Bird Feeder

NerdyKat
by NerdyKat
$25
35 Hours
Medium
My mummy loves watching birds in her garden and she has this tree full of flowers and 4 bird feeders. Unfortunately one of the older bird feeders isn't looking so well anymore, so I decided to make her a new one. She really likes it and so do the birdies. The whole project took about 35 hours to complete and if you fancy having a go here is how ;)
Print out the template provided and glue it onto MDF with a glue stick. Cut out larger pieces with a jigsaw and windows and door with a modelling jigsaw. File and sand the door and windows.
Make yourself a jig for the inner pyramid using a piece of wood, lollipop sticks and a few screws. Glue the pyramid together with wood glue and let it dry. Drill 4 holes in the bottom piece and feed the steel wire/wires through. Make sure that the holes and the pyramid are slightly off center, so that you will have enough space for the balcony later on. Drill another hole in the top of the pyramid, feed the steel wires through and glue it onto the base.
Place the hinge in between the two back pieces and mark positions for the screws. Shorten the screws to the required length with a junior hacksaw and screw in. Attach the two quarter circles to the back flap with wood glue. Glue all walls to the base and secure with clamps whilst the glue dries.
Put a bunch of lollipop sticks into the mitre block and cut off the ends. Cut a few of them at an angle for the corners. Cut the sticks as required and glue them on the walls starting at a corner.
Carry on gluing and cutting lollipop sticks as required. When you get to the hinge remove the flap and cut the sticks into a required length. Hollow out the back side of the lollipop sticks with a small chisel, glue in and secure with clamps. Glue some sticks to the back flap and let them dry. Cut into required length with hacksaw and screw the flap back in. Carry on as before.
Sand the bottom openings with dremel (wannabe dremel in my case) with the small sanding attachment. Sand the protruding sides of the sticks at an angle, so that you can glue the roof on top of it. Make a small loop with the wire and secure with a few knots.
File a couple of small groves in the roof pieces for the wire to go through. Glue the two roof pieces to the top of the walls and secure with rubber bands. Cut and glue coffee stirrers to the edges of the roof. Carry on gluing lollipop sticks to the roof. For the two large pieces of the roof I decided to layer the lollipop sticks and the smaller roof was done in a same way as the walls. Attach another couple of coffee stirrers to the very top of the roof where the lollipop sticks join.
Glue together 3 coffee stirrers twice, secure with clamps and let them dry. Cut them into 3 roughly 8cm pieces and glue in with the balcony.
Cut a few stirrers into approximately 2.7cm long pieces. Glue 10 smaller pieces in between 3 stirrers, 2 for the top and 1 for the bottom (leave a gap about 3mm wide between the edge of the bottom stirrer and the ends of the short ones) secure with clamps. Attach the railing to the balcony edge with wood glue and secure with a rubber band. Do the same for side and bottom railings. Secure with clamps or rubber bands wherever you can.
Push the wood filler into any unwanted gaps, for me this was mainly on the roof and railings, but I applied some into the larger gaps on the walls . Let it dry. Once dried remove any leftovers with a small chisel and or knife and sand over.
Take each of the 4 ledges and sand the edges at an angle. Glue them around the base and secure with a rubber band. Drill holes around the base for the water to escape when it rains.
Glue together 5 lollipop sticks and let them dry. Cut off the end and sand it into a more pleasant shape. Drill a hole into the lollipop stick end and the back flap. Glue and screw the knob in. Rid the feeder of any dust.
I've made a couple of bird feeders in past and both times I used exterior lacquer. Even though the finish was beautiful, it would only last a year due to the weather. So this time round I decided to try something different and bought a few samples of the garden furniture wood paint in different colours. I'm not sure how long it will last, but at least should be easier to repaint if / when necessary.
The painting is not difficult, just do it in whatever colour you fancy and be prepared to give it a few coats.
I've made a couple of bird feeders in past and both times I used exterior lacquer. Even though the finish was beautiful, it would only last a year due to the weather. So this time round I decided to try something different and bought a few samples of the garden furniture wood paint in different colours. I'm not sure how long it will last, but at least should be easier to repaint if / when necessary.
The painting is not difficult, just do it in whatever colour you fancy and be prepared to give it a few coats.
Paint the windows and the door with the colour of your choosing. Once dried, roughly mark the position of the windows with a pencil and paint in with a black paint. Attach with wood glue.
At this point I was quite happy with the result, however the sides and back looked a little dull in comparison with the front so I decided to paint a few plants climbing up the side walls and the back of the house for decoration.


At the end I thought maybe a little mat would be nice so I painted that as well. It was completely pointless since this would not be visible once the birdies make themselves at home and cover the base in shells but never mind, I thought it was a nice feature. :D
For more information, photos and template go to https://www.instructables.com/id/Wooden-Bird-Feeder/
Frequently asked questions
Have a question about this project?
3 of 6 questions
  • Sheri Gradel Sheri Gradel on Sep 17, 2017

    How do I get the template

  • Jud Jud on Sep 23, 2017

    Does the roof lift off to pour in the bird seed?

  • Sjt29229935 Sjt29229935 on May 15, 2020

    Oh, sorry, one more question. Since I plan on doing this with a, somewhat, impatient 9 year old and due to time and attention factor, would it look awful to simply paint the sides of the house instead of gluing and cutting close to 300 popsicle sticks? I would definitely still use them for the roof and possibly turn the filling door into a window to help fit into the décor since no sticks to camouflage. Also, because both of us are artistical challenged, thinking maybe an alternative to detail painting, we could just glue or tack artificial vines and flowers to our plain, painted sides for a touch of ambiance.

    Thanks again, Kat! I LOVE nerds!!

Comments
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2 of 84 comments
  • Carol Cole Carol Cole on Apr 04, 2019

    I love it.


  • Sjt29229935 Sjt29229935 on May 15, 2020

    Couldn't the bottom portion of the seed filling door hinge be put on the inside? That way the sticks would lay flatter and eliminate the need to route the backs of sticks around that part of the hinge? Would work like the hinges on the doors inside your home. The cylinder portion would still be out, but not the other bottom part. I'm no woodworker, but seems to my uneducated mind this would work.

    I LOVE the birdhouse and have printed the templets. Thank you for those! Think my 9 year old grandson and I will tackle it as a homeschooling project. It is beautiful. Great job, Kat!

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