Saturday, June 29, 2013

Making Your Own Unique Bird Feeders

By Estela Bolton


With outdoor spaces, warm weather and summer come decorating outdoor spaces. One way to enhance decorating ideas is to use unique bird feeders. They can added with very little effort, and add personality and character to any outdoor creation.

While there are many home decor and gift-shops that offer them for sale, making your own add elements of personality and uniqueness not found with store bought items. This provides the opportunity to select colors or styles appropriate for specific homes. For instance a country atmosphere might be just right for a birdhouse in an old white or blue shoe concept.

Cups and saucers might serve best in modern or country settings, while a house in a shoe or boot would work best in country. The cup at the top serves as feeder, while the bowl at the bottom is for water or even a bird bath. Car headlight lenses can also be used, attached to chains. The light at top serves as decoration, while all others are feeders.

Discarded license plates made into houses, and hung by chains adds an element of uniqueness to certain homes. Think about household items that can be made into a feeder. Almost anything can be adapted for use. For instance even those things not originally meant for use as a feeder can be used, this includes outside bowls, planters, and stake decorations. Put a little feed in them and they make an instant feeder. Coke bottles filled with feed, and hung to a tree make perfect feeders.

Using pine cones and placing feed inside is another excellent idea. Also hang ceramic figures for feeding birds on outside hook stakes. This will serve as a good decoration and will also feed the birds.

Old toys, such as vans, toy cars, or other items can be used as birdhouses. This idea would be especially fun for involving children in making them. Miniature tea-sets can also be used, attached to a fixture meant for lighting, and then secured to the tree. Old grandfather clocks or even gaslights no longer in use are other good ideas. Make sure to remove prior inside fixtures.

And don't throw away the wooden or ceramic planters just yet. Use them and water buckets as a feeder. Glue an old decorative plate to a ground stake and place it next to a tree or a fence and the perfect feeder has been created. Hang a cup from the side for a bit of charming decoration. Spruce up decorations already adorning the yard, such as ducks, pigs or cows and make them into feeders. Even logs can be drilled out, decorated and feed placed inside.

Unique bird feeders need not be expensive. Using simple household items, such as cups or saucers, and a little imagination creates the perfect feeder that fits any home style. So before throwing old shoes, dishes, or home decor items in the trash, think about a new bird feeder.




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