To attract larger birds, attach a bottom tray under the tube to collect the seed to they will land and feed there.
It all goes down to the kind of homemade bird feeder plans you are using. Not only will it dictate the resulting look of the feeder, it can also spell the success or failure of your project. So I strongly suggest that you choose the plan you’re going to use well.
However, if you wish to be building your own bird feeder, there are several things you need to look into to get it right. Some of these are:
Bird feeders comes in all shapes and sizes, and while the market has plenty of opportunities, building one yourself is a great way to match your needs and impress your neighbors. Whether you just want a board on a stick, a wooden chewed apple or a mini-barn with fences and a weathercock, only your imagination holds the limit.
If you like to work with wood, you should look for wooden feeder plans. I do not recommend building them out of materials like metal or plastic. After all, you will place your finished product outside during winter, when the temperatures can easily drop below zero.
This kind of feeder attract a lot of different variety of birds such as blue jays but also squirrels, especially if they are suspended under a tree. Try to put your feeder in a place where the squirrels cannot access it too easily.
Proso millet comes in two varieties, white and red. Although both types are readily eaten, most species prefer white proso millet. Here is a list of the species that prefer millet: tree sparrow, song sparrow, brown-headed cowbird, dark-eyed junco, house sparrow, mourning dove, and white-throated sparrow.
Feeders designed to exclude certain birds because of size, weight or behavior can help make your more expensive grain available only to preferred species. Tube feeders that are surrounded by a wire cage will keep larger birds like jays away from your sunflower seed. A tube feeder without a tray below it will restrict access to only small birds and if you remove the perches you’ve restricted the feeder to only those birds that can cling like finches, chickadees, nuthatches, titmice and woodpeckers. If starlings or jays are a problem at your suet feeder, discourage them by using a suet feeder with access only from the bottom. Starlings and jays are reluctant to perch upside down but your preferred species are not.
