Does your day start with the chirping of the feathery friends outside? Do you want to make those birds feel welcomed at your home? Well, although it is not always ethical to approach a bird in the wilderness, you can easily offer them nutritious and healthy food while maintaining distance. Bird feeders can make this job easier as you can just set up the feeder in any accessible corner of the porch, garden, patio or backyard with some bird food and watch from a distance whether birds can discover the feeder.
There are many stylish bird feeders that you can purchase from any pet shop, but, what if you can make a feeder at home with simple repurposed materials? Here are some easy DIY bird feeder ideas that you can create at home without spending much-
Homemade Bird Feeders
01. Plastic or Porcelain Bowl Bird Feeder
Do you have any old plastic or porcelain bowl that has dents or cracks and is no longer used for meals? Instead of stacking it up remotely inside the kitchen, fill it up with grains and pulses and add a small container for water inside. You can also recycle a used plastic bowl or a plate as a bird feeder. Not only these will be durable, but you can also reduce your carbon footprint! You can either leave the bowl on an elevated plain surface outside or use twines to hang the bowl.
02. DIY Plastic Bottle Bird Feeder
Just as plastic bowls are non-biodegradable, the plastic bottles are even more harmful as they clog up the drainage system if discarded mindlessly. Single-use water and beverage bottles can be reused by making some big holes around the body and passing a spoon or wooden bar through it. This makes sure that when you fill the bottle with food grains, some grains will always come out of the small hole and let the birds relish them without making much effort.
03. Hanging Plate and Bowl Bird Feeder
Combine a large plate and a bowl, no matter what these are made of and hang ropes from holes created around the plate. The idea is to stick the bowl at an angle with glue and pour bird food inside the bowl so that the overflowing grains can be scattered across the plate. In this way, you do not have to fill up the bowl regularly as the plate will keep on filling until all the grains of the bowl are over.
04. Wooden Birdhouse Feeder
If you have an interest in woodwork, use your creativity to make the most accessible birdhouse for those feathery friends. Make roof with planks and create big holes at the front so that birds can easily get in and out. You can make wooden holders to keep the birdhouse in place or attach it with a pole at your home. Fill it with some grains and leave sufficient space for the birds to relax inside.
05. Half Coconut Shell Bird Feeder
Very easily available, coconut shells can be reused after consumption of the fruit –all you need to do is to clean it up as much as possible and let it dry for a few days under the sun so that it does not attract ants. The two half coconut shells can be used together –one for holding water and another for food grains. Drill small holes on three sides of each shell and put ropes through those to hang from the balcony or a tree branch outside.
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06. Upside Down Wine Bottle Bird Feeder
Used wine bottles can not only be reused as décor pieces for home but also as bird feeders. You can fill it up with bird food, remove the cap and drill some holes in it so that food can come through it when kept upside down. Attach a plate at the mouth with glue and hang the bottle upside down with plate as base with ropes. This can also be done by drilling holes at the base of the bottle instead of the mouth and in that case, you can keep the bottle in its normal position with plate as base.
07. Suet Cakes and Pinecone Feeder
Suet cakes can be made with pure peanut butter mixed with bread and the butter-dipped bread should be dipped into the bowl containing bird seeds. You can also mix up corn syrup, water, flour and gelatin powder with water and boil it till the mixture becomes sticky and roll a pine cone around it. Refrigerate it till it dries up to hang it with wires or strings from tree branches or balcony.
08. Metal Chicken Feeder with Mason Jar
Get a mason jar and fill it with bird food. Instead of the bottle cap, attach the top of the chicken feeder on it so that if you put the jar upside down, the feeder gets filled up with food and birds can easily pluck them from the holes.
09. Repurposed Cans and Carton Bird Feeder
Old milk cartons, cardboard food packages and empty food cans can be washed properly and reused for making bird feeder. You can cut a small section out of the carton, can or cardboard package and fill it with grains up to the cut section for birds to notice. Make two horizontal poles with Popsicle sticks or wooden spoons and pass these through the cut section for birds to sit there.
10. Cookie Cutter Feeder
From stars to Christmas trees, smiley faces to heart shapes –there is an array of shapes available for cookie cutters and you can always make use of them by filling up with water and gelatin mixture or butter before adding bird seeds and grains on it so that those remain stuck.
11. Bird Feeder from Fruit Peel
Although a temporary option, the cut fruit peels of orange, tangerine, lemon, watermelon and pomegranate can be used to contain bird food just as described for coconut shells. The smell of fruit will attract birds and they can enjoy plucking out grains as these peels are hung with strings.
12. Lego Structure Feeder
Let your kids make a Lego bird house or build one from your old Lego pieces. As these are vibrant, birds are easily attracted and you can create small compartments or cases with the Lego pieces where bird food can be scattered. They will love exploring the house and finding grains inside.
Conclusion
According to ‘Butchart et al’ (Published in: Global Biodiversity: Indicators of Recent Declines), habitat alteration and destruction undoubtedly impose the greatest human impacts on bird populations, and many species of birds are in decline worldwide. Hence choosing proper food is important and if you do not have any idea, ask anyone who has birds at home or visit a pet store. Seeds, nuts and rice or pulses are generally the most easily available food you can give them. As these are the DIY homemade bird feeders, there is no limit to the creative ideas you can come up with whatever is available around.At last, don’t forget to flick through the video mentioned below to learn how to make your own homemade bird feeders.
Besides homemade bird feeder ideas, Gharpedia has a blog on a pet-friendly home. Have a look.
Image Courtesy: Image 4, Image 9, Image 10, Image 12, Image 13
Author Bio
Sanjukta Ganguly – I am Sanjukta Ganguly from Kolkata. I have 9+ years of experience in content writing. I have written for multiple niches and genres like, health, travel, pregnancy, love and relationship, dating, hosting services, and WordPress, Press Release, Web Designing, Case Study, Thesis, Proof Reading, Academic Writing, etc. I can handle the work of 4000-5000 words daily.