Platform Bird Feeder After Fresh Snow
My sons and I decided to make their grandmother a platform bird feeder for her birthday. She has been looking for a replacement hopper bird feeder because a squirrel managed to destroy her old one. The squirrel was stealing bird feed using it’s paw to raise one of the clear plastic sides that hold the bird feed in the hopper feeder. He crawled into the feeder to finish off the remaining food and couldn’t figure out how to raise the panel again. He ate his way through the wood roof and escaped out the top. We decided to build her a platform type feeder that allowed squirrels in and out.
Bird Feeder Base Made From Recycled Barn Wood
We started the project with some recycled barn wood for the base. Then we used some small 2 by 2 scraps to create the trough. Don’t forget to drill a few small holes in the base to allow any water to drain out.
Bird Feeder Base Drilled with Column Holes
Some decorative trim was added around the edges of the feeding trough. Half inch holes were also drilled equally spaced around the 2 by 2s for the columns.
Bird Feeder More Recycled Barn Wood Used For The Top
The copper columns were made from 1/2 inch copper plumbing pipe cut to size. Holes were also drilled in the top for the columns. The top was made from more of the recycled barn wood. The triangle pieces that made up the gable roof were also fashioned from the same wood.
Bird Feeder Roof
I drilled 1 1/2 inch holes in each end of the gables to create a bird house on each end of the roof. The top was made of some half inch plywood.
Birdhouse Predator Guard
My son glued and nailed on a bird house predator guard. If you haven’t read it yet I have already created a post for the Birdhouse Predator Guard if your interested in how I make them.
Bird Feeder Get Paint Basecoat
The copper columns were removed and everything got a good couple base coats of white paint.
Bird Feeder After Painting
My son thought the platform bird feeder would look nicer if the gables were painted black and the predator guard painted red. The edges of the base were painted black to match the gables.
Cooper Column Detail
A small hole was drilled at each of the column bases and tops. A finish nail was then inserted into the hole to hold the columns in place and keep everything together.
Shingled Bird Feeder
The platform bird feeder’s roof was then shingled with overlapping house shingles that were cut to size. I just used three rows of shingles on the roof by cutting up six full sized house shingles.
Bird Feeder Cupola
A small piece of folded copper that was left over from the blue bird house ,was used to finish the shingles. A cupola was then added to the platform bird feeders roof to give it a finished look. I found the cupola at the local hobby shop in the doll house section.
Finished Platform Bird Feeder
Here it he finished platform bird feeder with built in birdhouses. This was a great little project and my son’s grandmother really liked it.