Bird feeder – buy one or make your own!

Rings and hooks for this bird carousel are the components that most easily disappear or break, so make sure to buy a few extra!

Made from recycled plastic, it provides plenty of space for many birds, is rainproof, impact-resistant, easy to clean, and incredibly easy to refill. Why bother with tubes, really...? Furthermore, "the Hut" is the most affordable bird feeder.

Bird feeder tube with large volume that holds a lot of seeds. 

Luxurious version of Ringpull with green metal details. The bottom is removed with a simple twist. The generously sized seats are made of metal and withstand both bumps and gnawing from squirrels. They are also very easy to unhook for simple cleaning.

Very affordable! The base can be removed with a simple twist. A central rod can be pulled out, which then detaches all seating places. Super smart cleaning functions!

Common to all types of peanut feeders for wild birds is that they make it impossible for the bird to fly away with a whole nut. Instead, they sit at an enjoyable distance and peck off small pieces of the peanut.

The Small Birds' Ferris Wheel is actually very safe against large birds!

Or you can enclose the bird feeder - feeders are sold separately!

There are many other solutions as well, such as integrating your bird restaurant into a mesh with appropriately sized holes or using compost grids available at garden stores.

Many Talk About Hygiene at Bird Feeding Areas and the Importance of Cleaning. But how do you actually clean bacteria from a sticky lawn? One thing we can do for the sake of hygiene (if it is particularly important...) is to regularly move the bird feeding area. In this case, a pole with a good ground support can be very practical.

Here I want to gather all the best tips for homemade bird feeders - send in pictures and a description and I'll add them gradually!

This is how Lars Jonsson describes the construction of his stylish feeder that holds 5 liters!

I used a piece of 110 mm PVC sewer pipe, a coupling socket for such pipes, and two "plugs." One of the plugs is glued as the bottom, and the other, together with the coupling socket, forms the lid. The wider coupling part of the 110 mm pipe is at the bottom of the feeder. The total height is 58 cm (of which the pipe part itself is 55 cm).
For the feeding holes and the through-going "holder," I used 25 mm PVC pipes that are normally sold for pool installations.

The feeding holes consist of short pieces of 25 mm pipe where the outer end is cut at a 15-degree angle and the inner end at a 30-degree angle. This creates enough "roof" inside so that the seeds don't spill out and offers a bit of rain protection on the outside. There are four holes, and they are located about 20 mm from the bottom.

The perches are long wood screws that I inserted into pre-drilled holes. I then wrapped a few turns of electrical tape around the outer part so that it wouldn't be too cold for the bird's feet.

Since I placed a plug at the bottom, there are double walls in the lower part. This provides good support for the pipe pieces and the perches.

Everything is glued together with PVC glue, then roughened with sandpaper to give the paint grip, spray painted with a plastic primer, and finally spray painted with a green metallic car paint. I bought the primer and paint at Biltema.

Sten-Åke Ljungholm creates bird feeders using plant saucers, road markers, and drainage pipes! 

There are plenty of broken road markers, and you can saw these into feeding holes. The pieces are cut straight at the outer end and angled inside to prevent bird feed from spilling out. (Also see Per Chessman’s feeder for some mixed inspiration). Holes are drilled into the large pipe to fit the road markers, which are then inserted and secured with a bit of paint. 

Plant sticks are inserted into smaller holes below the feeding openings. If made to go all the way through, sticking out on both sides, they become very stable! 

At the bottom, a piece of wood is fastened internally with screws from the sides. Onto this, a plant saucer is screwed in place with drilled drainage holes. This area catches a lot of the spilled seeds. 

The lid is secured with pins into a round piece of wood with a plastic roof on top. 

Sten-Åke Ljungholm has also built a bird feeder using a cardboard casting tube.

For the lid, he used a cover that is available for regular ventilation pipes, applying the same principle with pieces of orange snow markers. (These can also be bought at the farm supply store if you don't find them along the roads!)

The base is made from a flower pot saucer, screwed into a small piece of wood that is placed inside the tube.

The plant stakes are glued, not extending through; it provides a bit more stability when they go through both the tube and the flower pot saucer.

The casting cardboard is later painted with a color that helps water mostly run off.

However, Sten raises a warning about this homemade bird feeder as certain woodpeckers have learned that they can peck through this casting tube!

Per Chressman has built a tube that holds 18.4 liters and is 1.5 meters high for a mere 325 SEK. You can find the supplies at your nearest hardware store. You will need a 125mm wide spiral tube of any length and a vent cap. (He thinks Bauhaus has the best caps.) Drainage holes are drilled in the vent cap and it is attached to the tube with pop rivets or screws.

Attach a bracket at the top of the tube to make it easy to hang. A plastic protector that can be used for the top cover usually comes with the purchase of the tube. If the flow is too large, you can easily wrap some wire around it. Cleaning is simple with a hose if needed.

An idea would be to attach some kind of skirt a couple of decimeters up the tube to prevent rain and snow from falling directly into the food. Does anyone have a good solution for that? It would also be nice to have feeding holes with perches on the sides of the tube; how can you do that easily so that it is both moisture-proof and the food doesn't spill out?