regular flights, but undertake feeding migrations in winter. Near human habitation, fodder lands are kept in abundance longer than in the wild, and when the real cold breaks out with starvation, there will not be enough strength for the flight: there will be nothing to profit on the way.

If you characterize the bird in one word, then it will be - movement. There are no and cannot be birds that fall into hibernation or otherwise save their own energy resources when adverse conditions occur: adaptation of the body to flight requires a high metabolic rate. If the bird is hungry and/or cold, it becomes more and more anxious, looking for something nutritious to peck at. She does not weaken at the same time until she falls, numb, at the feet of a passerby. Take it to the veterinarians - they may come out. But it’s better, after spending a little work, to build a feeder for the winter with your own hands; almost any household waste or scraps will do for this.

Wild birds on feeders in winter

Gardeners, gardeners and summer residents who visit their site in winter will also benefit greatly: even granivorous birds, sparrows, for example, feed insects on the brood. In the spring, just in time for the hatching of the chicks, pests wake up and become more active. If you make a bird feeder in the fall and feed a useful community on the site, see Fig., Much less will be needed for plant protection products. Bird feeders, let it be known to the reader, can be made attractive to some species of birds and not very convenient to others, from which they are less useful. How exactly - this is the focus of this article. Not to the detriment, hopefully, of other aspects of the issue, such as materials, cheaper or completely free, design, etc.

What to be a feeder?

Let's start with a feeder project. Just imagine, because you don’t need to draw it up on paper and roam around the offices with serious uncles and corrosive aunts. But, firstly, you need to know where and why the winter bird canteen will be: in the city, outside the city, for temporary feeding in the very cold, or for permanent attraction of useful helpers. Secondly, who will we feed? Who to skip ahead, and who unobtrusively ask to wait? For example, if others are having a hard time, sparrows, crows, and doves will certainly be killed. They have long become accustomed to humans and will find something to profit from in the most ferocious starvation, and in the country or on the estate there will be more sense from other birds.

Having decided on the "circle of the desired clientele", we will choose the design of the feeder. Birds not only do not eat all the same things, they also take food in different ways: from the ground or a vast, solid, even support, from thick branches, twigs and tree trunks, clinging to them with their claws, from swaying thin twigs and blades of grass; the design of the feeder should provide the advantage of access to the feed for the desired guests. We do not mean birds that take food from the summer, they are all migratory. After that, we will choose the material for the feeder, preferably free, and it will be clear from it how to make it. Such is approximately the PPR (plan for the production of works).

Who will be fed?

As already mentioned, sparrows, pigeons and, especially, crows, must be dared from the feeder. What kind of birds are desirable on it? Of course, wintering in the area. They can be divided into 2 categories: the first - nomadic. They have no specific wintering grounds; where there is enough food, it is good even in winter. At the feeder they will be the most frequent guests. The second ones are obligatory, i.e. obligatory wintering at their permanent feeding stations (areas). Only extreme circumstances can drive them to the feeder: a particularly severe winter, etc. In the Central zone of the Russian Federation and in the south of Siberia, in addition to the ubiquitous stubborn sparrows, the birds depicted in rice fly to the feeder; the list with the names is below it.

Birds that you can wait for in the winter at the feeder

nuthatch;
pika;
small spotted woodpecker;
crossbill;
jay;
nutcracker or walnut;
bullfinch;
waxwing;
common grosbeak;
goldfinch;
yellowhammer;
greenfinch;
great tit;
blue titmouse;
crested tit;
Muscovite titmouse;
long-tailed tit;
titmouse.

The first trinity are obligate wintering insectivorous birds. Nuthatch and pika get insects from bark cracks and wood passages with specially adapted beaks. Woodpeckers are known to push their way to prey. At the feeder, you can almost certainly expect only a small spotted woodpecker: it can already be said to have become quite accustomed to people, and with a lack of animal food, it is able to feed on hard seeds. Other woodpeckers (black or yellow, large motley, green, golden or Syrian) will not fly to the feeder for anything, and if a nuthatch and / or pika appeared there, then this winter the birds are generally bad, and high-calorie food with animal fats should be given and proteins; which one - more on that later. All these birds take food by clinging to a support.

Crossbills also overwinter obligately, but feed by husking the seeds of conifers. of cones, these are the most specialized of the shelling birds, and their beak has turned into something like tongs. Even crossbills hatch chicks in the middle of winter, when there are plenty of upturned cones. Taking food from a branch or clinging to a support, in general, they don’t care, as long as it’s not from the ground. Jay with nutcracker are also huskers, but not so skillful. Kedrovka, by the way, can be seen not only in the north; sometimes she undertakes long-distance fodder migrations, during which she reaches Spain.

All shelling birds are very useful for the forest, because. contribute to the spread of trees: the crossbill loses a lot of them, restoring the existing forest, and the jay with the nutcracker arrange storehouses of seeds that are not fully used, or even completely forgotten. Thus, the forest spreads. Forestry specialists are confident that without nutcrackers, maintaining stocks of Siberian pine (Siberian cedar) would be impossible. In addition, jays with nutcrackers destroy a lot of wintering harmful insects.

You can bring shelling birds to the site, but they need a special type of home-made feeders, see below. Peeler feeders are also sold ready-made, but there is nothing in them that you could not do yourself. For crossbills, in case of a bad harvest of cones, they will also fit, however, having fed, they will fly back to the forest.

Note: just in case, let us remind you: insectivorous forest birds and stubblers fly to people for food in the most extreme case, and then they definitely need to be offered nutritious high-calorie food. Along the way, they will thoroughly clean the garden-garden from wintering harmful trifles.

Bullfinch, waxwing, grosbeak and goldfinch are considered predominantly frugivorous birds. This is not a mistake, this is not about flesh, but about juicy fruits and berries. Their bones in the digestive tract of these birds, as a rule, are not digested, but the germination of seeds after such treatment increases. That is, frugivorous birds contribute to the spread of berry bushes and trees. However, frugivorous birds feed chicks with insects, but for now / when there is no harvest, they themselves do not disdain them. Actually, frugivorous birds of middle latitudes can be considered bird-like omnivores, because. Animal feed makes up a large proportion of their diet. Goldfinch in general can consume more insects than vegetable feed. In the extermination of wintering pests, they complement insectivorous and stubblers, because. they, as a rule, do not take prey completely open and motionless, for example. pupae.

It is advisable to introduce frugivorous birds to the site, but with caution. A good bait will be pieces of soft juicy plant food placed on the roof of the feeder: apple cores with seeds, pumpkin, cucumber. However, before putting the bait, you need to take a closer look at those who are eating: if a grosbeak is seen among them, it is better to refuse to bait. In the spring, he pecks out swelling buds and in some places has become a real scourge of gardens and orchards. Later, the grosbeak more than compensates for the damage by destroying huge numbers of May bugs and cabbage caterpillars, but still it is not necessary to promote its excessive reproduction.

Note: sometimes it is advised, as a winter vitamin supplement, to put twigs in the feeder that have stood at home in the water until the buds swell. It is not necessary, like any other seedlings, and even absolutely useful tits, they can learn to “bear oak”. The best vitamin food for birds in winter is apple and pear cores with seeds, fibrous pumpkin core with seeds, viburnum brushes, mountain ash, elderberries, dried rose hips, cherries (can be made from compote) and grape seeds. Read more about feeds below.

Fruit-eating birds take food from the ground and clinging to a support, so that the feeder for them can be anything, except for a swinging suspension, see below. They are stronger and stronger than sparrows, but not so impudent, so tits are not competitors if there is enough food. Most often there are carduelis on the feeder; they are close to becoming obligate hibernating human symbionts. Here it is useful to remember Saint-Exupery: "We are responsible for those whom we have tamed."

Siskins, buntings and greenfinches are granivorous birds. Grass seedlings have nothing to fear from them: they prefer the seeds of wild herbs. The chicks are fed with insects. Food is taken from the ground and from a swinging twig / blade of grass. They are friends with tits, but sparrows need to be discouraged from their feeder: granivorous small, not very strong and non-aggressive birds.

Note: the author is deeply convinced that the old song about the chizhik-pyzhik, who drank vodka on the Fontanka, was composed not only in mockery of the cadets of some of the elite cadet corps, who wore yellow and black uniforms. In nature, the siskin really does look somewhat drowsy-haughty, like a novice drunk-major who has just grabbed (tipped, grunted, missed, rolled, chilled, overturned, etc., etc.) a stopar or two, see fig. on right. That does not prevent him from being bird-like careful and prudent.

Finally, a swarm of tit birds that only steal wheat from the house that Jack built. In fact, insects are an indispensable and significant part of their diet, and of various sizes. If the great and crested tits are able to cope with locusts, then the long-tailed titmouse is not averse to pecking at aphids with spider mites. The tits have become quite accustomed to people, you don’t need to bring them in, they will fly by themselves. Top dressing in ordinary winter should be given vegetable dry, and in severe frost - highly nutritious, like other insectivores. Then, having missed the winter on the dry land, the titmouse in the spring will take on pests, not allowing them to stretch their mandibles properly, and thus immediately there will be no time for germination with crops. And whoever survives in this beak slaughter will no longer be able to cause significant harm to the crop. Tits can take food from the thinnest twigs fluttered by the wind; they have only one evolutionary step left to learn to take food from the summer. This facilitates the creation of specialized titmouse canteens.

What about sparrows?

Sparrows are useful no less than other granivorous, but they are impudent, sneaky, keep in flocks. And the usual bird feeder, unlike crows and pigeons, is quite suitable for them in size. Sparrows take food mainly from the ground, but they are not afraid from branches either. Therefore, they are able to eat other birds, when feeding is a matter of life and death for them, while the chirping rascals themselves, in the meantime, could somehow hold out somehow. So it is advisable to arrange a winter bird feeder in such a way that sparrows fly to it only if the wind is walking in the goiter.

Schematic of a bird feeder unattractive to sparrows

Here you can use their caution and manner to avoid danger. If you have noticed, the sparrows are running away, starting from a place steeply upwards. Therefore, a feeder with low entrances (windows for birds to feed) and a steep roof with large overhangs is unattractive for sparrows: in order to escape from there, you must first flutter to the side, and this is not sparrow-like. An “anti-robin” feeder can be made according to the pattern of a chicken feeder, the diagram in fig. Let's look at other options next.

Types of feeders

When choosing the type of feeder, in addition to the species composition of the guests, you need to keep in mind the following:

Birds are guided mainly by sight; their hearing is rather weak, and the sense of smell, one might say, is none. Therefore, the food must be visible from afar.
Food must be protected from wind blowing, snowing and eating away by unwanted visitors like squirrels or chipmunks.
It is also advisable to avoid spilling food on the ground, so as not to give "beacons" to small predators. By the way, the most dangerous of them are not cats, domestic and wild, but much more cunning, ferocious and bloodthirsty ferrets, weasels and ermines. There are a lot of them near housing, but they are very good at staying out of sight.
Feeders for temporary feeding in winter are best hung up, so they will attract sparrows less.
Stationary feeders for grafting birds to the site must be placed on poles with protection from predators, see below. Birds flying to feed will recognize the site as their own if they find food on a sufficiently large, even, stable area.

Based on all of the above, and let's see which winter bird feeders are better in which case. Their main types are shown in Fig.:

Types of winter feeders for wild birds

1 - feeder-suspension. Just food on a string or in a mesh case. A typical blue bird feeder in case of extreme cold. Of other birds, forest insectivores, except for woodpeckers, can visit it. Top dressing - "antifreeze" for tits - just a piece of unsalted fat, pos. 1 next. rice. A more nutritious option, also designed for shellers, is a ball of seed mix (see below), held together with hardened visceral fat (lard) or peanut butter in a vegetable net, pos. 2. However, it is not necessary to pour the feed mass into plastic cups or beautiful shapes and freeze (pos. 6.7), it is difficult for birds to cling and calories from feeding may not compensate for the energy consumption to maintain themselves by fluttering wings. A ball from the finished mass must be sculpted by hand in the cold; the fat solidifies quickly, and the ball can be hung up immediately.

Feeders for tits

A hanging feeder can be made for certain types of birds. For example, great tits willingly peck at garlands of dried berries (especially rose hips) or peanut pods, pos. 3, 4. But the blue tit is very fond of swinging, and the balls for them need to be hung on the thinnest and most elastic twigs, or even designed in an original way in the form of mobile sculptures, or mobiles, pos. 5. Great tits will also fly there, but they do not fight with blue titmouse.

For shelling birds, bullfinches and waxwings, hanging top dressing from a cone will be good; for visibility, it’s good to supplement it with a bunch of viburnum or mountain ash, pos. 1 on the next fig.:

Cone hanging feeder

If there is no fruiting cone, any disheveled one will do: it is doused with peanut butter (pos. 2), solid food is stuffed between the scales (pos. 3), and hung up. Bird lovers and animal photographers, hanging cone baits since the summer, manage to make even crossbills their regular guests.

Paper hanging feeders

A hanging feeder for any birds that feed from a swinging support can be whipped up out of paper. In fact, paper is not a material for winter feeders: it sags, pecks. But a spool from a roll of toilet paper, smeared with the same peanut butter and sprinkled with seeds (see the figure on the right), can save more than one feathered poor fellow right in front of your eyes, and you can make such a feeder in just 5 minutes. The colored tails below are not a whim, they are visible to birds from afar and attract their attention. It is better to make tails red and / or green: for birds, red is berries, and where there is greenery in winter, there is food.

2 - platform. The advantage is that the food is clearly visible. Disadvantages: the snow falls asleep, the wind inflates, a lot of it wakes up down, the sparrows are at home on it.

Feeder house out of the box

3 - house. The feed is protected from snow; by choosing the roof structure, the feeder-house can be made windproof and anti-sparrow. But there is still a lot of food waking up, and only birds that are used to feeding will come to dine. Foresters, reaching for housing in an extreme situation, may simply not see what is there, and crash down dead in two steps. A feeder house with a sloping roof can also be whipped up out of the box, as shown in fig. on right. If circumstances allow, then it is advisable to soak the box with three to five times diluted PVA (it is still useful for cardboard feeders), and glue the supports from sticks / twigs. Then the building will be enough for more than one winter. This feeder is nailed to the tree.

Note: the platform feeder can be turned into a house and back as needed (weather, etc.), by attaching a removable roof made of thin hard plastic, see fig. left. PET from cut bottles, sewn with fishing line or stapled with a stapler is well suited, but thin polycarbonate will also work. In the latter case, it is necessary to nail slats with grooves from the sides of the site and push and pull the roof into them.

Feeder house for strong birds

The feeder house with a shed roof is also convenient for fairly large and strong birds: pigeons, waxwings, jays, nutcrackers. All of them do not mind feeding in a row, so a dining house for them needs to be made with a perch. Material - any suitable, incl. and processed cardboard as a substitute for wood, see below. The feeder for these birds should be larger than for small birds; for approximate dimensions see fig. on right. It is tempting to build something similar quickly from a shoe box, on the sidebar there, but this one will not last long: strong active birds will tear and peck at weak material for a feeding or two.

4 - bunker. Optimal in all respects, including antisparrow. The fact is that sparrows are flocking birds. If the flock does not fit on the feeding area, 1-2 sparrows will not “run into” oatmeal with chickadees either: they will eat in a strange company, but in turn and respecting decency.

Homemade bird feeders

Homemade bunker feeders come in different designs, see fig. In the center - a special one for tits and small spotted woodpeckers (hard narrow area, see below). She and the one on the right are anti-sparrow. Modern materials allow the production of such an effective feeder as a bunker in 5 minutes. How is clear from Fig. on right.

Making a bunker bird feeder from a bottle

Materials - PET bottle, plastic plate, nylon thread, superglue. Tools - scissors, knife, gypsy needle. And this feeder will last more than one winter.

5.6 - tray. The food is not visible well, so these are feeders for familiar and familiar birds. What is better to do in front of the notch, the landing area or the perch-six, depends on the type of feeding; which is more convenient for whom, we will see further in the course of the presentation. They are divided into designs with free access to food (5 in the figure at the beginning of the section) and its automatic supply to the nutrient tray (6 in the same place). The latter are even better than bunkers: the feed practically does not wake up. We will deal with them in more detail later. A pan feeder can be designed to cater for only one or a few bird species (6), but this requires serious knowledge of ornithology, appropriate tools and skills; specialized tray feeders are commercially available in a fairly wide range.

Note: if the canteen is planned to be publicly accessible, the food in it can be made clearly visible by making the hopper completely or partially transparent from plastic.

7 - specialized feeder-huller for birds of the appropriate type of food. The feed is held in place by a metal mesh. It can be combined with a tray and thus become combined.

Materials and designs
Plastic

The most popular plastic feeders today. There are several reasons: empty, useless plastic containers have nowhere to go, transparent plastic allows you to make food visible from afar, working with plastic is easy, not garbage and can be done at home without special tools. Plastics are durable, racks, bird feeders from them will last for more than one year and can be made of any type.

Plastic bird feeders

If you will make a house feeder out of plastic, pos. 1 in Fig., please note that the roof must be matte and generally opaque. Wild birds, of course, are smarter than tame canaries and parrots, but when they see a creeping cat (or, say, the shine of an objective lens), they can hit a transparent one with a fright.

Good small plastic feeders are made from used toys: cubes, etc. They are made from polyethylene, so the only reliable way to glue, for example, a roof is instant cyanoacrylate glue (superglue). Feeders are clearly visible, all birds are curious to some extent, so there are no problems with the visibility of food. Round holes in polyethylene are easily cut with a ballerina compass with two needles. Homemade in pos. 2 for complete bird happiness, only perches are missing: polyethylene is slippery.

At pos. 3 and 4 already purchased plastic feeders. Just for your information: the house at pos. 3 costs 180 rubles, and a transparent "firm" in pos. 4 - three times more. But the same feeder can be glued together from scraps of polycarbonate and provided, if you really want a window, with suction cups for bathroom shelves.

Feeders from unusable plastic containers deserve special consideration, see fig. below. Very well thought out design on pos. 1. A wide tray provides good visibility of the feed, and in combination with a perch, it allows all birds to feed. The large capacity of the tray and the corresponding supply of food in it do not require the frequent approach of the breadwinners, which is less frightening for the birds. The trough-shaped form of the tray ensures minimal spillage of feed. The wing hatches bent upwards give an anti-sparrow effect; the platform formed by them on top allows you to put juicy vitamin top dressing.

Bird feeders from unusable containers

Feeders on pos. 2 and 3 are focused on tits, goldfinches and granivorous. The main thing in them is a properly arranged dispenser tray, see below. Feeders are simpler for the same tribe, pos. 4 and 5, you can hang if the sparrows are not very annoying. At pos. 4, a container from computer disks went, this is more for a trifle like a siskin, and a food point from a bucket of sour cream (pos. 5) will also feed bullfinches with waxwings.

Feeders from used containers from liquid products can also be attributed to plastic. Milk and kefir bags, however, are cardboard, but they are laminated with a film on both sides, so they will last the winter. Well, bottles and eggplants, they are made of PET. Small milk-juice bags make excellent feeders for tits, goldfinches, granivorous, you just need to insert a perch stick, pos. 1 next. rice. For the same birds, if baklaga is involved, you need to cut openings in the vessel about 6x8 cm, each from 3 sides, not reaching 3-4 cm to the bottom, and bend the valves outward, pos. 2.

Bird feeders from bags and bottles

If instead of shaky valves, a hard wooden circle is screwed to the bottom of the dishes, then you can count on the visits of the small motley woodpecker. He won’t sit on a blue valve: what kind of woodpecker will he be if he doesn’t grab a tree with his claws?

From large packages, public canteens are obtained, then the openings need to be cut out more so that the food can be seen from afar. In the case when the feeder is suspended in free space, it is also necessary to pierce it with a perch, pos. 4. When placed in a bush as perches for tits, its branches are enough, pos. 5, and sparrows will be uncomfortable here.

Baklaga and tray ...

How to make a bird feeder out of plastic eggplant

How to make a feeder from a plastic eggplant and a 0.25-0.5 liter bottle is shown in fig. on right. The hook at the bottom is optional, hanging food can be hung on it, see above. However, for other types of feeders, the bottle dispenser tray may be too large. In this case, it can be glued from cardboard or several layers of paper impregnated with diluted PVA, see next. rice.:

The device of the bird feeder tray from the eggplant

The yellow arrows show the paths of food movement. To make him wake up less, the inner end of the perch stick should reach the rear edge of the tray; Of course, you can pierce the vessel through them. The arrows in the center of the circle give the scale horizontally and vertically, i.e. the letok will be 6 cm in diameter, this is enough for birds no larger than the great tit.

... and a package house

Feeder-house from juice bags

From 2 bags of juice, a good blue-tit house feeder is obtained, see fig. on right. The whole structure is fastened with tubes-straws from the same juice, their protruding ends will be perches. So that the perches do not bend (the corrugation of the straw remains outside), it is advisable to insert thin twigs into the tubes; can be broken off right there on the spot.

Wooden feeders are good for their durability: impregnated with drying oil, water-polymer emulsion or its substitute in the form of diluted PVA and painted, they serve for years. Therefore, wooden feeders are most often made stationary. Of course, for their manufacture, you will also need a carpentry tool with a separate workplace.

A simple homemade wooden bird feeder

The traditional design of a wooden feeder is a house. A view of the simplest home-made wooden feeder with dimensions is shown in fig. left. However, firstly, such a feeder does not protect the food from weathering, because. the space under the flat roof is blown through. Secondly, by seemingly slightly changing the configuration and proportions of parts, it is possible to specialize the feeder quite strongly. For example, pos. 1 in fig. below is public. Pos. 2 will attract shelling birds: landing on slats protruding to the side and pulling seeds through the crate will give a complete illusion of the usual feeding process. Pos. 3 and 4 - with a weakened blowing of food and a noticeable anti-sparrow effect, for small and larger birds, respectively. Pos. 5 - almost windproof and fundamentally anti-sparrow: a sparrow that has retained common sense will fly into this only in the most extreme case.

Winter bird feeders made of wood

Winter hanging wooden feeders are more convenient and easier to make from plywood and bars of about 30x30 or 30x40 mm. Here you can do without lumber at all by gluing PVA bars from strips of the same plywood. However, stationary feeders on poles will be more durable from solid wood, tk. outdoor plywood, except for expensive waterproof birch, after a season or two begins to delaminate with any impregnation.

Drawings of a stationary wooden bird feeder

For an example in fig. above - a drawing of a country, landscape gardening or forest feeder for all types of birds. A tin tray on a pole not only keeps predators out, but also serves as a sparrow dining room. The lifting liner (it slides freely on the pole) makes cleaning easier and allows birds of one species to feed from their recess while leaving others to others. On a pole under the roof, you can hang nets or cones with food for stubblers, and hanging food for tits can be hung at the corners of the site. Roof for ease of maintenance is removable, on hooks.

wooden special

Double Decker Hanging Bird Feeder

A hanging analogue of such a feeder, as it is now customary to express it, with a simplified functionality, is shown in fig. on right. The diameter of the floor platforms is about 500 mm. The ledges on the middle platform are convenient for birds looking at the food before starting to eat. In this case, the upper platform is intended for sparrows: these troublemakers will scatter food anyway, so you can do without a side, although it will not hurt.

On fig. below - wooden feeders, bunker and tray, which can be turned into combined, suitable for stubblers. The fact is that in these designs, to improve the visibility of the feed, the bunkers are made with glazed windows. Replacing the glass with a steel mesh with a mesh of about 5x5 mm will enable the stubblers to pull out the seeds while the rest are pecking from the trays or from the site.

Wooden bird feeders with good food visibility

How to do without a tree

Wooden feeders look better than plastic homemade ones, they are easier to adapt to the needs of both the bird and the owner. But what if there is no woodworking tool or you don’t want to start carpentry in the house with its sawdust and shavings?

A feeder that is not inferior to wood in terms of convenience, appearance and can last at least 3-4 seasons can be made from corrugated cardboard from packing boxes that have become unnecessary. Of course, it will take more time, but all you need from the tool is a pencil, a ruler, a square, a sharp knife, scissors, an awl, PVA glue and a brush for it. The technology is similar to the manufacture of cardboard shelves:

Making a Corrugated Board Wooden Board Substitute

For each part, 2-5 blanks are cut out, depending on the required thickness, of the same size, but with an internal corrugation oriented alternately along and across, see fig. on right;
Each face is impregnated on one side and the other with a water-polymer emulsion. It is not sold in small packaging, but its full-fledged replacement is PVA diluted with water three to five times. This work must be done on a plastic sheet;
A day later (if the plates were dried at room temperature), the part is glued with PVA in the same order: corrugation along / corrugation across, see the same figure;
The part is dried on a film, while it is also covered with a film on top and pressed down with several books, covering evenly its entire area;
The feeder is assembled on the same PVA glue;
After drying, the end connections are reinforced with studs from toothpicks or pointed matches without heads: the holes for the studs are pricked with an awl from top to bottom, a drop of glue is introduced into each and the stud is immediately pressed;
Open ends are sealed with strips of plain cardboard or thick paper soaked in diluted PVA;
After 3-4 days of drying, the product can be painted, varnished, openings can be made with plastic, mesh can be attached, etc.

Original feeders

Anyone who undertook to make, wants to do something of their own, unusual and unique. Unusual feeders can be divided into original according to the technique of execution or some functional features and simply beautiful, designer ones. One to the other, of course, is not a hindrance in any way, if only the hands were in place.

The first few, say, technical-functional, are shown in Fig.:

Original bird feeders

Pos. 1 - special for cultivators, frugivorous and large granivorous. The cob is put on a nail driven through the bottom. It should be noted here that corn should be hard, fodder or oilseed varieties, with smaller grains. Table sugar will harm the birds: there is too much starch and sugar in its grains.

Pos. It does not require 2 comments: over the summer, ice cream sticks have been accumulated, then - PVA, strings, and that's it. If you make a hearth on each side, then 4 siskins or chickadees will be able to feed at once. Pos. 3 woven from paper tubes. The work is difficult and laborious, especially when you consider that they need to be well protected from deoxidation. However, judging by the fact that as many as 3 great tits feed in such a small area and another one is waiting in line, the birds really like this creation.

Putting a mark on the end of the rope

Finally, pos. 4, from a can. Here it would not hurt to lay a perch from a stick in the braid instead of a slippery cold piece of iron. The manufacturing technology completely allows this: the can is tied with a rope in the same way that sailors, riggers, or, say, high-altitude fitters, mark the end of the cable, see fig. on right.

If we take decorative feeders, then there are no restrictions on design: bright colors of birds do not scare away, they can easily distinguish a drawn cat from a living one, and even peck the image in retaliation; Let's just give a few examples in Fig.:

Decorative bird feeders

According to the execution technique, it is better to avoid varnished and shiny surfaces, as in pos. 1. It is more difficult for claws to catch on smooth, grains dodge from the beak, and glare cuts sensitive bird eyes.

Pumpkin feeders for wild birds do not fit into any classification, but for birds it is a real paradise: proteins, fats, carbohydrates, vitamins with microelements - all in one and in sufficient quantity for all. Plus, a strong and at the same time supple support under the claws. It is not necessary to make something like a house out of a pumpkin or cut a scarecrow face on it, as in the figure: it is enough to remove a piece of skin from one side to the pulp, and even before spring only the peel will remain from the pumpkin. Perhaps suitable for entertaining crafts.

Pumpkin bird feeders

What to feed wild birds?

It remains to decide what kind of bird food to put in the feeder. The best food for all wintering birds is the seeds of wild grasses, especially burdock. Songbird lovers and ornithologists have been collecting turnip seed since the summer or buying it at pet stores. Further, in order of preference by birds and benefits to them:

Note: if there is an opportunity to buy in a pet store, the so-called. canary seed or budgerigar seed mix is just what any bird in the feeder needs.

Wheat, rye and bread from them should be avoided: the bird's body is not adapted to process excess starch. Black bread is especially dangerous: it causes inflammation of the goiter, which often leads to the death of the bird. Perfectly dry crumbs of white bread can be given to pigeons and fruit-eating birds. The same applies to all cereals that swell strongly during cooking: barley (barley), rice, buckwheat. With corn, as mentioned above, you need to be careful. In general, it must be borne in mind that wild birds are smaller than hens with ducks, and their digestion is unusual for homemade food.

Note: the peel of citrus and tropical fruits - bananas, mangoes, avocados, mangosteens, sapodillas, etc. is a deadly poison for our birds. It's about sugars.

Of the vitamin dressings, the best, as already mentioned, are brushes and bunches of wild berries. In addition to the mentioned mountain ash, viburnum, elderberry, barberry, currant, chokeberry, juniper are willingly pecked. In the southern regions - cotoneaster, berries of "wild grapes" (cissus), boxwood. Bones of table grapes, cherries and cherries from compote, melon and watermelon seeds (not pulp!), cores of apples and pears with seeds, grated raw carrots are also excellent vitamin supplements. Whole fruits should not be given: having fed on them, even the most principled tit will not resist the temptation to peck at them in the summer in the garden.

An important component of the bird's diet is mineral supplements and solid inclusions that grind food in the stomach. The most important mineral is calcium. Its source at the feeder is finely crushed eggshells. It must be given without fail if you want the winter eaters to nest right there in the spring. Even birds, like domestic chickens, need sand. It needs to be sprinkled little by little, always river rounded and the smallest.

So, a certain young man with an active-destructive mindset heard in the winter that black bread and banana peels are deadly for birds. He immediately set to work: he was not too lazy and put together a feeder, dried and finely ground banana peels. Then he forked out for a loaf of "Borodinsky" for 40 rubles. at the then price, crumbled it too. He mixed everything, hung up the feeder, poured bird poison into it.

The next morning, he went, anticipating the "task", to see how many of them were lying dead with swollen goiters. It turned out - not a single one, the food was not touched. Before the unlucky terrorist had time to decide what he should think about this, flocks fell from the surrounding trees and showered Grisha with “business cards”. Separate "cards" merged into a continuous blanket, and a bunch formed on the head. Since then, the poor fellow carefully and cautiously bypasses even flocks of sparrows on the pavement.

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In severe winter times, only a person can take care of the birds left for the winter near his home. Not all of the birds are ready to go to warm countries, many migrate in search of food in small areas. Nimble birds do not hibernate, they are endlessly in search of food, and if there is no food, then nimble creatures literally fall dead right under people's feet. Editorial siteconcerned about the fate of feathered friends and offers readers useful material on how to make a bird feeder with your own hands.

Feeders are an opportunity for a bird to survive in winter, and in spring it will thank a person by fighting harmful insects in the garden

Before you rush and build a structure from the first materials that come to hand, you should consider what types of bird feeder designs there are. Perhaps there is already a handy instruction and a drawing of the future feeding place for the birds. Not every bird canteen is convenient - some pichugs will not be able to eat from certain structures, others will have to wait until more nimble comrades are full. Birds are different, it depends on how the bird is used to eating, whether it will be convenient for her to take food from your feeder, or the anatomy of the beak will not allow it.

In addition to the fact that the food should be visible from afar, the design should be such that the food will not be swept away by the wind: not only will the food get lost, but the food scattered on the ground serves as an excellent marker for small predators. We will study the best designs for a bird dining room.

The simplest designs

The hanging platform is located either on a rope or in a mesh case. Tits love to eat in such a place, but a woodpecker will not be able to visit such a kitchen.

Advice! If you want to feed the titmouse, then you can simply hang a ball from a mixture of lard and seeds with inclusions from vegetables.

Trays are convenient to place, their sides do not allow the feed to spill out, and in general the design is quite stable. The roof of the building is optional.

For arranging a platform with food, one rectangular plywood, four bars for the sides and a rope for fastening. Sometimes they simply fix the plastic container from under the eggs in a stable place and pour grain and bread crumbs into the compartments. They also use other plastic trays from under vegetables or salads. This is rather a temporary solution, as the plastic will quickly be blown away by the wind, or the mini-dining room will fill up during a snowfall.

Feeders in the form of a house and closed options

The house looks more solid and reliable - the roof protects the edible contents and the birds themselves from wind and snow, besides, the ubiquitous sparrows do not like to meddle in such feeders. The disadvantage of houses with roofs is that forest birds may not notice the saving treat and starve to death right under the bird's kitchen. To do this, first feed the birds, scattering food around.

Many guests come to the house with a shed roof to feed: pigeons, waxwings, jays, and nutcrackers. If a perch is equipped, then it will always be noisy and interesting near the bird's dining room. The easiest way to build a house with a flat roof, but a significant drawback will be the retention of snow on it, which can cause the bird dining room to fall.

Sparrows do not favor bunker feeders: flocking birds do not fit in a feeding place, and those that fit in will not be able to interfere with oatmeal, titmouse and other birds.

The bunker structure has several compartments for feeding different birds, sometimes there are departments for various feeds. It is not difficult to make a bird feeder bunker yourself: you can make a design from a plastic bottle, plates, threads and super glue.

Related article:

Do-it-yourself birdhouse made of wood. Drawings, overview of materials, construction dimensions; features of manufacturing from cardboard, wood, bottles and plywood; decor and installation - read in our publication.

How to make feeders for street birds with your own hands - description and drawings

Let's pay tribute to the Internet: it is not necessary to reinvent the wheel when there are ready-made recommendations, instructions and drawings with pictures. It's not scary if this is someone else's idea - the execution of another person will add a new twist to the design.

DIY bird feeder made of wood

Wood is an excellent durable material. Minimum woodworking skills are desirable, but for beginners, building a wooden feeder is quite possible.

It is not necessary that all surfaces be perfectly even, the more creative the craft, the more interesting it will be to watch how the birds master it. You can find 4 thick branches of a beautiful shape, prepare a platform from wood or plywood. The roof is made of wooden slats, but you can make a roof from the bark of old trees - this design will look very organic.

DIY bird feeder made of plywood

Plywood is a comfortable material and has more than one year of service life. Plywood feeders, which is a plus. When working with plywood, they use a tape measure, a drill, a corner, a pencil, screws and a knife.

Important! The calculations take into account that the roof is larger than the bottom - this prevents moisture from entering the structure.

All markings from the drawing are transferred to a sheet of plywood and blanks of selected sizes are cut with a jigsaw.

The sides for the fence are attached to the base with screws. The bottom and roof are interconnected by longitudinal rails. The height between the roof and the base should be comfortable for the birds, but not too high.

Advice! It is better to treat plywood with an antiseptic waterproofing solution - this will significantly increase the service life of the product.

Parts for the roof are made from identical sheets, which are interconnected with screws.

Simple options for making box feeders

Tetrapack is a material that does not even need to be specifically looked for: juice and milk boxes can serve as an excellent base for making a feeder for feathered friends. By connecting two narrow boxes and making holes in them at different heights, they get a bunker canteen for birds.

To work, you need a knife, scissors, rope and 5 minutes of time.

The most interesting models of plastic bottle feeders

Plastic bottles are just not used. The plastic feeder is light, creative and comfortable for the birds. More often they take bottles of 0.25-0.5 liters. Marker draw holes, which are then cut out with scissors.

Original hanging bird feeders

In addition to the above materials, use any other improvised.

Ways to attach a bird feeder to a window

Fans of observing the inhabitants outside the window can be advised to purchase or make a bird feeder on suction cups. Such a mount allows you to admire flying birds all winter, take pictures of them and regularly change food.

The glass is washed with vinegar and water and the suction cups are pressed tightly against it. That's all the difficulties associated with attaching the feeder.

Related article:

You probably also, like many garden owners, want to know what you can do with your own hands for garden decor, because decorative decorations in the store are so expensive. In this review, we will tell and show what can be created from improvised materials.

Bird feeders - what are the options for feeding

In an article about feeding birds, one should not forget to talk about those birds that bring unconditional benefits to humans. Tray feeders are used for feeding chickens - they are designed in such a way that the chick does not fit into the feeder completely and does not have the opportunity to scatter food.

Grooved feeders can be limited from above by a grate and divided inside into compartments for different types of feed.

Used for dry food: poured grain in the morning and remembered a fresh portion the next morning. Cleanliness is maintained around, and food is dosed as it is eaten.

How to make a do-it-yourself chicken feeder

There is not always the means and the desire to purchase a chicken feeder in a store. We offer several options, convenient and easy to manufacture.

Do-it-yourself bunker feeder for chickens made of wood or plywood - description and drawings

This method takes more time. The video shows all the stages of work:

For manufacturing, they take thick-walled plywood, screws, 90 ° hinges, skin, electric jigsaw, tape measure, pencil, ruler, saw, drill with drills, clamp.

First, markings of the desired dimensions are made on plywood and all the details are drawn with a pencil and a ruler. All parts are cut with a jigsaw, and holes for fasteners are immediately made with a drill. The edges of all parts are sanded, and then assembled with screws and a clamp.

Advice! The front part can be made of transparent plastic - this way you can always see the amount of feed.

The lid is hinged to the side walls. The product is treated with an antiseptic.

Making a chicken feeder from PVC pipes

Take 1-3 sewer pipes with a diameter of 15 cm, plugs and in size if necessary. It is better to make the average length of the pipes - and there will be a lot of food, and good stability.

They connect the two parts with a knee, one large one is laid horizontally and several holes are made in it with a radius of 4 cm with a drill with a circular crown. A plug is installed on the other end. The second option is installed vertically, and the elbows are placed on both sides of the main pipe.

Plastic bottle feeder

A convenient option, both drinkers and feeders: from a 19-liter bottle and a PVC pipe. To make a bottle on top, a hole is made for a pipe, in which the edge is beveled from below. Holes are made from below along the base so that the bird sticks its head into them for food. Grain is poured into the pipe.

Making a chicken feeder from a bucket

An automatic feeder for chickens made of a plastic bucket and a plastic container or a bowl is very convenient. The diameter of the bowl should exceed the diameter of the bucket by 15 cm. Holes for food are cut out at the bottom of the bucket. The containers are interconnected with self-tapping screws.

Features of making do-it-yourself feeders for chickens

Chickens can actively scatter food with their paws, so a design is provided for feeding them, where they will be deprived of this opportunity and will not stain the food.

Winter is on the way, it is harder for poor birds to get their own food every day. Let's help them, at the same time teach our children kindness and mercy, care for our smaller brothers. Grateful birds in return will delight you with unpretentious but cheerful songs, as well as sketches from their bird life. If you put a video camera next to the feeder, you can eventually get an exclusive story in the style of "In the Animal World" and show it at school in the lesson of the world or biology. In general, in this article we decided to talk about what should be a bird feeder that you make with your own hands. We will offer a description and a photo.

Making a simple do-it-yourself feeder

First of all, inspect the intended material, from which you plan to make a feeder, and estimate your capabilities. Also consider some design requirements:

Remember, it should be comfortable for the birds, as well as for pouring and removing food.
She must have protection from wind and precipitation, the wind can simply bring food out, and precipitation can cause food to freeze or mold, which is also inconvenient for the birds.
The material from which the feeder is made must be moisture resistant, so that it would not have to be repaired or remade several times during the winter.
It should not have sharp edges and corners, so as not to injure the birds.
If it is supposed to feed small birds, then the feeder should also be made small so that large and aggressive birds do not rob it and scare away small birds.
It is better to place your feeder on tree branches or fix it on the walls of a house or household. buildings, not lower than one and a half meters from the ground, so that the cats do not get there, and it is convenient for you to replenish food supplies.

plywood option.

Of course, you can buy it ready-made in the hypermarket. But to make it yourself, and even together with the children - what could be better if the sons help you, and the daughters look with different eyes at such a handmade father! Moreover, there are no difficulties here. It can be made closed, open, with a gable roof. On the Internet, you can easily find any drawings with ready-made sizes and patterns. Choose any!

For small birds, it is necessary to take into account the dimensions of the structure, so that it would not even occur to the big voracious crows to poke their heads there, they will simply be very uncomfortable there.

So, prepare a jigsaw, a hammer, suitable cloves, sandpaper, water-based glue, plywood, a 20X20 cm bar for work. Let's start with the simplest option.
We make the bottom 25X25 cm, and the roof is larger so that the water flows past without getting inside. We mark the rest of the details according to the patterns on plywood.
With sandpaper, be sure to sand the sawn edges properly so that there is no burr left.
We cut the bar into 4 racks 25 - 30 cm long.
If you plan to make the roof flat under a slope, then make 2 bars out of 4 shorter by a couple of cm, and under a slope.
We first glue all the connecting places with glue, and then we fasten them with carnations. We attach racks to the bottom, and sides to them.
We fix the roof with self-tapping screws on top of the racks.
Now it remains to fix the feeder in the chosen place, and fill the treat there.

Variants of a wooden feeder.

This is a more durable material. If you have the skills to work with wood and tools for its processing, feel free to get down to business. A board for work will need a thickness of 18 - 20 cm, in addition, prepare a bar 4.5X2 cm, a square piece of plywood 25X25 cm (bottom of the feeder), and for the roof 2 pieces of 35X22 cm each, as well as self-tapping screws, glue and cloves.

Homemade - a feeder from a milk bag / box.

Here we are talking about how to make a bird feeder. The next option is the most elementary. He is tough even for a child. We take:

Clean package / box of juice or milk.
Wire or rope made of nylon for hanging.
Marker.
Adhesive plaster.
Stationery knife or scissors.

First, we outline and cut holes for birds on opposite sides. We protect the cut edges with adhesive tape so that the birds do not cripple. We pierce holes under the holes and insert the trimmings rolled up from the bird holes there, and above the holes we make holes for wire or rope for hanging. We fasten our feeder to a branch.

It can also be attached to a tree, but then it is necessary to make holes not from opposite sides, but from close ones, to facilitate the approach of birds.

There is a variant of the feeder of two packages, it turns out to be triangular in shape. We cut off the first package by 2/3 and cut out the front side at the bottom, this will be the bottom. And we cut the second package from the bottom along the narrow sides, but do not touch the top. Now we combine both parts and fix them with glue or tape.

Feeders are also obtained from 1.5 - 2 liter bottles.

Option 1. On opposite sides of the bottle, cut out holes of arbitrary shape. When cutting holes in the shape of the letter P, you can bend up the unfinished part, you get a canopy from the rain. Be sure to glue an adhesive plaster or tape from below to the cuts from damage to the bird's paws. You can make holes in the bottom and insert sticks, this will be a perch.

It can be attached to a tree, and hung on branches, if you tie a rope in knots in the lid on the inside in the holes, so that you get a loop that must be thrown over the branches.

Option 2. The feeder is a bunker. The most summer option if you visit there only on weekends. Then it will not be necessary to monitor the replenishment of food every day, he himself will fall asleep gradually as he eats.

To do this, take a couple of identical bottles. We make holes near the bottom of one bottle. Remove the top part. At the top we cut a symmetrical pair of holes for further hanging. At the second bottle, we make several holes at the neck, a supply of food will pour in there. You should not make large holes right away, then expand them as needed. Now we fall asleep actually, feed, insert into the first cut bottle.

Option 3. Feeder with spoons. We make holes in the lid and insert a rope in the form of a loop there. Next, we make symmetrical holes for spoons. On the side of the cup, we make a larger hole, so that there would be the possibility of spilling the food. It remains to fill the feeder and hang.

In the bottom of any bottle feeder, it is advisable to make several small holes in size with a red-hot needle or nail to remove moisture.

Bird feeder from a five-liter bottle.

Bird feeders can be created not only from wood. For you, we offer products that were created from other available materials. The feeder looks very interesting. for birds from a plastic bottle. Spending one evening and feeding birds all winter is not a useful activity for a rainy autumn evening! There is a five-litre bottle in every house, and a considerable number of birds can easily get enough of such a container. The main thing is to make more holes.

The whole family can take part in the manufacturing process, you need to prepare a pruner, bottle, knife, wire or rope to attach to a tree.

First, we decide how the feeder will be attached to the tree, after that we mark the future holes.

If it is placed vertically, then we retreat 5-7 cm from the bottom and make several square or triangular holes.

If it is horizontal, then we cut wide holes in the neck and in the bottom of the bottle.

Wire or twine will perfectly secure the feeder to the tree. In order to prevent the wind from swaying it, you can put a quarter of a brick on the bottom, and already pour food on top.

Such a large bottle can also be adapted as a bunker option. Then, in addition to the 5-liter, you will need 2 1.5-liter bottles, a marker, a knife and a rope.

We mark holes for birds on a 5-liter bottle, a couple, and one more for a one and a half liter bottle.
We make the hole for the bottle U - shaped, bend the visor up, and seal the cuts with adhesive tape.
At a one and a half liter bottles, we make holes at the points of contact with the bottom of five liters and a little higher, for spilling food to the bottom as needed.
We cut a hole in the lid of a five-liter bottle so that the neck of a one and a half liter bottle would peek out from there.
From the second one and a half liters we cut off the neck in the form of a funnel, and put it in the protruding neck of the first 1.5 liters.
Everything is ready, it remains to fix the bird's dining room on the tree.

An excellent feeder will turn out from a shoe box.

A shoe box or similar in size, can be laminated, made of thick cardboard, suitable for making a feeder. Everything is already there - the roof, the bottom, the walls, the minimum work remains - to cut the necessary holes and attach to the tree. Here you need a clerical knife, a marker and tape with a cord. In the absence of lamination, tape will help protect the feeder from the weather. The bottom must be weighted with sand or pebbles, so that it does not sway with the wind, and after pouring food, hang it on a tree.

There is another option - we fix the lid with adhesive tape perpendicular to the inside of the box, the lid will actually be a table with food, and the box will be both a roof and a side. We make a hook from the wire, and piercing the top of the feeder, we hang it to the chosen place. It remains to pour food and arm yourself with a camera or video camera!

We offer you a selection of various options for making bird feeders with your own hands. Here we have collected the best tutorials and step-by-step tutorials, as well as dozens of original ideas and photos for inspiration. In this article, you will find crafts of varying degrees of complexity: from those that take no more than 5 minutes to create, to those that you have to tinker with.

Creating feeders is one of the best ways to organize great leisure time and at the same time help feathered creatures survive the cold. This is a really useful and very good deed - by hanging a feeder, you will not let the birds die of hunger (in urban conditions, this, unfortunately, is quite possible).

What do you need to pay attention to?

Earlier, we already told you about how to choose the right wood for creating birdhouses. If you are planning to make a tree feeder, check out our tips. However, feeders can be made from other materials. Here are some general important tips before starting the creative process.

If you want to make the feeder look bright, only paint the outside of the feeder to prevent the birds from accidentally pecking and ingesting harmful chemicals.
When creating feeders, make sure that the hole into which the bird flies is smooth on all sides (this is especially true for bottle feeders, the edges of which can be scratched if not carefully cut). This will help protect the birds from accidental injury.
If you use glue or varnish in your work, carefully study their composition. They should not contain toxic elements.
Do not make paper feeders too large - if a bird sits in it, the craft may tear and harm the bird.
Remember that wooden feeders can get dangerous mold, and metal ones can rust. Therefore, it is better to protect them with a special coating (without harmful chemicals).
It is important to check the cleanliness of the feeder from time to time and examine it for damage.

from wood

Let's move on to the manufacturing process. A standard wooden feeder is made in the form of a birdhouse or a house. They can also be made in several variations. We offer you the most popular of them.

House with uprights

Use this drawing with dimensions. The picture is clickable, and it contains step-by-step instructions for assembling the feeder with your own hands.

Please note that vertical posts can be replaced with thick branches.

The hut can be made of plywood, but it will need to be varnished.

Vary the size and height of the sides.

House with side walls

An approximate assembly scheme for this hut looks like this. Please note that the dimensions can be proportionally changed and adjusted.

The side walls can be made solid. Interesting decor will add attractiveness to the house.

You can cut neat round holes in the side faces. Remember to sand them so that the birds do not pick up a splinter.

If the design turned out to be small, it is better to fill it with cereals and seeds glued together into a special treat. More on this below.

edible feeder

To feed the birds, you can do without the feeder in the usual form. We will prepare special “cookies” for birds and simply hang them on branches.

We will need:

2 packs of gelatin;
2/3 cup of water;
2 cups of food (seeds, cereals);
skewers;
cookie cutters.

Pour gelatin with hot water and wait for it to swell. Then we mix it with cereals and seeds. Mix the mass well and fill its molds for cookies or muffins. Insert a skewer to make a hole.

When the mass has cooled and “grabbed”, carefully remove it from the mold and pull out the skewer. Insert thread into the hole.

If you don't have molds, spread the gelatin mixture on a toilet paper roll and roll it over the stern to make it stick. Let dry, then attach to a branch.

You can also roll the mixture into lumps and place them in bags in a large mesh.

Such a treat is very popular with birds.

Bonus

Didn't find a suitable option? This video shows 50 more original ideas and many different ways to make a bird feeder out of wood or bottles.

Choose any of the presented feeders, decorate it, fill it with seeds and cereals. So you will have a wonderful opportunity to observe the life of birds and do a good deed!

Although winter has not been severe in recent years, there is still not enough food for birds at this time of the year. Birds willingly flock to the proposed treat, and you can watch titmouses, bullfinches, sparrows nearby for hours.

Children are especially interested in it. I still remember my own childhood impressions: it was impossible to tear me away from the window. Dad then made a small, unpretentious wooden feeder made of slats and scraps of plywood, and sparrows always hovered around it, sometimes bullfinches flew in. And for the titmouse we hung a piece of fresh fat. I myself tried to build something similar last year, but my carpentry skills were not enough - it turned out to be something not very strong and slightly lopsided.

The easiest way, of course, is to use the well-known option - cut a feeder from a cardboard bag (from under milk or juice) or a plastic bottle:

A plastic bottle feeder is perhaps the easiest option.

1. Feeder without a roof - the simplest design

Making a roof for the "bird dining room", in my opinion, is the most difficult part of the job. So, if you, like me, are not sure about your building skills, you can try to start by offering treats to the feathered guests of the garden on simple wooden tray.

Wooden feeder without a roof - not very practical, but very simple

A piece of plywood, four thin blocks as sides (so that the grain does not blow away with the wind) and a rope for attaching to a branch - the feeder is ready! And a very simple option is to fix an ordinary plastic tray on some stable surface (they often pack sweets, cookies, vegetables in stores):

A plastic tray feeder is extremely easy to manufacture

Big minus such a feeder - it is not protected from snowfalls and winds. So this is more likely not a "dining room", but a small "buffet" for birds. It will fit as a temporary “food point” - in the event that you rarely visit the country house in winter, and there is still no one to regularly fill the feeder.

2. Wooden feeder with a flat roof

This option is more difficult, but not by much. With the task of attaching four columns to the base of the feeder - supports under the roof - even I successfully coped. Then it remains only to pin or fasten another piece of plywood with screws on top (it is better if it is slightly larger in size than the base of the feeder). Such an elementary roof will serve as a small, but still shelter from snow and rain.

It is not too difficult to make a flat roof, and this is already some kind of protection from precipitation.

Minus design: on a flat roof, snow lingers, the feeder can become too heavy and break off or break off the branch on which you fixed it. So it is better to put it on a strong pole or other reliable support, and periodically clean the snow from the roof.

3. Cones, berries, sunflowers...

I personally really liked this idea, although now it can be implemented only if there are suitable supplies in the house:

Cones with seeds many birds will appreciate

Since autumn, rowan beads have been hanging in our house - Alenka made them from ripe berries. I think the birds will also like this treat. Let's get ready for next season.

4. "Avoska" with provisions

Another simple and easy to implement idea. True, lately I have rarely come across such nets (we used to sell tangerines in them), but I think if you look, you will find them.

And then - quite easily (well, if you believe what I read in various sources). If someone tried to make such a feeder, please share your impressions: how simple and convenient it really is, and how birds treat such a treat.

So, the grain (or grain mixture) is thoroughly mixed with melted lard ( never salty!) or peanut butter. A ball is rolled from the mixture, placed in a net and hung. All! Fat hardens in the cold and holds food, which the birds then gradually peck out. I came across an option without the fat "filler":

Avoska with bird food

True, here the food is large, as it seems to me - not every bird can cope with such a treat. But maybe I'm wrong. Another way to "improve" the mesh feeder is the roof. Yes, yes, the most caring can protect both food and feathered guests from bad weather. Like this, for example:

An idea for the skilled and caring: a food net under a roof

And with the help of a net, you can organize a real dining room for the birds, almost a restaurant. With a large assortment of dishes - as in the next photo. This idea seemed worthy of attention to me too, and to you?

With the help of nets, you can organize a real bird "restaurant" with a large selection of dishes.

Mesh feeders they are also convenient because it is more difficult for large impudent birds like magpies and jackdaws to attach to them. For us, for example, this is really a problem: as soon as you pour cereals into the feeder, magpies immediately appear near it; they chase titmouse and sparrows, and it is more difficult for small birds to feed in winter. Therefore, I purposefully look for options that would be suitable specifically for these birds. Here is another find...

5. Coconut feeder

If a coconut is accidentally lying around on the farm, then, having used its contents for its intended purpose, the shell can be used as a feeder.

If a coconut is lying around on the farm, you can also make a feeder out of it

True, as far as I know, it is very hard, and it is not so easy to deal with it, but if this does not scare you, take a closer look at the idea. A natural, environmentally friendly feeder will delight the birds and decorate the garden. It is more convenient to fill it with the same mixture of fat and grain that was prepared for the mesh feeder. And it is not necessary to gouge holes in a whole nut - you can also use half a coconut shell.

6. Metal mesh feeders

Similar designs can often be found in stores, but for a good craftsman, I think it will not be difficult to make such a feeder with your own hands, especially since the material is quite affordable.

The size of the structure and the details of the structure are at your discretion. However, the feeder obviously should not be too large in diameter. But in its height, perhaps, it is worth making more - so that several birds can feed at once. Of course, you will need a roof (removable - to fill the grain inside) and a base - so that the feed does not spill out.

And here is another metal mesh feeder I liked - but this, perhaps, is already for virtuoso masters. But the idea is good!

Titmouse likes a ball feeder

However, if you take a closer look, perhaps such a “ball” can be built not only from metal wire. I think those who can