Show Us Your Feeders, vol. #16

Gosh. there is no need for you to go to all of that trouble Margaret. Really, there isn't!! LOL

Hah, I'm with Margaret GG. Better yet, maybe we can go into the business together? Except I don't know how to work the equipment. But maybe I can be of some help in some way??? lol....for now let's find a name for the business. lol

That GrannyGrunt does some nice work, eh?

Well, Lily, I have 12 cat bunk beds to build for our local no kill shelter. So, there are tons of non-machine tasks to do.

Thanks Mrs. Ed.

Here the whole feeder Chilly. Yes all made of recycle material, and a dremel tool. The bottle was a V8 juice bottle, the dish is a medium size peanut butter container cover, I bolted the juice cap of the bottle to the dish. I made 4 hole about a 1/4" big, just above the thread area and 4 more holes about 1 1/2" above it for the finches. The chipping Sparrow uses the bottom one and those seeds don't go to waste. To hang it, I use the chain link with tiny balls, and the attachment that fits over the balls ( see picture), to hold it inside the bottle bottom. I added a key chain ring at the other end, again using the attachment. If you don't have a baffle, I recommend using silicone to plug the hole, where the chain come out of the bottle, or I would think mastic would work too. Otherwise you'll have water collecting in the bottom groove and that will drip inside and spoil the seeds. The baffle I used was from an old feeder I had.

I've added a picture of some of the things that you can use to make one. This one would be a small feeder. So fewer feeder holes. I forgot the add a nut and bolt in that pic, that you need to attach the cap to the dish. duhhhh but you get the picture. :)) the baffle is a cover to the little ready made salad bowl you buy in the store.

Hi all, I've been away for a while, and have had problem with downloading pics. onto our threads -- that's until just now. I'm able to down load photos once again. GG that's very generous of you, my hat is off to you for your contribution to your local shelter.

Bernadette, those are very inventive! Here is one I found from a thrift store. It's some sort of metal, all rusty and worn out looking. I asked DH to sandblast(?) and cleaned the rust off, then he painted the cage blue per request. I set the painted cage aside for awhile, then filled it with raw peanuts. Such treats for my nuthatches!

Ooh, so many wonderful feeders! I've been doing a lot of lurking and thoroughly enjoying all the great ideas and photos. It's hard to know where to start, but I love them all.

GG, beautiful feeder you made for nanny! And so considerate of you to make the kitty beds for the shelter.

Burn, very inventive Idea with your feeder!

Kim...sooo nice to see you're wonderful pics again! That blue star is really cool!

These next two are a Downy Woodpecker enjoying suet at one of several "upside-down" feeders my husband built. The feeder is about 5 years old so it looks a little "weathered".

Wow! There are some great feeder ideas here. Been lurking. Love the peanut cage. nutsaboutnature, nice job on those upside down suet feeders. Hubby is no slouch at woodworking--beautiful box joints. Love the "weathered" look.

I'm with GG, that's some skilled wood working n.a.n. My Hubby is counting down until his retirement days, and looking forward to some woodworking in his many a honey's do projects. I can't wait until those days.

Thanks, GG and Kim! You have no idea how much my husband would love to retire. Just can't do it right now. He's definitely not one of those guys that would just sit around.

I set out the 'treat' before dark yesterday, thinking some birds will find them before night fall. So far, none have found them! Saw this titmouse earlier in the evening nearby, but I was disappointed that none have discovered the meallies as of this early morning.

My guess is that once you find them… they'll come a-knockin' fast and furious.

I had kind of an AHA! moment at the store the other day. I had always seen the finch sock feeders with the domes on the top, thinking they were just baffles and perhaps some weather cover. I did not realize until I looked closely at them that the dome helps to fill the sock. D'OH!!! All this time I could have had this and not struggled with the funnel and string hanger. Sigh. Well I bought one now at least.

Marna, that's one neat nijer feeder. I'm hoping to see more goldfinches return. Thus far I haven't seen many. Oh, guess who found my meallies feeder once again. You were absolutely correct ...

I thought it might be the Carolina wren to be the first!!!

The lighting wasn't on my side, but here I've a couple photos to share; Tufted Titmouse enjoys the whole peanut treat that I just hung out once again as the weather is getting cooler, and less bugs available for the birds this time of year.

Look at the date on the post above mine. It was time to bump this up.

We have a spiffy new feeder. :P It matches our nice neat brush pile. (so glad we live in the country to not deal with unhappy neighbors) My husband was going to burn this, but I saw an idea in a book recently where they used the trunk of a tree as a big woodpecker feeder. They drilled holes in it to stuff with suet or whatever PB mix. I do not have really good pictures of the birds using it, but Juncos and Downy Woodpeckers have figured it out.

It amazed me that the Juncos learned that was food. The woodpeckers being tree clingers, I could see, but Juncos?

Mrs. Ed, I bought a double sock feeder like that. When I got it, I thought it would take a long time to empty. Little did I know that we were going to have a Redpoll invasion and I needed to fill it up every day for about 3 weeks.

Does anyone else have any new interesting feeders?

Chilly, that's not a bad idea at all. Our good friend Donna (GrannyGrunt) who we lost this spring had gotten big pine tree stumps. She had to have them cut in sections. Then reassembled and set in concrete in her bird feeding area. Brilliant. She'd hang suet there and put suet in the holes and all of that.

And of course there's the old christmas tree log suet feeder too.

I like how yours have little perches for everyone!!!

No new feeders for me this year as I'm paying for my new patio! hahaha.

Mrs. Ed. I so miss our friend Donna... No new feeders for this year either, but I'm hoping Santa may surprise me with new ones this year. Chilly, thanks for bumping this thread up. I'm so glad to see you created/recycled the old tree stumps for new use. My neighbors took down some tall trees a few weeks ago. As they topped off the trees, I was hoping they would leave the tree for woodpecker to roost and make nesting out of them. But, puyeee! They kept sawing the trees down to the ground. :((

We have an two very mature Green Ash trees in our front yard. One is really struggling. If it has to "go", I'm thinking Totem Pole with bird friendly features!

We had so many Orioles this year, I could hardly keep them fed. A couple of them had to try the hummingbird feeders, which didn't work for them. So I came up with something new. I call it the ant moat feeder. The bottom one is filled with jelly. The male never quite figured out how to get the good stuff.

Just received my new feeder. Got my a batch of mealworms,too - 3,000 of them - most are in the fridge to retard their development. I placed about 50-60 in a container, in the laundry room, to grew some more. My DW isn't pleased with those in the fridge, but she is kind to me - I assured her that they can't escape (and they can't). But still, I may end up buying a small dorm-room type fridge from Lowe's, we'll see.

Anyway, here is the new feeder. I velcro-taped a small mealworm-containing tin on top to encourage visitors, so far, no luck, but it has only been a day. I'll need to be patient.

Any tips would be appreciated.

Hack

I finally got one feeder just for birds. Regular size pvc pipe did not keep squirrels off, I've heard the bigger sized might. I put the baffle (green shiny, slippery bowl from Walmart) on the pvc. Nothing close enough for them to jump from so this works. Food goes in the red bowl and the blue bowl on top is to keep out rain.

Sheila, Have any birds visited this yet? At this time I do not have regular squirrel visitors, but have put up a baffle above in an attempt to deter starlings... (doesn't work). The native birds eventually came, but they were slow to do so until they learned the baffle wasn't a threat. :)

Wow, how has the time flies! Woodpeckers and their antic at the feeders. Today I have this to share : Red - headed Woodpecker dominant. The Red - Headed Woodpecker to the Brown Thrasher. "You just have to wait buddy. " LOL

Wow, how has the time flies! Woodpeckers and their antic at the feeders. Today I have this to share : Red - headed Woodpecker dominant. The Red - Headed Woodpecker to the Brown Thrasher. "You just have to wait buddy. " LOL

Hahaha...aren't they funny when they don't want to share? Right now we have a bunch of Baltimore Orioles and they absolutely hate to share the grape jelly so they are constantly chattering at each other. :o)

I absolutely love those Baltimore Orioles! Every year especially during winter, one or two will hang out around my backyard for several weeks. But that's it. I wished I could see more of them.

I'm really sorry my pics. are shown side-way. Do they show side-way on your screen?

Hummm, I posted the above picture as a test. It's in IMG format. Those that shown side-way are posted directly from my phone. I'm learning new info. :(

Kim, what if you first upload your phone pics to your computer and then post them? Do they still post sideways? Glad you learned something, though.

Computers can be very frustrating sometimes, especially when your like me. Somehow I bumble through, but my knowledge is pretty limited. Every now and then I surprise myself, though, when I figure something out or teach myself something new.

Our Orioles generally don't stay all summer. Sometimes they stay long enough to nest and they'll bring their young to the grape jelly and oranges. They used to leave much earlier, but we've been getting more and more of them over the last few years, which is nice. I think Orioles tend to start heading south earlier than some birds.

I thought you had to have fruit trees for Orioles to stick around. I would have a few come through but they would never stay.

We have one puny fruit tree that stopped bearing fruit and this makes no difference to the orioles. I just looked up what types of trees they nest in and they prefer elms (I have some small weed ones in the tree line), but they will use sycamore, willow and maple.

I think the Orchards like open but with a grove of trees. This is what we've seen and they are listed as being found in Oak Savannahs in the Tallgrass prairies. One year I found a group of young out in a lonely tree out back, but I cannot be certain they nested there. Baltimores will nest on wood edges, parks, etc. rather than deep in a forest. Maybe put out nesting material next year when you know they are about to arrive and see if they stay.

If you don't use pesticide, they are good to have around. Only rarely do we use Green Bug in the food gardens, but otherwise let nature take care of things. One year I saw a Baltimore Oriole eating the tent caterpillars in a weed mulberry tree. I thought very few birds ate them because of the spines.