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do you build your own bird feeders? (1 Viewer)

ok so i think this is the right spot to post this...

i love to build stuff and i love birds. so naturally i like to build bird houses and feeders. i dont build them out of wood though...i build them out of just recycled bottles and containers. recently i have made one out of a plastic plate, lid from and ice cream bucket and a water bottle. i tied the plate above the lid with the bottle in between them holding the plate up. i hung it out thinking it was going work pretty well but then i found out that it sucked. miserably. lol the wind wobbled it and the lid (bottom) kept slanting which made the seeds spill everywhere. i have made others as well and they have worked better but no birds came to those. no birds come to any of my feeders. store bought or homemade! i usually hang them on the gutter above my deck. im getting a bit discouraged and about to give up on birding all together.

ANYWAY.... if you like to make homemade bird houses or feeders i would like to see pictures of them! just for inspiration and just enjoying the craftsmanship and whatnot. i will post my bird feeder that is not in the garbage because there was no hope for it. haha
 

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I made a platform that sits on an 8ft pole to keep it out of reach from the squirrels. :) It's nothing special to look at, but it does get a lot of traffic, all sorts of visitors. The upside is that it lets me add and move things around whenever I like. I prefer to make my own things, too, just because it's fun! The webcam I mounted provides a nice distraction from the beige walls here at work. :)

I like your feeder, it looks nice, and I'm sure a second version would look nice and be more sturdy! I've found that sunflower seeds attract the most birds for me, have you given that a try? It can also take a few days for a new feeder to be discovered, don't get discouraged!
 

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Some dandy craftmanship by both above. Ability to recycle plastic items to something useful a huge benefit. In past, used plastic canisters that tennis balls come in as makeshift thistle feeders. Gold finch, House Finch, Indigo Buntings, others would use. Never robust enough withstand rigors over time. After a few days, opening for seed would be enlarged to point were feeder needed to be retired and replaced. Did extend the usefulness of useless plastic otherwise. Knees got old, rest of me didnt, not much tennis anymore.(tennis balls went to seniors retirement centers, guess they play alot of tennis) Have some old film shots, not much to look at, never scanned.

So hot across much of continent currently. Water seems to be bigger draw than feed in backyard.
Does take a bit of time and patience to introduce birds to feed. Having water out there being an added attraction.
 
dwayne that is awesome. how do you get the webcam feed to your computer? doesnt it need a wire? and does it use a battery? because i would love to have a webcam feed to my computer except i would want it to film the inside of a bird house. i would like to build a house and/or feeder on a pole like you.
and Bird_Bill thank you! and i might make another feeder but have it be a bottle like yours.
 
I go to the local lumberyard and buy hobby grade chain, it works better than the flimsy stuff that comes with suet feeders.
Keep your eye out for oddball metal pieces, I made a great feeder out of an old air-vent grate that I saw at a junk sale.
Check out the Hummingbird forum for a feeder I made out of a strange bottlecap.
 
dwayne that is awesome. how do you get the webcam feed to your computer? doesnt it need a wire? and does it use a battery? because i would love to have a webcam feed to my computer except i would want it to film the inside of a bird house. i would like to build a house and/or feeder on a pole like you.
and Bird_Bill thank you! and i might make another feeder but have it be a bottle like yours.

I use an "active" USB extension cable that is ~10 meters long to connect the webcam to a laptop inside the house. The "active" part means that the USB extension cable itself is powered in order to boost the signal, normally USB extension cables are limited to 3 meters. If you have a closer window, a regular cable works great, too. I'm more than happy to give you specifics on any part of it, just ask questions!

I actually stream the webcam online, too. I made a post in the live webcams subforum on here, but it was removed, and I never got a response from the forum admins, so whatever. I stream it through justin.tv, maybe the admins don't like that the page has ads (like an other streaming page). I'll PM you the link if you want to check it out.

I also built a nestbox with a cam in it, I had a Tufted Titmouse family nesting in it earlier this year, very cool to watch.
 

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