Step-son wants to make a bird feeder

[sdb777]

At 14, he's too young to be left unattended around any power tools. But he shows great interest in cutting up some wood to build a bird feeder!
I work at the local lumber yard as a delivery driver/forklift operator. And let me tell you, not too many pieces of anything 3/4" x ??" x ??" get left on the ground/jobs sites for long. I have a pile of under 24" long 3/4" x ??", and he's wanting to make a present for grandma(she's the bird feeding fool in the neighborhood-I just take pictures of them).

I was wondering if anyone has a simple diagram, something a young man can handle without a lot of input from me. I'd like him to be able to complete as much of the project as possible.....with me watching over his shoulder like a hawk looking for a mouse! How about it? Anyone got a link to a plan?


Scott (I need something simple) B

[Joe Lyddon]

Don't have any links to plans...

... That picture sure is nice!
What kind of bird is it... a female Cardinal?
... Cedar Waxwing?
Really COOL!

[sdb777]

Yes on the first one......Northern Cardinal, female.

Scott (Cardinalis cardinalis) B

[TDHofstetter]

For a beginner feeder... how's this? Visualize a classic birdhouse, the kind with the pitched roof. Now make it longer - maybe 24" long. Now knock out the two side walls, the short ones, leaving only the gable-end walls to support the roof. Put a curb all the way around it & drill weep holes to drain the rain. Maybe extend the roof a little to shelter it better.

Is that enough for a start?

From there we go to the Pepsi-bottle feeder... one square a little larger than a 2-liter Pepsi bottle with a round hole the same size as the 2L bottle. Cut the bottom out of the bottle, right at the ripple, and staple it to the edges of that hole.

Now suspend that square, with the bottle pointing down, on four dowels. The dowels plug into another square the same size, leaving about 3/4" gap between the tip of the downward-pointing bottle & the lower platform that the dowels are plugged into.

Again, add a curb, and this time add some perches made up of small dowel. Add, too, a weather hat made from a thrift-store plastic dinner plate.

Hang it all by drilling dead center in the bottom square platform & slipping a piece of all-thred all the way through - nuts on each side of the platform to hold the all-thred stable. Hole drilled in the plate so the all-thred extends above it. Hang from the all-thred. Drop a dimestore Chinese socket wrench on top of the plate to keep it down in the wind.

[maverick31]

a quick google search yeilded these sites. some seem more simple than the others.

www.birdwatching-bliss.com/bird-feeder-plans.html#platformbirdfeederplans


this is the one I would do

www.mybackyardplans.com/howtobuildabirdfeeder.php

[Joe Lyddon]

Just for the heck of it, I scanned my system for *birdfeeder*.*

I found one file!

A PDF from Wood Magazine that I saved... October 2008.

Looks COOL and perfect for what you are looking for!

I don't think I can upload PDF's to this website...

Let me know your email address and I would be happy to email it to you (or anyone else interested).

[Ruffnek]

I made one out of Cedar that's lasted for years. It's a square base with a 3/4" x 3/4" lip around the outside edge to keep contain the seeds.

The feeder is sorta like Tim described...two gable-ends attached to the bottom with glue and screws through the base. The roof is two 3/4" boards glued at 90 detrees with little cleats that fit just outside of the gable ends.

Those gable ends have a 1/8" vertical slot cut into them about 1/4" from each outside edge. I cut a piece of 1/8" plexi to slide in the slots so that I can tell when the feeder is empty. Either stop-cut the slots 1/4" shy of the bottom or glue a little 1/4" stop in there to hold the bottom edge of the plexi up a bit to allow the seed to trickle out.

It's really a nlot simpler than it sounds and I think a 14 yr. old with supervision could certainly make one.

[imahic]

Will these work for you?

www.nabluebirdsociety.org/nestboxplans.htm

Mike

[Joe Lyddon]

Dec 5, 2009 8:47:44 GMT -6 Ruffnek said:

I made one out of Cedar that's lasted for years. It's a square base with a 3/4" x 3/4" lip around the outside edge to keep contain the seeds.

The feeder is sorta like Tim described...two gable-ends attached to the bottom with glue and screws through the base. The roof is two 3/4" boards glued at 90 detrees with little cleats that fit just outside of the gable ends.

Those gable ends have a 1/8" vertical slot cut into them about 1/4" from each outside edge. I cut a piece of 1/8" plexi to slide in the slots so that I can tell when the feeder is empty. Either stop-cut the slots 1/4" shy of the bottom or glue a little 1/4" stop in there to hold the bottom edge of the plexi up a bit to allow the seed to trickle out.

It's really a nlot simpler than it sounds and I think a 14 yr. old with supervision could certainly make one.

The PDF file I have for a Birdfeeder is very similar to this one...
... it's from Wood magazine... I saved it in Oct. 2008.
They called it something like Snack Time bird feeder.

[sdb777]

Thanks for all the suggestions and plans guys!!!


And not to forget.....the male!




Scott (got thousands of 'em) B

[Joe Lyddon]

Beautiful!