Homemade Bird Feeders

Here are some simple homemade bird feeders to make with your children. Encouraging birds into your garden has a whole lot of benefits. They eat bugs and pets on your plants, they are beautiful to watch and they can entertain children with their antics.

Food begins to become scarce in the fall and pinecones are normally prolific. In our home we enjoy collecting the cones for upcoming winter fires for cold evenings but we always set some aside to make feeders for the birds.

Pine cone feeder
You will need:
Pinecones,
Peanut butter (sugar and salt free),
Wild bird seed,
String.

Smear the pinecone with peanut butter, roll it in the birdseed. Tie a length of string around the top and hang in a tree. Replace as necessary and make sure it is in a spot where you can view form a window.

Suet feeder
You will need:
4 cups of suet
1 cup of bread crumbs
1 cup of shelled sunflower seeds
1 cup of sorghum seeds
1 cup of raisins

Melt the suet in a large pot over a low heat and allow to cool until thickened.

Combine rest of ingredients and stir into the suet. Mix thoroughly.

Roll into small balls and place it on your platform feeder.

This makes a large quantity so you can freeze 2/3rd of it for later use.

Platform feeder

You will need:
A 30 cm X 30 cm square of wood
4 small cup hooks
Garden Twine

Screw the 4 cup hooks into each corner of the square. Tie a length of string to each cup hook and then join them in the centre. Tie another length to the centre of the 4 strings with a big loop at the top. Hang by the loop in a tree.

You can place any fruit on this platform, or simply put some wild bird seed there. The suet balls (above) are also an option.

Sunbird feeder
You will need:
1 beetroot
2 cups water
1 teaspoon oat bran
2 teaspoons honey
½ teaspoon Bovril/vegemite
Cleaned plastic 500ml soda bottle with lid

Boil the beet in the water until the water is deep pink. Throw the beetroot out. Mix the other ingredients into the warm water until dissolved. The oat bran won’t dissolve, it is there to be a seepage agent. Allow to cool.

Pour it into the bottle. Make a small hole in the bottle lid and put it on the bottle.

Tie the bottle upside down in a tree so that when the bird comes to feed on the liquid it will drip slowly down it’s beak.

Other pages you may like:
Frugal Moms
Raising Green Kids
Teaching Kids To Be Green
Eco Friendly Gifts
"Green" books for kids