Unusual bird feeder. How to make a bird feeder with your own hands: instructions for making wooden and plastic feeders, photos and videos. Ideas for making your own feeder

Making your own bird feeder is not difficult. In winter, birds are in great danger; they need to be fed.

This is why people create feeders and help birds survive this cold season.

Feeders can be created using any materials that are found in any home. They do not require financial investments or special knowledge, but only a good attitude towards the environment.

General rules for creating feeders:

• convenience;
• moisture resistance;
• safety (exclude sharp corners);
• walls and corners should not be sharp or prickly;
• fastening not lower than 1.5 m above the ground.

Plywood as a material for a feeder

You can make the drawings yourself, or you can find them on the Internet. When selecting or creating a drawing, take into account the features of the tiles.

If you plan to feed small birds, then plan a small opening so that large birds do not compete with them.

Prepare: plywood, hammer and nails, glue, jigsaw (electric), timber (about 20 by 20 cm) and sandpaper.

• Step 1 Mark the plywood and cut out the parts with a jigsaw. Make the square on the bottom and on the roof 5 cm larger (25x25 cm).

• Step 2 Sand the workpieces.

• Step 3 Cut out posts (up to 30 cm) from the block.

• Step 4 Connect the parts with nails (or glue), attach the posts to the bottom, and attach the sides to the posts.

• Step 5 The roof is attached with self-tapping screws.

Wooden feeder

A reliable and high-quality material for any crafts is wood.

Prepare:

• for racks a block (4.5 by 2 cm);
• for the bottom plywood (square 25 by 25 cm);
• plywood for the roof (35 by 22 - two pieces);
• glue, screws, nails.

Step 1 Frame base – assemble the bottom with the sides. Cut pieces of timber to fit the bottom and connect. Glue the ends with glue and tighten with self-tapping screws. It is recommended to make the sides (two parallel) 5 cm longer than the bottom.

Step 2 Nail the bottom to the base frame.

Step 3 Screw the racks (from 18 to 20 cm) to the inside of the box.

Step 4 Attach two bars at right angles. Secure the joints with another block. You need to make two parts in the form of a right angle.

Step 5 Attach the rafters to the posts using rafters and nail pieces of wood to them for the roof.

Step 6 Glue sticks-perches to the sides (extended).

Feeder made from a milk carton

This type of bird house is often made in kindergartens and primary schools. Prepare: milk/juice carton, scissors, wire, marker and adhesive tape.

• Step 1 Cut holes on two opposite sides of the box.
• Step 2 Glue the edges of the “windows” with adhesive tape.
• Step 3 Punch a hole under the windows and insert a cardboard tube (from the cut holes).
• Step 4 Make holes for the wire in the bent corners.

Feeder made from plastic bottles

• Step 1 Cut holes on both sides of the bottle (leave bridges between them).
• Step 2 Apply adhesive tape to the sides.
• Step 3 Make holes at the bottom for the perch stick.

Feeder made from a five-liter plastic bottle

This type of feeder holds a lot of food, which is very convenient for feeding birds in winter. It is convenient for them to eat inside such a spacious product. You can involve the whole family to create. Prepare: bottles, knife (or stationery knife).

• Step 1 Cut a hole vertically or horizontally, depending on the mounting method.
• Step 2 If the holes are made horizontally, then you need to make two holes on the side (with a knife) and pass twine through them (to tie it up).
• Step 3 Place a small stone on the bottom to avoid falling during strong winds.

Feeder out of the box

You can create a feeder from almost any cardboard box. It is better to choose thick and laminated cardboard so that it will last longer in winter moisture conditions.

Making this feeder is easy because it already has the desired shape, walls, bottom and roof. You just need to cut the holes. Prepare: tape, knife and nylon cord.

• Step 1 Wrap the box with tape.
• Step 2 Cut the side holes.
• Step 3 Attach the fastening cord.
• Step 4 Place pebbles on the bottom.

There is an alternative version of this design. The lid can be glued perpendicularly so that it serves as a stand for food.

Then the side and roof will be from the second part of the box.

This product must also be carefully taped. Next you need to make two small wire hooks and lay them on the “ceiling” (twist and bend). The hooks need to be connected to each other, and now it can be hung on a branch.

Photos of bird feeders

In winter, it is not easy for birds to find food under the snow. You can help them by making a bird feeder with your own hands. Involve your children in this exciting activity. In the process of working together, children can be told about how important it is to feed birds in cold weather, what kind of food should be poured in, and what birds fly to the feeder in winter.

Why is it important to feed birds in winter?

Ornithological scientists give the following figures: out of every ten tits, nine die during the winter, mainly from hunger. Birds' metabolism is designed in such a way that they need to eat throughout the daylight hours, and in cold weather they require even more calories to maintain life. A well-fed bird can easily stay warm until the morning, but a hungry bird has little chance of surviving a frosty night. There is especially little food in the second half of winter, when most of the berries and fruits have already been eaten or covered with snow.

Setting up a feeder is not at all difficult; making it with your own hands will save many birds’ lives if you don’t forget to fill it in a timely manner.

What birds can you see at the feeder in winter?

In central Russia, more than ten species of birds fly to feeders. In cities, tits, sparrows, pigeons, and crows are more common. In large parks, in gardens, on the outskirts or in rural areas, you can see woodpeckers, goldfinches, waxwings, nuthatches, bullfinches, jays and many other birds at feeders. The most frequent visitors to the bird canteen are tits - the great tit with a yellow breast and the black-and-white Muscovy - and their closest relatives - blue tits and princelings.

Quick feeder from a plastic bottle

Despite their unpresentable appearance, feeders made from plastic bottles can most often be seen on trees. They can be made from any container, but it is better to choose transparent plastic so that you can see how the feeder is emptying. They have a lot of advantages:

1. Unnecessary plastic containers can be found in any household. Instead of refilling the trash container with them, you can do a useful thing.
2. To make such a feeder, you only need a kitchen or stationery knife and a piece of rope. If you want to do it as neatly as possible, mark the cutting lines with a marker and give it to the children - let them paint the future feeder. Such a beautiful bird's canteen will be clearly visible on the white snow, and you will not miss it when you add food.
3. From plastic bottles you can make several - different shapes and types. By carefully observing the arriving birds, you can see flaws in the design and make a new one without any problems.

And finally, a person with any skills can easily and quickly make such a feeder. Teenage children can be tasked with making them themselves.

Rinse containers containing strong-smelling liquids thoroughly. Birds have a sensitive sense of smell and a strong smell can scare them away. It is better to take a bottled water container.

The easiest option is to cut a large hole in the side wall of the bottle. It should not be made too high so that the feeder does not turn into a trap. There should be a few centimeters left to the bottom. The lid must be left on the bottle to prevent snow and rainwater from getting inside through the neck. Choose a place for the feeder so that cats and other animals cannot jump into it from the ground or crawl along a thick branch. At the same time, the bottle must be well secured.

There should always be a variety of food in the feeder. Make sure you don't run out of food.

An interesting and convenient design is made from several inverted bottles mounted on a wooden pallet. It allows you to simultaneously feed a larger number of birds with different food.

How to make a wooden feeder

Surely you have already made several pieces from plastic bottles and hung them in the park or in your garden. Now you can take on a more complex task and make a bird feeder with your own hands from wood. The simplest and most affordable material for it is plywood. It is durable and quite resistant to moisture. To work you will need:

• a sheet of plywood of a suitable size;
• wooden slats;
• pencil;
• jigsaw;
• hammer;
• nails or screws;
• screwdriver or screwdriver.

The plywood needs to be cut with a jigsaw to the dimensions shown in the photo below. It is advisable to nail slats to such a bird feeder along the perimeter of the bottom so that the food does not spill out of it. Plywood can be replaced with fiberboard, OSB or hardboard.

Assembly must be carried out in the same sequence in which the house is erected. The bottom is screwed to the base, then the pediments. The roof is attached to them. Provide for fastening to a tree, pole or any other high structure.

The dimensions in the picture are approximate, and you can change them, but it is not advisable to make a large feeder with only corner posts, so that it does not turn out like in the photo below:

For the same reason, you should not attach your craft directly to a tree trunk or thick branch.

What food do wintering birds need?

Now you can make any bird feeder with your own hands. All that remains is to find out what to fill them with and how to prepare the food so that the birds are happy.

You can start collecting food for birds in the summer. Collect and dry the seeds of watermelon, melon, sunflower, pumpkin, and hemp. All seeds must be unroasted. Shredded dried white bread, cottage cheese mixed with dried bread so that it does not stick together, unsalted lard, acorns, bunches of rowan, elderberry will be used. For granivorous birds, bunches of weeds - nettle, quinoa, burdock, horse sorrel - are dried in the fall.

If it was not possible to prepare food in advance, ready-made grain mixtures for parrots and other ornamental birds are suitable.

You cannot put salty or spoiled foods into the feeders, including salted lard, moldy bread, millet, and fried seeds. Brown bread, pies, belyashi and pizza are also not suitable.

By making a bird feeder with your own hands, you will save a lot of birds, and you will welcome spring with their cheerful singing. And in gardens and parks they will help get rid of many pests on trees.

Homemade feeders - video

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 have selected photos and original ideas for making feeders that do not require special skills or 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 diverse, but there are some general design rules:

• 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 a suitable length, water-based glue, sandpaper, plywood, 20 x 20 mm timber. 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 elementary 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 as 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 of the 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 pour 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

To make a bird canteen with your own hands, the simplest material will do, which is stored in abundance on the balconies of most families: boxes of electrical goods, cardboard packaging of 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 a very interesting option for the general development of 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.

Scientists now clearly agree that there are no harmful birds at all. Even from such arrogant rogues as hooded crows and cormorants, as it turned out, there is still much more benefit than harm. Documented attacks on climbers by bearded eagle and lamb's eagle have been caused by climbers approaching their nests; a brood is a brood, it needs to be protected. The second thing that experts are unanimous about is that in winter a bird feeder is needed in residential areas. Many of the small and most useful of them do not make regular flights, but undertake feeding migrations in winter. Near human habitation, food areas remain plentiful longer than in the wild, and when real cold comes with lack of food, there is no longer enough strength to fly: there will be nothing to eat along the way.

If you describe the bird in one word, it would be movement. There are no and cannot be birds that hibernate or otherwise save their own energy resources when unfavorable conditions occur: the body’s adaptation 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. She does not weaken at the same time until she falls, numb, at the feet of a passerby. Take it to the veterinarians - maybe they will come out. But it’s still better, after spending a little labor, to build a feeder for the winter with your own hands; Almost any household scraps or scraps will work for this.

Wild birds at feeders in winter

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

What kind of feeder should it be?

Let us first imagine the design of a feeding trough. Let’s just imagine it, because there is no need to draw it up on paper and run around with it in offices with serious uncles and caustic aunts. But, firstly, you need to know where and for what purpose there will be a winter bird canteen: in the city, outside the city, for temporary feeding in the very cold or for permanently attracting useful helpers. Secondly, who will we feed? Who should we let go ahead, and who should we unobtrusively ask to wait? For example, if others have a bad time, sparrows, crows and pigeons will certainly kill each other. They have long become accustomed to humans and will find something to profit from in the most severe food shortage, but in a dacha or on an estate other birds will be of more use.

Having decided on the “range of 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 an extensive solid level support, from thick branches, twigs and tree trunks, clinging to them with their claws, from swaying thin branches and blades of grass; The design of the feeder should provide advantageous access to feed to desired guests. We do not mean birds that take food in the summer; they are all migratory. After this, we will select the material for the feeder, preferably free, and from it we will see how to make it. This is approximately the WPR (work execution plan).

Who will feed?

As already said, sparrows, pigeons and, especially, crows need to be discouraged from the feeder. What kind of birds are desirable on it? Of course, wintering in this area. They can be divided into 2 categories: the first are nomadic. They do not have specific wintering places; Where there is enough food, it is good there even in winter. They will be the most frequent guests at the feeder. The second ones are obligate, i.e. necessarily wintering in their permanent feeding stations (areas). Only extreme circumstances can drive them to the feeder: a particularly harsh winter, etc. In the central zone of the Russian Federation and in the south of Siberia, in addition to the ubiquitous persistent sparrows, the birds shown in the figure fly to the feeder; a list with names is below it.

Birds you can expect at your feeder in winter

• nuthatch;
• pika;
• lesser spotted woodpecker;
• crossbill;
• jay;
• nutcracker or nutcracker;
• bullfinch;
• waxwing;
• common grosbeak;
• goldfinch;
• yellowhammer;
• greenfinch;
• great tit;
• blue tit;
• tufted tit;
• Muscovy tit;
• long-tailed tit;
• chickadee.

The first trinity are obligately wintering insectivorous birds. Nuthatch and pika extract insects from bark cracks and wood passages with beaks specially adapted for this purpose. Woodpeckers, as you know, gouge their way to prey. At the feeder, you can almost certainly expect only the Lesser Spotted Woodpecker: it has already, one might say, completely gotten along with people, and with a lack of animal food, it is able to feed on hard seeds. Other woodpeckers (black or yellow, great spotted, green, golden or Syrian) will never fly to the feeder, and if a nuthatch and/or pika appear there, it means that the birds are generally unwell this winter, and high-calorie food with animal fats should be given and proteins; which one exactly – 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 from cones, these are the most specialized of shelling birds, their beak has turned into something like tongs. Crossbills even hatch chicks in the middle of winter, when there are plenty of puffed up cones. In general, they don’t care about taking food from a branch or clinging to a support, as long as it’s not from the ground. Jays and nutcrackers are also shellers, but not as skilled. By the way, Kedrovka can be seen not only in the north; sometimes it undertakes long-distance feeding migrations, during which it 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 and nutcracker create storehouses of seeds, which are not fully used, or are even completely forgotten. This is how the forest spreads. Forestry specialists are confident that without nutcrackers, maintaining the supply of Siberian pine (Siberian cedar) would be impossible. In addition, jays and nutcrackers destroy a lot of wintering harmful insects.

It is possible to attract shelling birds to your site, but they need a special type of homemade feeders, see below. Shelling feeders are also sold ready-made, but there is nothing in them that you cannot make yourself. They will also be suitable for crossbills in case of cone harvest failure, however, after feeding, they will fly back into the forest.

Note: Just in case, let us also remind you: insectivorous forest birds and shellers fly to people for food in the most extreme cases, and then they must be offered nutritious, high-calorie food. Along the way, they will thoroughly clean up the garden and vegetable garden from overwintering harmful little things.

The bullfinch, waxwing, grosbeak and goldfinch are considered primarily frugivorous birds. There is no mistake here, we are not talking about flesh, but about juicy fruits and berries. Their seeds 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 their chicks with insects, and while/when there is no harvest, they themselves do not disdain them. Actually, frugivorous birds of middle latitudes can be considered avian omnivores, because. animal feed makes up a significant portion of their diet. The goldfinch can generally consume more insects than plant foods. In the extermination of wintering pests, they complement insectivores and shellers, because those, as a rule, do not take prey that is completely open and motionless, for example. pupae.

It is advisable to introduce frugivorous birds to the site, but with caution. A good bait would be pieces of soft, juicy plant food placed on the roof of the feeder: apple cores with seeds, pumpkin, cucumber. However, before you put bait, you need to take a closer look at those eating: if a grosbeak is seen among them, it is better to refuse baiting. In the spring, it pecks out swelling buds and in some places has become a real scourge of gardens and vegetable gardens. Later, the grosbeak more than compensates for the damage, destroying huge numbers of May beetles and cabbage caterpillars, but still there is no need to promote its excessive reproduction.

Note: Sometimes it is advised, as a winter vitamin supplement, to put twigs in the feeder that have been left in water at home until the buds swell. No need, just like any other seedlings, or even absolutely useful tits, can learn to “bear wood.” The best vitamin food for birds in winter is cores of apples and pears with seeds, fibrous core of pumpkin with seeds, bunches of viburnum, rowan, elderberry, dried rose hips, cherry (can be made from compote) and grape seeds. For more information about feed, see below.

Fruit-eating birds take food from the ground and clinging to a support, so the feeder for them can be anything other than a swinging suspension, see below. They are stronger and stronger than sparrows, but not so impudent, so they are not competitors for tits if there is enough food. Goldfinches are the most common species at the feeder; they are close to becoming obligately hibernating human symbionts. Here it is useful to remember Saint-Exupery: “We are responsible for those we have tamed.”

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

Note: The author is deeply convinced that the old song about the little siskin who drank vodka on the Fontanka was composed not only as a mockery of the cadets of one of the elite cadet corps who wore yellow and black uniforms. In nature, the siskin really has a somewhat drowsy and arrogant look, like that of a beginning heavy drinker who has just grabbed (snatched, grunted, missed, rolled, knocked over, knocked over, etc., etc.) a stopper or two, see fig. on right. That doesn’t stop him from being as careful and prudent as a bird.

Finally, a horde of tit birds who steal wheat only from the house that Jack built. In fact, insects are an indispensable and significant part of their diet, and of varying sizes. If the great and tufted tits are able to cope with locusts, then the long-tailed tit and chickadee are not averse to pecking at aphids and spider mites. The tits have gotten along quite well with people; there is no need to attract them, they will come on their own. In normal winters, feeding should be given with dry plant matter, and in severe frosts - highly nutritious, like other insectivores. Then, having become bored with the dry grass over the winter, the titmice will attack the pests in the spring, not allowing them to properly stretch their mandibles, and they will immediately have no time for seedlings with crops. And whoever survives this beak slaughter will no longer be able to cause significant damage to the crop. Tits can take food from the thinnest branches blown by the wind; they only have one evolutionary step left to learn how to take food from the summer. This makes it easier to create specialized tit canteens.

What about sparrows?

Sparrows are no less useful than other granivores, but they are daring, sneaky, and live in flocks. And an ordinary bird feeder, unlike crows and pigeons, is quite suitable in size for them. Sparrows take food mainly from the ground, but they are not afraid of branches. Therefore, they are able to eat other birds, when for them feeding is a matter of life and death, and the chirping scoundrels themselves, in the meantime, could 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 really blowing in the crop.

Diagram of a bird feeder that is unattractive to sparrows

Here you can use their caution and manner of avoiding danger. If you noticed, the sparrows run away, starting from a place steeply upward. Therefore, a feeder with low entrances (windows for birds to access the food) 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-sparrow” feeder can be made similar to a chicken feeder, diagram in Fig. Next we will consider other options.

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 navigate primarily by sight; Their hearing is rather weak, and their sense of smell, one might say, is non-existent. Therefore, the food should be visible from afar.
• The food must be protected from being blown by the wind, snowed in, or eaten by unwanted visitors such as 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 stoats. There are quite a few of them living near homes, but they are very good at avoiding being seen.
• It is better to hang feeders for temporary feeding in winter, so they will attract sparrows less.
• Stationary feeders for attracting birds to the site should be placed on poles with protection from predators, see below. Birds flying to feed will recognize the area as theirs if the food is found on a sufficiently large, flat, stable area.

Based on everything stated above, let’s see which winter bird feeders are better in which case. Their main types are shown in the figure:

Types of winter feeders for wild birds

1 – hanging feeder. Just food on a string or in a mesh case. A typical tit feeder in case of extreme cold. Among other birds, it can be visited by forest insectivores, except woodpeckers. “Antifreeze” food for tits – just a piece of unsalted lard, pos. 1 on next rice. A more nutritious option, also designed for shellers, is a ball of a mixture of seeds (see below), held together with congealed lard or peanut butter in a vegetable net, pos. 2. However, there is no need to cast the feed mass into plastic cups or beautiful shapes and freeze it (pos. 6,7), it is difficult for birds to cling and the calories from feeding may not compensate for the energy consumption to support themselves by fluttering their wings. The ball from the finished mass must be sculpted by hand in the cold; the fat hardens quickly, and the ball can be hung immediately.

Hanging feeders for tits

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

For shelling birds, bullfinches and waxwings, hanging feeding from a cone will be good; For visibility, it’s a good idea to supplement it with a bunch of viburnum or rowan, pos. 1 to the following figure:

Hanging feeder made of pine cones

If there is no fertile cone, any disheveled one will do: it is doused with peanut butter (pos. 2), solid food is stuffed between the scales (pos. 3), and hanged. 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 take food from a swinging support can be quickly made from paper. In fact, paper is not a material for winter feeders: it becomes limp and pecks. But a spool from a toilet paper roll, smeared with the same peanut butter and sprinkled with seeds (see the picture on the right), can save more than one poor creature right before your eyes, and you can make such a feeder in literally 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 the tails red and/or green: for birds, red means berries, and where there is greenery in winter, there will be food.

2 – platform. The advantage is that the feed is clearly visible. Disadvantages: the food falls asleep in the snow, the wind blows it up, a lot of it wakes up, the sparrows feel at home on it.

Feeder-house out of the box

3 – house. The food is protected from snow; By selecting the roof structure, the feeder-house can be made windproof and anti-sparrow. But a lot of food still wakes up, and only birds that are accustomed to feeding will come to dine. Forest dwellers, reaching for housing in an extreme situation, may simply not see what is there and drop dead two steps away. A feeding house with a sloping roof can also be quickly built from a box, as shown in Fig. on right. If circumstances allow, then it is advisable to soak the box three to five times diluted with PVA (it is also useful for cardboard feeders), and glue supports from sticks/twigs. Then the structure will be enough for more than one winter. This feeder is nailed to the tree.

Note: the feeding platform can be converted 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, works well, but thin polycarbonate will also work. In the latter case, you need to nail slats with grooves to the sides of the platform and slide the roof in and out of them.

Feeder house for strong birds

A feeder-house with a pitched roof is also convenient for fairly large and strong birds: pigeons, waxwings, jays, nutcrackers. They all don’t mind feeding in a row, so a dining house for them needs to be made with a perch. Material – any suitable, incl. and treated cardboard as a wood substitute, see below. The feeder for these birds should be larger than for small birds; For approximate dimensions see fig. on right. It’s tempting to quickly build a similar one from a shoebox, in the same place, but it won’t last long: strong, active birds will tear and peck at the weak material in a feeding or two.

4 – bunker. Optimal in all respects, including anti-sparrow resistance. The fact is that sparrows are flocking birds. If the flock does not fit in the feeding area, 1-2 sparrows will not “run over” the buntings with chickadees: they will eat in someone else’s company, but take turns and observe decency.

Homemade bunker bird feeders

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

Making a bird feeder from a bottle

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

5.6 – tray. The food is poorly visible, so these are feeders for familiar and important birds. What is better to do in front of the entrance, a landing platform or a perch-pole, depends on the type of feeding; What is more convenient for someone, we will see further in the course of the presentation. They are divided into designs with free access to feed (5 in the figure at the beginning of the section) and its automatic feeding into the feeding tray (6 in the same place). The latter are even better than bunker ones: the feed practically does not spill. We will look at them in more detail later. A tray feeder can be designed to accommodate only 1 or several species of birds (6), but to do this you need to have serious knowledge of ornithology, appropriate tools and skills; Specialized tray feeders are commercially available in a fairly wide range.

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

7 – specialized feeder-husker 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 feeders today are plastic. There are several reasons: empty, unusable plastic containers have nowhere to go, transparent plastic makes the food visible from afar, working with plastic is easy, not wasteful, and can be done at home without special tools. Plastics are durable, resistant, bird feeders made from them will last for many years and can be made of any type.

Plastic bird feeders

If you make a feeding house out of plastic, pos. 1 in Fig., please note that the roof should be matte and generally opaque. Wild birds, of course, are smarter than tame canaries and parrots, but when they see a sneaking cat (or, say, the shine of a lens), they can hit the transparent lens out of 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). The feeders are clearly visible, all birds are curious to one degree or another, 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 products for pos. 2 For complete bird happiness, the only thing missing is perches: polyethylene is slippery.

At pos. 3 and 4 are already purchased plastic feeders. Just a note: the house on pos. 3 costs 180 rubles, and the transparent “firm” at pos. 4 – three times more. But the same feeder can be glued together from scraps of polycarbonate and equipped, if you really want it for a window, with suction cups for bathroom shelves.

Feeders made from unusable plastic containers deserve special consideration, see fig. below. The design for pos. is very well thought out. 1. A wide tray provides good visibility of food, and in combination with a perch allows any birds to feed. The large capacity of the tray and the corresponding supply of food in it do not require frequent approaches from feeders, which frightens the birds less. The trough-shaped tray ensures minimal spillage of feed. Wing hatches bent upward provide an anti-sparrow effect; The platform they form on top allows you to place juicy vitamin supplements.

Bird feeders made from unusable containers

Feeders for pos. 2 and 3 are focused on tits, goldfinches and granivores. The main thing in them is a properly designed dispenser tray, see below. Simpler feeders for the same tribe, pos. 4 and 5, you can hang it if the sparrows are not very annoying. At pos. 4 there was a container for computer disks, this is more for small things like siskins, and the feeding station from a sour cream bucket (item 5) will feed bullfinches and waxwings.

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

Bird feeders made from bags and bottles

If you screw a hard wooden circle to the bottom of the dishes instead of wobbly valves, you can count on visits from the Lesser Spotted Woodpecker. He won’t sit on a tit flap: what kind of woodpecker will he be if he doesn’t cling to a tree with his claws?

Large bags make public canteens, then the openings need to be cut larger so that the food can be seen from afar. In the case when the feeder is suspended in free space, you must also pierce it with a perch, pos. 4. When placed in a bush as a perch for tits, its branches, pos. 5, and the sparrows will be uncomfortable here.

Egg bag and tray...

How to make a bird feeder from a plastic bottle

How to make a feeder from a plastic container 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 big. In this case, it can be glued together from cardboard or several layers of paper soaked in diluted PVA, see next. rice.:

Construction of a bird feeder tray made from eggplant

Yellow arrows show the paths of feed 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 right through with it. The arrows in the center of the circle give the horizontal and vertical scale, i.e. the entrance will be 6 cm in diameter, this is enough for birds no larger than a great tit.

... and a house made of packages

Feeder house made from juice bags

From 2 juice packets you get a good tit feeder-house, see fig. on right. The entire structure is held together with straws from the same juice, their protruding ends will be perches. To prevent the perches from bending (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 last for years. Therefore, wooden feeders are most often made stationary. Of course, to make them you will also need carpentry tools with a separate workplace.

A simple homemade bird feeder made of wood

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

Winter bird feeders made of wood

It is more convenient and easier to make winter hanging wooden feeders from plywood and blocks of approximately 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, because... plywood outdoors, except for expensive waterproof birch, after a season or two begins to delaminate with any impregnation.

Drawings of a stationary wooden bird feeder

For example in Fig. Above is a drawing of a country, garden or forest feeder for all types of birds. A tin tray on a pole not only keeps predators out, but also serves as a dining area for sparrows. The lifting liner (it slides freely on the post) makes cleaning easier and allows birds of one species to feed from their recess, leaving others to feed. You can hang nets or cones with food for shellers on a pole under the roof, and hanging food for tits at the corners of the platform. The roof is removable and on hooks for easy maintenance.

Wooden special

Double Deck Hanging Bird Feeder

A hanging analogue of such a feeder, as they say now, with 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 sparrows are given the upper platform: these troublemakers will scatter the food anyway, so you can do without a side, although it won’t hurt.

In Fig. Below are wooden feeders, bunker and tray, which can be converted into combined ones, suitable for hullers. The fact is that in these designs, to improve the visibility of the feed, the bunkers are made with glazed windows. Replacing glass with a steel mesh with a mesh size of about 5x5 mm will allow shellers to pull out seeds while others are pecking from trays or from the platform.

Wooden bird feeders with good visibility of food

How to do without a tree

Wooden feeders look better than home-made plastic ones; they are easier to adapt to the needs of both the birds and the owner. But what to do if you don’t have woodworking tools or don’t want to start carpentry with its sawdust and shavings in the house?

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

Making a wooden board substitute from corrugated cardboard

• For each part, 2-5 blanks-plates of the same size are cut out, depending on the required thickness, but with an internal corrugation oriented alternately along and across, see fig. on right;
• Each layer is impregnated on one side and the other with a water-polymer emulsion. It is not sold in small packaging, but its full replacement is PVA diluted three to five times with water. This work should be done on a plastic film underneath;
• A day later (if the sheets were drying at room temperature), the part is glued together with PVA in the same order: corrugation along/corrugation across, see the same figure;
• The part is dried on film, the top is also covered with film and pressed down with several books, evenly covering its entire area;
• The feeder is assembled using the same PVA glue;
• After drying, the end connections are reinforced with pins made of toothpicks or pointed matches without heads: the holes for the pins are pricked with an awl from top to bottom, a drop of glue is introduced into each and the pin is immediately pressed in;
• The 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 decorated with plastic, mesh can be attached, etc.

Original feeders

Anyone who takes up tinkering wants to make something of their own, unusual and unique. Unusual feeders can be divided into original ones based on the technique of execution or some functional features and simply beautiful, designer ones. One, of course, is no hindrance to the other, if only one’s hands were in place.

The first few, let's say, technical and functional ones, are shown in the figure:

Original bird feeders

Pos. 1 – special for shellers, frugivores and large granivores. The cob is placed on a nail driven through the bottom. Here it is necessary to note that the corn should be hard, fodder or oilseed varieties, with smaller grains. Canteen sugar will be harmful to birds: its grains contain too much starch and sugars.

Pos. Doesn’t require 2 comments: over the summer I accumulated ice cream sticks, then PVA, strings, and that’s it. If you make a pole on each side, then 4 siskins or chickadees will be able to feed at once. Pos. 3 is woven from paper tubes. The work is complex and time-consuming, especially considering that they need to be properly protected from limpness. However, judging by the fact that in such a small area there are as many as 3 great tits feeding and another one is waiting in line, the birds really like this creation.

Applying a mark to the end of the cable

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

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

Decorative bird feeders

According to the execution technique, it is better to avoid varnished and shiny surfaces, as in pos. 1. On a smooth surface, it is more difficult for the claws to catch on, the grains dodge the beak, and the glare hurts the bird’s sensitive eyes.

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

Pumpkin feeders for wild birds

What to feed wild birds?

All that remains is to decide what kind of bird food to put in the feeder. The best food for all wintering birds is wild grass seeds, especially burdocks. Songbird lovers and ornithologists collect turnip seeds in the summer or buy them at pet stores. Next, in order of preference by birds and benefits for them:

Note: if it is possible to buy the so-called at a pet store. Canary seed or grain mixture for budgies is just what any bird at the feeder needs.

Wheat, rye and bread made from them should be avoided: the bird's body is not designed to process excess starch. Black bread is especially dangerous: it causes inflammation of the goiter, which often leads to the death of the bird. Completely dry white bread crumbs can be given to pigeons and fruit-eating birds. The same applies to all cereals that swell greatly during cooking: barley (barley), rice, buckwheat. As mentioned above, you need to be careful with corn. In general, one must keep in mind that wild birds are smaller than chickens and ducks, and their digestion is unaccustomed to domestic feed.

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

The best vitamin supplements, as already mentioned, are brushes and bunches of wild berries. In addition to the mentioned rowan, viburnum, and elderberry, barberries, currants, chokeberries, and junipers are also readily eaten. In the southern regions - cotoneaster, berries of “wild grapes” (cissus), boxwood. Seeds 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 an excellent vitamin supplement. You should not give whole fruits: having fed on them, even the most principled tit will not resist the temptation to peck them in the garden in the summer.

An important component of the bird's diet is mineral nutrition 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 away in the spring. Birds, like domestic chickens, also need sand. It needs to be sprinkled a little at a time, always river rounded and the smallest.

So, a certain young man with an actively destructive way of thinking in the winter heard that black bread and banana peels are killer for birds. He immediately set to work: he was not lazy and put together a feeding trough, dried and finely crushed banana peels. Then he forked out for a loaf of Borodinsky for 40 rubles. at the price at that time, I crushed it too. I mixed everything, hung up the feeder, and poured bird poison into it.

The next morning I went, anticipating the “task,” to see how many of them were lying there dead with swollen crops. 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 of trees fell from the surrounding trees and showered Grisha with “business cards.” The individual “cards” merged into a continuous blanket, and a pile formed on the head. Since then, the poor fellow carefully and cautiously avoids even flocks of sparrows on the asphalt.

Birds are our smaller friends who delight us with their chirping and singing. And any garden in the presence of birds seems to come to life, filled with new life. Besides Birds help protect summer cottages from attacks by various insects in summer.. And in winter, when they have almost no food, man’s task is to help the birds survive the frosts by feeding them. A good attitude towards birds will pay off handsomely. for birds you can do it yourself quickly, without unnecessary manipulations, it will not only become a source of food for birds, but will also be able to decorate any area.

Many people made feeders for winged birds while studying at school, and some, together with their parents, managed to make more than one feeder while still attending kindergarten. At that time, tasks for making feeders were given at school with the goal of instilling in the child a desire to work and take care of our little brothers.

Now, in most cases, feeders are located in house areas with the aim of luring birds to live permanently in the garden or to take care of them in the winter. There are a great many variations of feeders, but we should not forget that if a person is pursuing a good goal, he must ensure that the feeder is not just beautiful, but comfortable and attractive to birds.

So what should it be like so that birds from all over the area will flock to peck at delicious delicacies?

1. The feeder should not be bright. Do not forget that birds are inhabitants of the wild, in which bright colors often indicate the danger of any insect or animal. So it is unlikely that birds will fly to nuclear flower feeders. The best option is the color of the wood.
2. The feeding area should be equipped with small sides so that the food does not fall out of it during the wind and at the moment when the bird lands on the feeder and swings it.

   

3. It is important to make sure that the sides and other elements of the feeder are not sharp and do not pose a danger to birds.
4. The best thing, so that the feeder has a small roof- then the food lying in it will not get wet in the rain, and it will not be covered with snow.
5. It is recommended to place the feeder where cats and other predators cannot reach it.. Then the birds will happily fly to it. If the place is dangerous, then it is unlikely that you will be able to attract birds.

   

6. All openings in the walls of the feeder should be spacious so as not to create the effect of a closed space. Otherwise the birds will be uncomfortable.
7. It is best to make a feeding place that will withstand various weather conditions and will not collapse after the first season.
8. The food in the feeder should be clearly visible- Birds use their vision more than other senses when looking for food.

   

Advice! In order to make the structure heavier and protect it from swaying in the wind, you can place pebbles in it, but so that they do not end up in the food.

Which is better: homemade or from the store?

You can make a bird eating area yourself, but stores now sell ready-made designs and products that you can simply purchase and hang in your garden or outside your window. Of course, this saves a lot of time, but it’s better to make the feeder yourself or order it from craftsmen. Only in this case can you be sure that the feeder is made of materials that are safe for flying inhabitants of nature and will perform its function correctly.

On a note! Undoubtedly, you need to pay attention to the design of the feeder, but if it is not just a decorative decoration for the garden, then, first of all, you should pay attention to its functionality.

It is also important to understand that a good feeder, but made in production or by craftsmen, will cost a lot of money. So it’s worth thinking about what to do - save money and do everything yourself, or spend money and buy a ready-made option.

Provided that in fact the feeding station can be made quite quickly and simply, the DIY option remains the best. The main thing is to decide and decide what and how to make the feeder from, how and where it will hang, and also take into account the availability of skills in making various products. You shouldn’t take on a complex project without proper experience; it’s easier to choose the simplest option. Fortunately, there are many types of feeders.

Table. Types of feeders.

On a note! The structure can be made simply from food, combining grains into a single lump using various nutrients and hanging such a “gingerbread” in a visible place. Suitable for small birds that will peck grain from the feeder by clinging to it with their claws.

What can you make a feeder from?

You can make your own feeder from a variety of objects and materials, from an ordinary board to a plastic bottle or even a Tetra Pak box. Each material has its own advantages and disadvantages, and you need to choose what the food supply will be made from based on the presence of certain skills in working with various tools, the availability of free time, funds, as well as the goals of creating a place for eating.

Wooden feeders

The best option for creating a platform for feeding birds was and remains natural, untreated wood. This design will be closest to nature, and its neutral color and smell will not scare away birds from feeding. It is ideal if the natural bark is preserved on the boards. So when choosing a material, you can choose cuts from birch, pine, etc. You can even make a feeder from branches!

Wooden feeder is the best option

But in order to make a wooden feeder, even the simplest one, you will need certain skills and tools for working with wood.

Advice! You should not decorate a wooden feeder with various bright objects, but it can be decorated with natural materials, for example, by camouflaging the roof with twigs, pine cones, and leaves.

How to make a wooden feeder?

Let's look at how you can make the simplest feeder from wooden materials. To do this, you need to buy wooden blocks, a small piece of fiberboard, a furniture stapler, a saw, drawing supplies and a tape measure.

Step 1. You need to cut a square or rectangle from a sheet of fiberboard. You should apply a pattern of a square or rectangle of the appropriate size onto a sheet of fiberboard, and then use a saw to cut off the excess.

Step 2. Now you need to make the sides for the pallet. You need to cut two pieces of the same length from the block, equal to the side of the square or the long side of the rectangle, as well as two shorter pieces, which will be equal to the width of the square or the narrow side of the rectangle minus the thickness of the block.

Step 3. The sides need to be attached to the bottom of the feeder, which was previously made of fiberboard. The easiest way to do this is with a stapler.

Step 4. Now you need to make 4 supports for the roof of the feeder, all from the same block. They must be the same height.

Step 6. The upper parts of the supports standing on one side must be connected by crossbars cut from the same block. You should also make cuts on them at an angle of 45 degrees.

Step 7 Next it is manufactured. It is required to connect two sheets of fiberboard at an angle of 90 degrees. The connection is made using a small “ridge” bar with a length equal to the length of the slope. It is worth remembering that the roof should hang slightly over the tray of the feeder, which means that the slopes should be made taking this factor into account.

Step 8 Next, the roof needs to be fixed to its racks using the same stapler or nails. The junction of two slopes can be glued using some material that does not allow water to pass through. The feeder is ready. If desired, you can steal it with pine cones and branches.

Advice! When fixing the sides at the bottom of the feeder, they can be additionally coated with PVA glue to ensure connection not only due to the stapler staples, but also due to the glue.

Feeders with sides are the favorite of shelling birds, but for the rest, you can make a feeder without sides. The main thing is that the side is not too high.

Similar structures can be made from plywood, refusing to use fiberboard. In this case, the feeder will be more reliable and durable.

Video - Wooden feeder

Simple hanging feeders

These are very simple feeders, they can be easily and simply made in just a few minutes. They are a delicacy placed on a ribbon or in a case and hung on a tree. Often, using this principle, pieces of lard for tits are fixed on trees. You can also make balls from seeds. You can use peanut butter or suet to bind the grains together. And such feeders just need to be fixed on the tape somewhere in a place visible to the birds. To attract attention, you can try tying a sprig of rowan to such a feeder. You need to form the balls outside so that they immediately harden in the cold.

Advice! It is best to make pendants in the shape of a ball, and not in some beautiful and exotic shape. The ball is the most convenient option for birds.

Making a feeder for lard

Let's see how you can make a simple structure for placing lard, the manufacture of which will require twine, wire and an ordinary hoop - an accessory for embroiderers.

Step 1. You need to buy regular plastic hoops in the store. They need to be separated into two halves, but in the lock area the hoops should remain connected.

Step 2. In the lock area, you need to wrap the hoop with wire on both sides.

Step 3. On the other hand, where the hoop is separated, you need to make a wire jumper and wrap it with a “tail” from the wire to approximately the middle.

Step 4. The remaining wire needs to be twisted and formed into a hook at an angle of 90 degrees, which is directed inside the hoop. Lard will be placed on it.

Step 6. After this, the hoop and wire need to be wrapped with regular twine. The feeder is ready. All you have to do is place it in the right place in the garden and put a treat for the birds on the pin.

Making a feeder from a plastic bottle

Of course, you can simply cut a hole in the side of a plastic bottle and hang it on a tree, filling it with grain. But you can get creative and make the feeder a little more complicated. To do this, you will need flower trays of different diameters and a plastic bottle of approximately 1.5 liters. A strong rope will also come in handy.

Step 1. In one of the pallets (which is smaller) you need to make a hole of the same diameter as the neck of the bottle. You can cut it either with a knife or with a special bit placed on a drill.

Step 2. Next, you need to remove the cap from the plastic bottle and screw the bottle itself into the tray with its neck, and screw the cap onto the neck from below. But for now, the structure can be temporarily dismantled. A small hole should be cut in the side of the bottle so that the food can pour out of it and be accessible to the birds.

Step 3. You need to cut off the bottom of the bottle using a sharp knife.

Step 4. Now on the pallet - both on the first and on the second - you need to mark and drill holes for the rope. First you need to make holes on the smaller one, and then, placing it on the larger one, mark it and also drill holes.

Step 5. The final assembly of the structure is underway. The bottle must be screwed to the bottom tray.

Step 6. You need to cut six pieces of rope of the same length. It is better to take a rope that is tight and thick enough. You can also use a synthetic version.

Step 7 Now you need to tie a knot on each rope at the same distance from the edge.

Step 8 You need to thread the ropes through the holes on the small pallet so that the short tails of the ropes are at the bottom.

Step 9 The second pallet will become an improvised roof for the feeder. Now you need to thread the ropes through the holes of the second pallet.

Step 10 The ropes need to be well tensioned. The result should be the same design as in the figure.

Step 11 Now you need to form “tails” from the bottom and top of the remnants of the rope. Don't forget to make a hanging loop on the top side.

Step 12 All that remains is to fill the feeder with seeds and fix it on tree branches using a hanging loop.

Video - Feeder made from a large plastic bottle

Video - Hopper feeder made from a glass bottle

You can make bird feeders from any materials. You can whip up a feeding place even from cardboard, but such a feeder will not last long. If you want to decorate your garden with beautiful and durable feeding places for birds, then it is better to spend your time and make a wooden feeder.