The best bird feeder. Do-it-yourself bird feeders made from improvised materials

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, forage lands remain in abundance longer than in wild nature and when the real cold breaks out with starvation, there will no longer 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 as a 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 for maintaining 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 accommodate 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 to do 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 a wooden one in terms of convenience, appearance and able to 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 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 substitute wooden board corrugated cardboard

For each part, 2-5 pieces are cut out, depending on the required thickness, of blanks-layers 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 in;
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 bank is tied with a rope in the same way that sailors, riggers, or, say, high-altitude fitters, put a mark on 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 painted cat from a living one, and even peck the image in revenge; 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 fewer chickens 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 an excellent vitamin top dressing. 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.

Modern designers offer incredibly beautiful and practical bird feeders that will not only help birds survive in winter frosts, but also decorate the garden. And although designers use the most common materials in their work, the designs they come up with can amaze the imagination with their originality. However, with a little imagination, you can make no less amazing feeders with your own hands.

A simple and practical feeder made of weather-resistant materials. It can be led both in the garden and outside the window of an apartment or office. The roof will protect the bread from rain and snow, preventing it from softening.

An amazing feeder that allows you to see the bird just a centimeter from the nose. True, only hummingbirds can be fed in this way. The feeder was based on a mask that completely covers the face, in which a miniature drinking bowl is built.

The feeder, designed by Teddy Luong, allows you to turn the garden into a real city for birds with restaurants and cafes. Feed is poured from above, for which you need to remove the roof of the feeder. The bottom tray has drainage holes.

Incredibly beautiful and cute feeder, there is an irresistible desire to pat the puppy behind the ear. But its practicality is doubtful, it is suitable only for dry weather.

It's no secret that sparrows, chickadees and other small birds don't mind extreme sports at all. Made from compressed bird food and elastic rope, the Bungee feeder is perfect for this, you just need to hang it in the chosen place.

The feeder in the form of a reed is made of metal covered with a protective layer. It will organically fit into the area with an artificial reservoir, giving it a natural naturalness. The feeder is easy to fill with feed, it is designed for approximately 200 g.

It is quite possible to make an orange feeder yourself. Any child can do this task. To do this, you need to cut the orange in half and take out the pulp, make four holes on opposite sides and stretch the cords. The feeder is ready, it remains only to pour the feed.

An ideal feeder for those birds who like to eat tasty food not on the fly, but comfortably sitting in the company of their relatives.

Everything ingenious is simple. You can make such a feeder at home with your own hands. It may not be as beautiful as the one made by professional designers, but it is quite effective. Besides, this good way reuse of plastic bottles.

An elegant feeder that will amaze everyone without exception. This is a real decoration for the garden, and it is not at all difficult to make it. You will need a cup, saucer, teaspoon, glue, sandpaper, a metal pipe and a plug.
Birdwatching is a fascinating process, but you also want to capture the most interesting moments. For this you need

With the advent of cold weather, snow and frost, conscious nature lovers hang bird feeders near the tree house (or near the window of the apartment). These simple devices will not only delight children and the elderly, they will help many birds to overwinter. How to make feeders and from what improvised means, we will tell in this article.

Variety of feeders

Human imagination is limitless. And having looked at what and from what people come up with bird feeders, this fact is beyond doubt. After analyzing the basic materials, we can divide the devices for feeding birds into the following groups:

from glass containers;
from grids;
from iron cans;
from old dishes;
from plastic containers;
wooden;
from fruits;
all kinds of garlands.

After examining each group in detail, you can definitely find exactly the one, the feeder, which will go in all respects. And most importantly - you want to make it and hang it near your home.

Glass container feeders

For this, jars with a volume of 1l to 2l are suitable. Put a plastic cap on the neck and cut a hole in it. Pour food inside. Hang in a horizontal position. Advantages of this feeder:

snow does not fall;
does not blow the wind;
large birds (ravens, magpies) will not be able to take food from small birds.
Long service life.

There are more original feeders from cans. They can be seen in the photo.

There are also glass bottle feeders. They need to be fixed upside down, substituting a saucer below, into which the food will be poured.

Alternatively, you can drill or cut a hole in the bottle into which the bird will fly for food. In this case, you must not forget about the footboard for the bird.

Mesh devices

You can also feed the birds in a more primitive way, the main thing is that the birds are full. Grids made of polymeric material, with small holes, need to be fastened so that a bag is obtained, into which food is poured and hung on a string near a window or on a tree. The advantage is the simplicity and speed of production.

For those for whom this method is too simple, there are more original and beautiful net feeders, but their production will take longer:

You need to take a garden plastic mesh with small holes.
Twist the cylinder out of it and fix it in this position.
Take two pallets from flower pots and fasten them to the top and bottom of the cylinder.
After attaching the lower saucer, pour the food inside.
In the upper saucer (or along the edges of the net) make fasteners to hang the feeder on a branch.

Iron can feeders

In this case, there are two product options:

Vertical feeder: small incisions are made in the walls of the jar so that the birds can peck at the food. Be sure to make steps at the bottom base. The top must be closed.

Horizontal feeder. To the hole into which the birds will fly for food, you need to attach a footboard. Decorating the jar itself is at your own discretion.

The advantage of such feeders: the relative speed of manufacture, long service life, not afraid of shock.

Old crockery as a bird feeder

Old ceramic dishes will fit to create an original feeder, which will not only saturate the birds, but also decorate the gloomy cold landscape. This is the main plus of these feeders. After all, the process of their manufacture will require some skill: to make holes for fasteners without destroying the product.

Plastic feeders

Suitable for feeders:

eggplants from 3 l to 6 l;
bottles from 1l to 2l;
canisters from 1 to 35 l;
containers with lids;
not big buckets.

How to adapt them to feeders is already a matter of fantasy. The main models of such canteens for birds are shown in the photo.

The advantages of feeders made of plastic products are:

ease of manufacture;
long service life;
not afraid of shock and temperature changes;
low cost of raw materials.

The main thing to consider is that thin plastic from bottles and eggplants, when cut, becomes sharp. And it can damage the thin paws of birds. Therefore, that part of the cut where the birds will land must either be melted on fire, or rubber tubes must be put on.

Wooden feeders

a solid cut of the trunk (chocks);
from boards;
from branches or sticks;
plywood or other wood sheet.

It is recommended to make feeders with a roof so that there is protection from direct snow and rain into the feed. Wood products always attract the eye, as they show the skill and dexterity of the master. Therefore, the advantage of this type of feeders is not only the environmental friendliness of raw materials, but also an attractive appearance.

Plant fruit feeders

Original feeders are made from:

pumpkins;
coconut shells;
orange peel.

Having cut the fruit and stretched out the pulp, you can safely pour food, cling to a rope or wire, and hang it on a branch. Original, beautiful and simple.

Each of us has seen at least one bird feeder in our life, basically in our subconsciousness an ordinary small house of a plain appearance with some kind of food pops up.

Now let's think about what else you can make a cozy bird house with your own hands? In fact, there are a huge number of options for choosing a material. These can be pieces of plywood or cut out plastic bottles, or juice containers are also used as an option. You can only be limited by your imagination.

A good bird feeder can feed our little birds, but will also blend in perfectly with your home. The main thing is to add food over time, as the number of flying guests will gradually increase, and with the advent of warm weather, the birds will delight your eye with their presence.

Your only problem will be the process of assembling the feeder, but the result of the work done will pleasantly surprise you.

So, let's take a closer look at how to make an ordinary bird feeder on your own. It is quite possible to make this type of feeder from 17 mm wood - this thickness should be enough. Of course, it is possible to replace the material with moisture-resistant plywood, well, this is already up to your taste.

All that is needed for manufacturing can be taken from a board 25 cm wide and 220 cm long. Make the side walls using the drawings - they indicate the required dimensions.

To install the glass, you can use a milling machine, cutting out several grooves of about 3-4 mm, or use screws to fix the side walls to the ends of the side panels. However, if you resort to the second option, the dimensions of the glass will need to be increased to approximately 16x26 cm.

You can also leave out the plexiglass, but then you will need to add food to the “insatiable birds” constantly. Fasten the components with screws or glue. Be sure to sand the edges of the parts so as not to injure the birds.

The round plank will be used as a perch. For its installation, it is necessary to drill small holes in the edges of the sides - just 10 mm is enough. The right side of the roof and the ridge are connected separately from the other half of the roof, which must be fastened very firmly to the side walls.

Connecting both sides of the cover, take ordinary furniture hinges. After assembly, be sure to paint the feeder and treat with drying oil for wood. When everything is done, open the lid and pour in the required amount of feed.

Due to the presence of a gap between the plexiglass and the bottom, the food will spill out gradually. Also transparent will make it possible to monitor the availability of food, which will be very convenient.

We make a feeder from cardboard boxes

We can make such a feeder from under a box of juice, milk and any other cardboard packaging of sufficient size. If it doesn’t occur to you what your product will look like or if there are difficulties, just enter a request on the Internet for a photo of a bird feeder, there is plenty of material, so you will find a sample for yourself.

So, let's move on to practice. Take a clerical knife and on the front side cut out the necessary hole in your opinion, but enough so that the bird can easily climb inside.

On the underside of the future feeder, make a hole for a perch by attaching thicker cardboard or a perch there. To taste, it can decorate it in any color or in some other way make it attractive to birds.

How to make a simple plastic bottle feeder

Take a bottle and cut two exits from different sides, the shape can be any, but do not cut out the square completely, as you can make a rain cap out of it by simply bending it outward upwards. In places where the plastic was cut, you need to glue the adhesive tape so that the bird does not suffer from sharp ends.

We make two more holes a little lower and insert a stick there, so the birds can sit there and enjoy the food. The last thing you have to do is hang the feeder on the tree with a string.

If you cut the bottle in a vertical position, then you can hang it by the neck, if horizontally, make two more holes on top and insert the rope. That's all.

Good do-it-yourself bird feeder made of pumpkin

The procedure for making a pumpkin feeder is nothing complicated. It is enough to have only a desire and, of course, the pumpkin itself! First of all, take a knife and cut a round hole in the middle of the pumpkin, and another one symmetrically in the back.

Then you will have to get all the contents, you will decide for yourself how to deal with it. In order to have as much light as possible in the feeder, and just to decorate it, you can make additional windows. Cut a small hole and insert toothpicks crosswise.

At the bottom of the pumpkin, you need to make a perch - for this, you just make two holes just below the entrance and insert a stick there, it will serve as a perch. If you are not too lazy, you can decorate the feeder with any decorations to attract the attention of birds. You can hang such a dining room by the tail of a pumpkin, and you can also use a regular rope.

In conclusion, it is worth highlighting that making a feeder is very simple, and most importantly interesting. The rubbish that we want to throw away very often can be reused in this way, one feeder in winter can save dozens of bird lives, and besides, such a decoration will be an excellent decoration for your backyard farm.