06-04-2017, 03:45 PM
One of my hobbies is wildlife photography but I've always enjoyed building things. There's a songbird I've been wanting to attract to my yard called an Eastern Bluebird (pictured below).
They always visited during the winter eating berries but never stayed or nested in my yard. In order to attract them I started putting out mealworms...this was 4 years ago. Since then I've had a pair of Bluebirds nest in my yard the last 4 years.
The dilemma I encountered is the larger birds (mainly European Starlings) would eat all of the mealworms before the Bluebirds had a chance to eat them. So I started searching for a feeder specific for Bluebirds and although there are some out there I didn't like the design or the materials used in the construction. This dilemma is what got me back into woodworking...designing and building my own Bluebird feeder. Over the years the design and materials used has changed but I think I finally figured out a design that I'm happy with.
1/4" soft copper rolled around a 1 1/2" piece of conduit make the rings and I solder them together. The 1 1/2" rings is key to keeping Starlings out of the feeder yet it allows Bluebirds and smaller birds access to the mealworms. The wood used is Cedar (white cedar I'm assuming) and I get it from Lowes and it comes in rough sawn 2X4X8' lengths. I used to paint the earlier designed feeder that was made out of pine but I like the cedar better because it's easy to work with, relatively inexpensive and it holds up better to the elements without being treated or sealed.
The copper rings are removable from the front of the feeder to clean it and the black material keeps the rain from filling up the mealworm dish. Like I said...nothing fancy with basic woodworking and joinery. I've sold 12 of the earlier designed feeders but I hated making them because I was paying too much for pine and I despise painting wood (
). Although I don't take orders for these feeders I have a list of people who want to buy one for their yard after seeing this feeder on my Facebook page.
This is the kind of stuff I see myself doing as I get older and closer to retirement.
They always visited during the winter eating berries but never stayed or nested in my yard. In order to attract them I started putting out mealworms...this was 4 years ago. Since then I've had a pair of Bluebirds nest in my yard the last 4 years.
The dilemma I encountered is the larger birds (mainly European Starlings) would eat all of the mealworms before the Bluebirds had a chance to eat them. So I started searching for a feeder specific for Bluebirds and although there are some out there I didn't like the design or the materials used in the construction. This dilemma is what got me back into woodworking...designing and building my own Bluebird feeder. Over the years the design and materials used has changed but I think I finally figured out a design that I'm happy with.
1/4" soft copper rolled around a 1 1/2" piece of conduit make the rings and I solder them together. The 1 1/2" rings is key to keeping Starlings out of the feeder yet it allows Bluebirds and smaller birds access to the mealworms. The wood used is Cedar (white cedar I'm assuming) and I get it from Lowes and it comes in rough sawn 2X4X8' lengths. I used to paint the earlier designed feeder that was made out of pine but I like the cedar better because it's easy to work with, relatively inexpensive and it holds up better to the elements without being treated or sealed.
The copper rings are removable from the front of the feeder to clean it and the black material keeps the rain from filling up the mealworm dish. Like I said...nothing fancy with basic woodworking and joinery. I've sold 12 of the earlier designed feeders but I hated making them because I was paying too much for pine and I despise painting wood (
). Although I don't take orders for these feeders I have a list of people who want to buy one for their yard after seeing this feeder on my Facebook page. This is the kind of stuff I see myself doing as I get older and closer to retirement.
