Home Made Birdseed Feeders

A few mornings ago I woke up, as usual here in summer, at about 3:30am to the sound of birds twittering and singing joyfully outside.  Inside, I wasn't feeling as joyful - a gal's got to sleep!  But it got me thinking, as I lay there resentfully awake, about the big bag of birdseed we bought a while back, about some delightful bird seeders I'd spotted on Pinterest, and about whether or not I could make something with that bog old bag.

At about 5:00am, resigned to the fact that I wouldn't be getting more sleep, I padded into the kitchen and set to work.  First thing's first, however - a huge cup of tea.  A gal needs her caffeine!

After rummaging around in the cupboards I came up with a strange set of ingredients: sunflower seeds, rolled oats, corn kernels and breadcrumbs.  Oh, and a sachet of gelatine.  I'd found a wee recipe on Mama.Papa.Bubba, and I was going to adapt it before the boys woke up.

Mixing the dry ingredients in a large bowl, they looked like this:

Mmmm... tasty!  Then came the sticky part - mixing the gelatine with hot water in a separate bowl, whisking together, and then adding the birdseed mix cup by cup until it had a pretty gooey consistency. It did feel rather gross and gloopy, but that's to be expected.

The instructions I'd found suggested lining a baking tray with baking paper, and scooping the mix into cookie cutter moulds, and as the only suitably sized ones we have are Christmas themed, that's what I did.  Scooping the sticky mass into Santa, stars and a bell (no photos, I had sticky hands!), I then pressed in as much as I could, before inserting straws into each one.  Why straws?  Well, if you want to hang your birdfeeders the string needs to go somewhere!

Finally, just as there was movement upstairs, I was done.  And voila!  After a half day of drying out, I removed the straws, inserted some garden twine, and popped these little fellas out in the garden.

What do you think?

Swinging in the breeze

Home made bird feedie goodness

This is a super easy project for an early morning, a super easy project to get young kids involved with, and at the end you can sit back, have a cuppa, and watch those noisy little feathered friends have a feast.

Enjoy!
  
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