Bird Feeders - Anyone Make their Own ?

[shelldud]

I have had it in my garden for over a week now and no starling has managed to get on it despite loads of trying so i think i can call it starling proof now.
Its a upside down feeder with a suet cage you can remove to refill.
I will try and post a picture of it.

[shelldud]

I had to make some adjustments starlings were able to get on the first one i made, so I added the side parts. Some were still able to get on so i added the twig on string and the most determined could still get on although only for a couple of seconds. I swapped the string for cotton and now it works as they cant grasp the cotton and it acts as a flight barrier for the starlings.

[AshLee]

It's a great idea, well done.

[Swindoom]

I do not try and stop Starlings, they are on the red list. Even though we can have large groups visiting there are no problems as there is always plenty of food to go around. I quite often see the Starlings and smaller birds feeding together. I did build my own multi level bird table to discourage feral and wood pigeons although during the recent snow I put out lots of extra suet pellets and sometimes the wood pigeon would visit.

[shelldud]

Swindoom,
I do not stop starlings feeding in my garden either.
I get approx 30 + starlings that visit daily, and I have 1 just 1 feeder they cannot feed from. I put out fat cakes, peanuts, sunflower hearts, nyger seed, mixed seed, meal worms and currants daily and have been doing so for at least 3 years. But unlike you swindoom I rarely see starlings eating with the little birds they dont get a look in with the starlings.
Now they do.

Thanks Ashlee

[SuzieandFlo]

Some great home made feeders everyone .
Well , the feeder in my last picture is proving to be popular with the Blue Tits and Coal Tit. They keep coming back to it throughout the day . A pair of Blue Tits did a "fly past" the day I hung the feeder out. They were using it next morning.
The Coal Tit usually eats the birdseed sausage , or the seed/fat mix in the half coconut shell. When it noticed the new feeder , it sat looking at it for a while then flew onto it and started pecking away at the peanuts . It then found the sunflower hearts and flew off with one , returning later for more.
Today, a Starling was on the new feeder. It had been hanging upside down on the string , finishing off the last morsel of birdseed sausage. Then it spotted the new feeder and instead of joining the others on the ground , it went straight to the new feeder and sat on the perch eating sunflower hearts.
None of the birds have tried the small seed feeder yet.
Here are some pictures of the feeders.

[kezzer]

excellent home made feeders in this thread.
I too make feeders with the small soft drinks bottles, the only thing I do different than what I've seen here is that I use a nice twig for the perch, it seems to be especially good for the robins, they definately favour eating from my home made feeders than the shop bought ones I have. the twig is obviously totally natural for them and they will perch there for a while.

Another thing I've found is that I find making the holes in the plastic bottles and the little openings I use an old small screw driver and heat that up from the gas ring. That way you don't need to fiddle about with screws and pliars and can actually make various shapes with more or less heat to the tip.

The main point I would like to add is that with the home made feeders I tend to just throw them out at the end of the week and stick the new ones out. I find it a real horrid chore cleaning the shop bought ones. At least this way I know I'm keeping things nicely hygenic for the birds.

PS. mind you I haven't gone to quite as much trouble to make them as some of you have shown in this thread. I make them so quickly its easy to trow them and replace with nice clean new ones. I don't fill mine up too much either, just enough for the birds to eat, then replenish with fresh food daily.

[Elizabeth B]

I don't make my own feeders - but I do provide home prepared food, which seems to be appreciated by these LTTs.



I like to know what I'm offering to the birds (and I have the time to make these fat blocks). This is what a pet shop proprietor told me about some commercially produced fat balls:

Some of the cheaper ones contain fairly significant amounts of sand and flour 20 - 30% in some cases. Ever wondered why they're so hard and how they can last for years without going off?! You should be able to crumble a good fat ball quite easily, and be able to readily identify the ingredients.

[werdnal]

We make our own woodpecker feeders which our local GSWs seem to love.

Take a small log or branch - 3-4 inches across and as long as you want. Drill holes through it, just large enough to take monkey nuts (you can also use fat with seed mixed in it). Stuff the holes with monkey nuts (or fat mixture) and hang up. The GSWs love pecking them out - they seem to prefer them to normal peanut feeders which we also have.

Hubby also made a feeder hanger - old wooden curtain pole, with a sharpened piece of angle iron fixed to the bottom to make a stake. Fixed 2 battens across the top, to make 4 arms for hanging peanut/seed/woody feeders from. On top he put a round plastic tray, to which he fitted an upside down wire hanging basket. This allows smaller birds to squeeze through to the seed, whilst keeping the jackdaws etc from hoovering up the lot in one go. All painted black it looks just as good as the fancy feeder holders you buy, yet made with stuff kicking around in the shed.

[kezzer]

Originally Posted by Elizabeth B

I don't make my own feeders - but I do provide home prepared food, which seems to be appreciated by these LTTs.



I like to know what I'm offering to the birds (and I have the time to make these fat blocks). This is what a pet shop proprietor told me about some commercially produced fat balls:

Some of the cheaper ones contain fairly significant amounts of sand and flour 20 - 30% in some cases. Ever wondered why they're so hard and how they can last for years without going off?! You should be able to crumble a good fat ball quite easily, and be able to readily identify the ingredients.

yes, me too elizabeth, The ltt's do seem to love them don't they. i think its so easy to make your own, if you have children they love to lend a helping hand. As you say a good one should crumble. I always crumble some up for the ground feeders.