Craft Corner: Making a Simple Bird Feeder

The finished product, waiting for visitors! (Photo: Evergreen)

Watching the birds come and go from a backyard feeder can be fun and stress relieving. Enticing them to your lawn or shared space doesn’t have to be complicated either. With a few simple steps, you can create a low-cost feeder using found materials and a few other basic household items.

This is a great activity to do with children, or to bring out the child within!

Supplies:

Pine or spruce cones
String or twine
Lard or peanut butter
Bird seeds such as sunflower, millet or nyjer

Instructions:

1. Cut yourself a piece of string or twine, and tie a loop at one end wide enough to fit over the branch of a tree.

2. Tie the other end of the string around the widest part of the cone, where the gaps are the largest.

3. Roll the cone into softened lard or peanut butter until it’s completely covered (imagine you’re rolling corn on the cob in butter).

4. Fill a plate with seed and roll the lard-covered cone on the plate until it is completely covered in seed.

5. Hang your feeder from a tree, and enjoy!

Good to Know:

The best branches to hang your feeder from are well-sheltered conifers as many birds nest in them over the winter.

Digging in with both hands. (Photo: Evergreen)

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This entry was posted on Thursday, March 11th, 2010 at 10:45 am and is filed under Craft Corner, Gardening, How to Love Winter. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

One Response to Craft Corner: Making a Simple Bird Feeder

jeremy says:

March 11, 2010 at 11:09 am

What a good idea!