# Bird feeder



## harrysin (Jan 15, 2007)

I recently posted a shot of a beautifully coloured bird, a "28" feeding from a dish supended on three flimsey chains. Well I decided that it was time to make something more comfortable for our local birds to feed from. Here in pictures is what I came up with and how I did it. As is usual for me, unless templates are involved I tend to make things up as I go along consistant with what materials I have to hand. Non of the materials for this project had to be purchased.


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## harrysin (Jan 15, 2007)

As is obvious, I don't intend to enter this in any architecture design contest!


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## MAFoElffen (Jun 8, 2012)

harrysin said:


> As is obvious, I don't intend to enter this in any architecture design contest!


I don't know about that Harry. It's structurally sound and is aesthetically attractive to bird's eyes. I think it could hold up to a family of squirrels swinging from it... LOL

Very good looking feeder... and I'm not a bird.

I know what you mean. Our Hummingbird feeders we fill late spring through early fall, when they migrate here. Sharon and I fill the other bird feeders just in the winter, for the birds that decide to stay here through the winter... when the pickings are slim. We decided to fill them to "our schedule," not just when they are empty. We would be much poorer if we did otherwise.


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## Mike (Nov 22, 2004)

A sprig of millet and the birds can feast Harry.


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## jw2170 (Jan 24, 2008)

Wonderful job, Harry.

I would drip feed the birds, otherwise, as has been said, the cost of feed will be horrendous.........

My brother had one in his yard at Grafton, and he sometimes refilled it 3 times a day. LOL

What are you going to feed with. Different food attracts the Rosella's etc.

BTW, what is a "28"??????


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## jw2170 (Jan 24, 2008)

PS why do you keep adding to my 'to do' list????? VBG


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## OPG3 (Jan 9, 2011)

Harry - that is a very nicely produced array of photographs! I think your doves appear similar to the ones up here in Georgia. The millet mentioned by Mike attracts a very beautiful bird species here called an Indigo Bunting. Many other species relish millet, but it seems to be the only seed that brings-on Indigo Buntings in our area. We have quite a few species here that are quite colorful. American Goldfinches come through seasonally and have some seed preferences of their own, but nothing I am aware of attracts them like pecan "meats". If I were a bird you would get a regular visit from me.


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## OutoftheWoodwork (Oct 4, 2012)

harrysin said:


> I recently posted a shot of a beautifully coloured bird, a "28" feeding from a dish supended on three flimsey chains. Well I decided that it was time to make something more comfortable for our local birds to feed from. Here in pictures is what I came up with and how I did it. As is usual for me, unless templates are involved I tend to make things up as I go along consistant with what materials I have to hand. Non of the materials for this project had to be purchased.


Very nice, Harry! Love it! :wub: Question on the sheeting: is it Metal? And I know you stated you used only materials you had on hand, but just wondering (though you probably didn't have it on hand, thus why you didn't use it...) but why not shingles (most home owners have some laying around from the last roofing project they did, or a neighbor's)?


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## Mike (Nov 22, 2004)

Barb, Harry's roof shingles are terra cotta?


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## harrysin (Jan 15, 2007)

Mike said:


> Barb, Harry's roof shingles are terra cotta?


Actually Mike whilst most houses here do have terracotta roof tiles our roof is colourbond (corrugated metal with a factory finished pale green colour, but available in many colours). Even if it did have shingles Barb. I'm far too lazy to go to that trouble.


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## harrysin (Jan 15, 2007)

OutoftheWoodwork said:


> Very nice, Harry! Love it! :wub: Question on the sheeting: is it Metal? And I know you stated you used only materials you had on hand, but just wondering (though you probably didn't have it on hand, thus why you didn't use it...) but why not shingles (most home owners have some laying around from the last roofing project they did, or a neighbor's)?


I recently visited the warehouse of this company and was invited to help myself to offcuts, which I of course did!
Advanced Architectural Products - Danpalon Multicell

The panels are VERY light in weight and cut like a hot knife through butter. 

I very rarely buy wood because when I retired in 2000 I advised all my friends and relations that I would be happy and greatful to receive donations of wood and metal and supplies have been steady ever since and surprisingly the quality has been improving!


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## curiousgeorge (Nov 6, 2006)

Great work as usual, Harry. Your "one offs" are better than my planned projects. You are a true artisan.


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## harrysin (Jan 15, 2007)

Oh shucks George, you're embarrassing me!


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## harrysin (Jan 15, 2007)

Thank you one and all for your generous comments. I actually use "wild bird seed" from the supermarket and feed them alternate days so that they don't become dependent on me by losing their ability to forage for food, including nasty insects in our garden!


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## JOAT (Apr 9, 2010)

Harry, nice job. But if you were in the US the proper name for that would be squirrel feeder, not bird feeder. :sarcastic: It is very, very, difficult to construct a bird feeder that squirrels cannot get into, one way or another.


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## gwizz (Mar 3, 2012)

An honest dump question = do you not have squirrels to deal with in Australia - if I put a bird feeder as accessible and open as that in my back yard there would be 10 squirrels pigging out in it within 10 minutes and nothing left in the feeder 8 minutes after that. what they don't eat goes scattered on the ground.


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## OutoftheWoodwork (Oct 4, 2012)

lol shingling is easy and if it didn't have to be done up so high off the ground I would prolly be willin to do it for a living. (I don't do heights lol). But I love the birdhouse was just curious of the material for the roof.


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## harrysin (Jan 15, 2007)

gwizz said:


> An honest dump question = do you not have squirrels to deal with in Australia - if I put a bird feeder as accessible and open as that in my back yard there would be 10 squirrels pigging out in it within 10 minutes and nothing left in the feeder 8 minutes after that. what they don't eat goes scattered on the ground.


The only squirrels that I've seen in the 48 years that I've been here in Western Australia were at the Perth zoo where they were running up and down the Palm trees.


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## jw2170 (Jan 24, 2008)

PPS, I notice, Harry, that you are back to your usual joyful self posting 20 images at a time.

How did you finally resolve this issue?

PPSS: I found the "28" on the web...


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## harrysin (Jan 15, 2007)

jw2170 said:


> PPS, I notice, Harry, that you are back to your usual joyful self posting 20 images at a time.
> 
> How did you finally resolve this issue?
> 
> PPSS: I found the "28" on the web...


When logging on the forum I'm now using IE but with each browser I'm getting the occasional crash but I'm learning to suppress the expletives!


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## harrysin (Jan 15, 2007)

Just an update. It's being well used, I took these shots today.


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## papasombre (Sep 22, 2011)

Very nice birdfeeder, Harry.

I will not install one at home because there are many blackbirds here that use to eat my dogs´meals. They start to make some noise at the garage when we don´t put the dogs platters filled with food.

Since the dog´s food is very hard, they put the grains into water to make it soft and eat. Very clever animals!!!


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## bobj3 (Jan 17, 2006)

Nice Harry
But like they say if you make it they will come then you will be sorry you did 

==


harrysin said:


> I recently posted a shot of a beautifully coloured bird, a "28" feeding from a dish supended on three flimsey chains. Well I decided that it was time to make something more comfortable for our local birds to feed from. Here in pictures is what I came up with and how I did it. As is usual for me, unless templates are involved I tend to make things up as I go along consistant with what materials I have to hand. Non of the materials for this project had to be purchased.


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## JCJCJC (May 15, 2012)

*Bird feeder made from waney-edged boards*

Very nice build Harry, well done. I like to build bird feeders and nest boxes from waney-edged boards and off-cuts, keeping them as rugged and rustic-looking as I can. Here's one I made lately for a dear friend of mine for a birthday gift, poking a gentle laugh at her trademark!!! All her friends want a similar one now. The 'perch' is made from an old aluminium sign.

I use a Kaindl woodcarving wheel on a grinder, kind-of like a chainsaw tooth pattern, to roughly hollow the middle of the deck to keep the birdseed from blowing away in the wind. The support is an off-cut from a plastic tube that comes with silage-wrap, and it fits nicely over a light-duty fence post - job done.

I don't think I used a router on this project - this is rough woodwork 

John


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## harrysin (Jan 15, 2007)

That IS neat John, how about a few progress shots when you make the next one.


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## harrysin (Jan 15, 2007)

Alex, because of the saying that someone is a "bird brain", I used to think that birds in fact couldn't think logically but you have proved that not to be so. We do have crows here, BIG, black and scary! Fortunately I've only seen one of them that landed in the tree where the doves live and I ran out clapping my hands and it flew off.

Bob, I always thought that, like me, you were a softie at heart!


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## Chris Curl (Feb 13, 2012)

Very nice.

But I have a question ... is the router in picture #21 a plunge router? It does NOT look like one to me.


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## papasombre (Sep 22, 2011)

Here they are.


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## papasombre (Sep 22, 2011)

*The blackbirds.*

Here they are.

You can see how they take the dog food, put it into water to make it soft and, then go.


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## JCJCJC (May 15, 2012)

harrysin said:


> That IS neat John, how about a few progress shots when you make the next one.


Thanks Harry - making these things is so rough I'd be embarrassed to show anyone the banging and slapping that goes on! They are literally thrown-together projects from off-cuts I get for free from my wood miller, I seek out the bits with some bark left. The setting-out tool is the Mk 1 eyeball, mostly 

Anyway, here are two birds from my own garden in Ireland - a blackbird looking splendid in the breeding season, and a blackcap which is a rare winter visitor. My photography is fairly traditional, these were shot on a Canon T90 film camera with a 400mm lens and an infra-red remote control.

John


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## jw2170 (Jan 24, 2008)

Great shots, John.


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## harrysin (Jan 15, 2007)

JCJCJC said:


> Thanks Harry - making these things is so rough I'd be embarrassed to show anyone the banging and slapping that goes on! They are literally thrown-together projects from off-cuts I get for free from my wood miller, I seek out the bits with some bark left. The setting-out tool is the Mk 1 eyeball, mostly
> 
> Anyway, here are two birds from my own garden in Ireland - a blackbird looking splendid in the breeding season, and a blackcap which is a rare winter visitor. My photography is fairly traditional, these were shot on a Canon T90 film camera with a 400mm lens and an infra-red remote control.
> 
> John


Exhibition standard photographs John.


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## JCJCJC (May 15, 2012)

harrysin said:


> Exhibition standard photographs John.


Thanks Harry. I used to do photography as a major hobby with the occasional paid assignment for many years, and accumulated a ridiculous amount of manual-focus film camera gear, mostly around the Canon FD system and the Mamiya TLR system. I just couldn't justify junking all of it and paying the crazy prices of modern digital high-end SLRs and lenses, so I didn't bother. I can still shoot an image on 2.25" square 50asa slide film that I get hi-res scanned in the processing lab I use, and I'll have something that will eat an SLR's output alive. Up until recently I had a Calumet monorail camera that could shoot incredible images good enough for fashion or architecture magazine covers, but I sold it because I wasn't using it and bought a nice Ibanez 12-string guitar with the money, I use that a lot more!


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## TRN_Diesel (Feb 24, 2009)

Nice looking bird feeder Harry. I made four feeders for myself and just the other day someone asked me two make two for them. I guess I will have to document how I made my so you can see how we Northerners do it. 

Hint: Need a strong roof for the snow load and ice build up!


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## JCJCJC (May 15, 2012)

Here's another of my rough-and-ready rustic-style bird tables, Having made four for friends this winter to date, I finally got around to making one for my own garden. The birds like it anyway!


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## TRN_Diesel (Feb 24, 2009)

I bet the birds like it. Doesn't have to be fancy just functional.


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## harrysin (Jan 15, 2007)

JCJCJC said:


> Here's another of my rough-and-ready rustic-style bird tables, Having made four for friends this winter to date, I finally got around to making one for my own garden. The birds like it anyway!


You're spoiling the birds John, what a menu you've provided, mine only get "wild bird seed" from the supermarket.


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## harrysin (Jan 15, 2007)

TRN_Diesel said:


> Nice looking bird feeder Harry. I made four feeders for myself and just the other day someone asked me two make two for them. I guess I will have to document how I made my so you can see how we Northerners do it.
> 
> Hint: Need a strong roof for the snow load and ice build up!


Hint: Need a strong roof for the snow load and ice build up! [/QUOTE]
I look forward to the photo-shoot Dan. Do they make small RSJ's!


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## JCJCJC (May 15, 2012)

harrysin said:


> You're spoiling the birds John, what a menu you've provided, mine only get "wild bird seed" from the supermarket.


I've a few apple trees in my garden Harry. so when I get windfalls in the autumn I keep 'em in a bag in the garage, and chop them up for the birds in winter. This year we had a very wet summer with even less sunshine than usual, which meant that apples didn't really ripen and get sweet. Now they've rested up for a while they seem to be more palatable to the birds.
I always thought 'wild bird seed' was for growing your own ;')


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