Would you like to build your own feeder for wild animals such as squirrels before the fall and winter season arrives? Here is a simple guide!
If you're interested in an animal-friendly, fall DIY project, you can build a squirrel feeder with your own hands. Although the small rodents can cope with foraging, it is not always easy for them in autumn and winter. It also brings with it a lot of positive emotions when you can attract such cute creatures to your own garden. Additionally, a homemade feeder can contribute to biodiversity in urban areas and help them survive in harsh conditions.
What criteria do I need to meet in order to be able to build my own feeder for squirrels?
Both children and adults enjoy the funny antics of squirrels, which often hang out in city parks and private gardens. A DIY feeder can not only provide a clear view of the interesting visitors but also help them find food. This could lead you to, without much effort,Build your own feeder for squirrelsto want to support them in this way. This can be particularly beneficial for rodents after a hot summer, as it will be difficult for them to find suitable food in the fall. The reason for this is that most trees and similarPlant varieties in heatdevelop few or no nuts.
Another benefit of building a squirrel feeder is that it distracts your furry friends from bird feeders. However, to achieve all of this, you should also consider a few factors before building your own squirrel feeder. Below you will find some of the most important of them:
- For such a DIY project, you should only use natural wood and not chipboard impregnated with varnish or even fragments of plastic. These are wild animals that could be extremely sensitive to such materials.
- Additionally, the smell of a polish could scare off squirrels, which would ruin the whole project.
- It is also important to create a compact structure and keep predators or other unwanted visitors out of it.
- If you build your own bird feeder for squirrels, it will also need a round hole as an entrance. This allows the animal to visit the feeder and you should also hang it properly. Only at such a height and near a tree would squirrels dare to eat the food you provide.
What can a squirrel feeder be made of?
As already written, you should use natural materials for such a feeding station, although old dishes are also suitable. The main requirement is to use dry wooden boards and similar components. However, you need a minimum of materials and tools, which makes the whole thing affordable or even sustainable through upcycling. For example, you can use old fence boards and larger mason jars for thispickled vegetables such as pepperonior use cucumbers without any problems.
It is also recommended to choose wooden boards with a wall thickness of around 3 cm so that you can build your own squirrel feeder that is durable and offers protection to the animals. Otherwise, you can follow the example steps described below to realize such a project. You can also collect the following materials and tools:
- A wooden board approximately 1.80 meters long, preferably made of cedar wood
- galvanized deck screws
- An approximately 3 liter preserving jar
- Saber or jigsaw, coarse sandpaper, pencil and possibly a compass
Proceed step by step and build your own feeder for squirrels
This is not only an interesting but also an easy and popular DIY project. Thanks to a clever construction method, the feeding station offers reliable protection from birds. To do this, you need a sufficiently spacious glass with a diameter of at least 15 cm so that the squirrel can not only climb into it, but also sit and eat nuts. The dimensions of the bird feeder are approximately 45/25/20 cm (length/width/height).
- First, cut out the wooden planks as shown above to create 2 side walls, as well as a front, a roof and a back wall. You can use the glass to mark the hole for the lining.
- Then hold the mason jar by the wood with its opening and curve to mark the dimensions using the pencil. The lowest point of the curve should be approximately 2.5 cm from the bottom of the board.
- Then cut along the line with the saw and place the mason jar on the base. This allows you to check whether it fits well.
- First, you can cut off the sharp corners of the support, about 0.7 to 1.2 cm, and smooth any rough edges with sandpaper. The remaining curved piece becomes the end piece.
- Next, make entry holes on both side walls by marking the locations about 3 inches from the highest corner of each board.
- Center the hole from side to side. Use a compass to draw a circle about 8 centimeters in diameter and then cut out the holes with a reciprocating saw.
- If necessary, sand down the rough edges with sandpaper.
Build the opening for the squirrel feeder yourself
- You can then make the central hole on the front of the feeder to hold the neck of the jar. This step can be a little more difficult because mason jars vary in size.
- First determine the radius of the mouth of the glass and then place the glass on its side.
- Measure from the table top to the bottom of the mouth and add these two measurements plus approximately 2.5 cm. Mark this distance from the bottom of the faceplate and the center.
- From this point, draw a circle half an inch larger than the diameter of the mouth. Cut the hole with a saw.
- Now attach all the walls of the feeder to each other and then to the base. You can attach all parts with the deck screws. To prevent the wooden walls from splitting, you can drill guide holes in each piece before screwing in the screws.
- Next, you can attach the mason jar holder about 8cm from the other end of the base. You can then position the rounded end piece on the edge of the base to hold the glass in place. However, you also need enough space to be able to tip the glass out to fill it. If it is too tight, you can use a rasp to round off the inner curved edge of the end piece until the glass can be easily removed. If the position is too loose, you can move the rounded end further up before attaching it.
- Now pre-drill holes in the mounting plate and then attach them to the feeder with deck screws.
- Finally, you can attach the feeder to a tree with larger screws and fill it with peanuts in the shell, corn kernels, or bird seed.
