Bird Feeder – How to Make Your Own Bird Feeder
Setting up and running a bird feeder is one of life’s little joys. There’s something therapeutic about sitting with your morning cup of coffee and watching a steady stream of birds come to your window.
One of the best and most popular feeders available is the type consisting of a clear plastic seed tube with feeding ports and perches placed at intervals along its length. It does a good job of attracting and feeding our favorite birds – chickadees, finches, titmice, nuthatches, woodpeckers – while it discourages many of the bigger, belligerent types like starlings, grackles and blue jays.
Its only real drawback is its capacity. Once the birds discover it and start to make it a big part of their food supply, they can empty it of seeds in a day or two. Constant refilling can become a chore, especially during the winter.
I solved this problem at my home by adding a 2-foot length of 4-inch plastic drain pipe to the top of the feeder to serve as a high-capacity magazine. This multiples the capacity of the feeder several times, and reduces refilling to a once-a-week chore. But there’s really almost no limit to the extra capacity you can add. My brother has a couple of feeders with 4-foot additions on them, and they can keep feeding for weeks at a time.
This kind of capacity offers more than convenience. It also lets you go away on an extended vacation without cutting your birds off from a food source they have come to depend on.
Making the modification is simple. There is more than one way to go about it, but here’s I how handled the job:
Start by picking up some 4-inch plastic drainage pipe at your local building supply outlet. You’ll probably have to buy a 10-foot length. If it’s available, also pick up a slip-on plastic cap. If your dealer has no caps, don’t worry, I’ll explain how to make your own.
Back home, remove the metal top from your feeder. Depending upon the brand, this may involve removing a few bolts or drilling out some rivets.
Once the top is off, use a saber or coping saw to cut out a plywood adapter ring to connect the feeder to the plastic pipe. Size the outside diameter of the ring so it’s a snug fit inside the plastic pipe. Then cut a hole out of the center that’s a snug fit around the outside of the feeder.
Cut the plastic pipe to the length you desire with a fine-toothed saw. Slip the ring inside the pipe, slip the feeder inside the ring, and secure everything with two or three screws, just long enough to penetrate the walls of the feeder.
Making the cap. This keeps rainwater out of the feeder, so the seed stays dry. If no caps were available when you bought your pipe, make your own out of two plywood disks.
Make one disk slightly larger than the outside diameter of the pipe. Make the other a snug fit for the inside of the pipe. Screw the two together, and the cap is done.
To hang the feeder, bend up a simple bail-type handle out of a length of heavy wire. Fit the ends into two holes drilled near the top of the pipe, and the feeder is ready for action.
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