• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
Home Garden Joy
  • Home
  • How to Garden
    • Seed Starting
    • Plant Profiles
    • Tools & Equipment
    • Raised Bed Gardening
  • Vegetables
  • Fruit
  • Herbs
  • Plant Based Recipes
    • Canning and Food Preservation
    • Salad Recipes
    • Soup Recipes
    • Vegetarian Meals
  • About
    • Books & Classes
      • Herbalism Classes
      • Indoor Herb Gardening
      • Books for Christian Herbalists
      • Privacy Policy

Easy Homemade Bird Feeder

November 17, 2014 by Jeanne

make a homemade bird feeder

 

This easy homemade bird feeder uses just four items to create an instantly usable bird feeder that many birds and other wildlife love. If you have small children at home, this is also a great winter-day craft, something to do when you have a few minutes and a few stale bagels around.

What? Bagels never get stale in your home? Ha, they don’t get stale here either – we’re too busy eating them! But you can find stale bagels on the “thrift” (i.e., stale products) shelf at the grocery store or Wal-Mart. You may also want to ask at the local bakery or bagel store if they have any stale bagels they’re throwing out. Just be sure to tell them it’s for an arts and crafts project and not for dinner and they’ll probably give them to you, or give them to you at a discount!

Feeding Backyard Birds

You can feed wild birds at any time during the year. It’s a myth that feeding birds during the spring and summer months will make them dependent on a feeder for food. Wild birds have evolved for many thousands of years with a strong survival sense, and they’ll seek seeds elsewhere if your feeder is empty.

In the meantime, however, a full feeder attracts beautiful, colorful wild birds to the garden. I love watching birds from my kitchen window. The backyard bird feeder is positioned so that from my seat at the kitchen table, I can watch the birds fly from the peach tree in the yard to the feeder hanging from the fence around the vegetable garden. During the summer months, hummingbirds frequently visit the gladiolus flowers growing against my house under the kitchen windows, and other birds like to use the backyard fountain near my patio for a little bird bath. There’s always something to see from the kitchen table!

When you make this bird feeder with your children, not only will they complete an enjoyable craft project, but you may also encourage in them an appreciation for wildlife and nature. Once they hang up their own bird feeder – one they made all by themselves – they’ll be excited to see which wildlife visits it!

Make Your Own Bird Feeder: Easy Homemade Bird Feeder

To make this homemade bird feeder, you will need just four items:

  • A stale bagel, cut in half so that it is flat on both sides.
  • About 1 cup of wild bird seed
  • 2 tablespoons of smooth or chunky peanut butter
  • String or ribbon

You’ll also need newspapers to protect your table and a plate and knife. Parents should cut the bagel in half and determine what kids can use to spread peanut butter – a spoon or a butter knife works fine.

Spread the newspapers over your work surface. Place the bird seed on the plate and set aside. Take the string, ribbon or yarn, and cut a piece about 1 foot in length. Run the end of the string through the hole in the middle of the bagel and tie it around the bagel. Next, spread the flat surface of the bagel with peanut butter. Then smoosh the peanut butter side into the bird seed, making sure to coat it as evenly as possible. With a parent’s help, use the string or yarn to hang the bagel seed feeder up in a tree in your yard. Instant bird feeder!

Don’t be surprised if squirrels find your bird feeder, too. They may enjoy a taste of stale bagel. Birds will peck off the seed and perhaps the peanut butter, then work their way down to the bagel itself.

This and other information to help you enjoy backyard bird feeding is included in my ebook, and paper back book, Attract Birds to Your Garden. The ebook is just 99 cents and available to download in your choice of formats from Smashwords or Amazon. Paperback is available from Amazon. Enjoy!

Purchase My Book from Smashwords or Amazon

Just .99 cents for the ebook

book cover attract birds

Welcome to My New Readers!!!

Wow! We have reached over 100 followers on Bloglovin. Thank you for taking the time to subscribe to Home Garden Joy. Did you know that…

  • I’m currently offering a free Christmas inspirational story on Smashwords? It’s called The Christmas Fox and it is absolutely free to download your copy of the ebook!
  • You can sign up for our monthly newsletter, too.
  • You can find free monthly gardening tips on the site too. Download each month so you know what to do in your garden, and when to do it.
  • I have free tutorials and presentations available on growing African violets, planting a butterfly garden, and growing Christmas plants like amaryllis and Christmas cactus. You can find them on Slideshare.

Enjoy!

Pin
Share
Tweet
0 Shares

Filed Under: Uncategorized

Previous Post: « Last Minute Fall Garden Clean Up
Next Post: The Best Christmas Gifts for Gardeners, 2014 »

Primary Sidebar

Let’s Connect!

  • Amazon
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest

Featured

logo of the american horticulture society

Explore All Gardening Articles

Seed Starting Basics

Easy Ways to Save Cantaloupe Seeds

plants and tools in a wheelbarrow

Starting Peppers from Seeds

tomato seedlings

Seed Starting Resources

tomatoes on the vine

When Should You Start Tomato Seeds Indoors?

Herbalism Classes & Supplies

Goods Shop by Herbal Academy – botanically inspired products

We were featured in Porch.com and answered reader's questions about indoor plants.

Disclosure

Home Garden Joyo participates in two affiliate programs: Amazon and The Herbal Academy. Home Garden Joy earns a commission from qualifying purchases as an Amazon Associate. As an Herbal Academy Associate, HGJ also earns a commission when you sign up for classes or purchase herbs or supplies from The Herbal Academy.

Footer

raised bed garden

How to Build a Vegetable Garden Using Raised Beds

If you’re thinking about building a vegetable garden this year, raised beds are one of the best ways I know of to start a vegetable garden. Instead of renting a rototiller or hand-digging the soil, adding amendments and turning it all under to create a good garden bed, you start with the best soil mixture…

Read More

henbit close up

Henbit: Plant Profile

I’ve put together this henbit plant profile to spotlight a lovely plant – which many gardeners consider a weed. Weed or flower? To me, it’s a matter of perspective. Every spring, at least one of my raised beds is covered in a thick mat of henbit. Henbit is both lovely and practical despite being labeled…

Read More

fresh beets from the garden on the lawn after being washed

The Ultimate Guide to Growing Organic Beets

I wrote this Ultime Guide to Growing Beets to share my techniques for growing tasty, organic beets. Beets are a powerhouse of nutrition. Both the beetroot and the leaves and stems are edible. You can also can beets and beet greens to store them for year-round use. Here, I share with you a full guide…

Read More

a blue wheelbarrow and a red wheelbarrow filled with pine branches

Winter Homesteading Projects

Even though it’s cold and snowy out, winter homesteading projects beckon. As I write this, snow is falling in sheets outside my office windows, covering the orchard trees with a blanket of white. Last week, an ice storm knocked power out for 36 hours – and knocked pines down every which way. We had poles…

Read More

  • Privacy Policy
  • About
  • Awards

Copyright © 2025 Home Garden Joy on the Foodie Pro Theme