How to Make a Bird Feeder

Start with the base. Measure about 8.5 inches along your cedar picket, make a mark, and cut it off. This piece sits under everything and gives the feeder a solid footing. The whole project runs off one picket, so keep your offcuts nearby. You will use the scraps for the sides, roof, and the little border strips later on.

Now cut the two tall side walls to about 7 inches. The key move here is a 20-degree angle on each top edge. That angle is what gives the roof its peak. Cut both boards at once so the angles match. Then cut two shorter, narrower walls for the front and back, leaving about 3/4 inch of clearance at the bottom so seed can flow down to the tray.

Cut two roof panels about 8 inches wide, one for each side. Each one gets a 20-degree angle along its long edge so the two halves meet cleanly at the peak. The video does this on a miter saw. Keep in mind a miter saw is built for crosscuts, not long rip-style cuts, so go slow and keep your hands well clear of the blade.

The border strips ring the tray and keep birdseed from rolling off as the birds eat. Cut a few short pieces from your scrap, roughly an inch tall, with two running along the sides and one across the front. They do not have to fit at 100 percent. This thing lives outdoors with birds on it, so close enough looks right once it is together.

Bring the four walls together into a box. Come up about 3/4 inch from the bottom so there is room for seed to pass through to the tray. Use a waterproof Type 3 glue since this lives outside. Clamp it and give it time to set. To speed things up, the video adds a few brad nails so you are not waiting on the glue to hold everything in place.

Center the box on the base using the outer pieces as a guide. Mark the sides with a pencil so you know where it lands, then flip it over, add glue, and secure it with brad nails. Cedar end grain drinks up glue, so lay down a first coat, wait a few minutes, then add a second before you fasten. Glue the border strips around the tray edges to finish the seed lip.

Attach one roof panel with glue and a couple of brad nails so it is fixed in place. The other panel gets a hinge on each side so it can flip up. Come in about an inch from each end and center the hinge over the side walls. Screw them down. Now you can lift that side of the roof anytime you need to refill the feeder with seed.

Your feeder is done. To post-mount it like the video, grab a floor flange and a length of pipe, sink part of the pipe in the ground, and screw the flange to the bottom. Prefer to hang it? Run galvanized wire side to side across the top instead. Fill the tray with seed and set it out. The birds tend to find a fresh feeder fast.