In the aftermath of Sandy across the Eastern Coast of the US, our week of wet and windy weather here seems to pale into insignificance. I hope that if you’re reading this from across the pond you’re safe and well, unscathed by the havoc the storm has wreaked. In our small corner of England, the stormy weather is proving traumatic for the garden birds arriving here for the Winter months. Stories abound of weary birds dropping from the skies into the waters around coastal harbour towns, metres from reaching dry land, after days of flying in battering, gusty winds. Harry and I have decided to launch our own garden bird SOS by making a myriad of DIY bird feeders, to welcome the exhausted new arrivals and help to fatten them up for the chilly months ahead.
Making birdseed feeders is one of the messiest and most fun kitchen projects; it’s incredibly simple, gratifyingly mushy, and very forgiving; if your mixture hardens before you’re done, you can just warm it up and start all over again. We made a mixture of feeding balls and cookie-cutter shapes, pierced through with straws to create a hanging hole for thread…
Some of these looked so pretty that I think we’ll make them again to accompany Christmas gifts for our green-fingered friends and family members. Others looked so vast and lumpy that we had to search out very hardy branches to hang them from; I suspect that any robin or chaffinch brave enough to tackle one of those will have trouble getting airborne for a while afterwards..
The other glorious thing about these is that even the most haphazard and amateur cook can manage it (that’s us, of course…). As long as your ingredients are in proportion to each other, you’ll be fine. So, grab a cup or a mug and measure out:
- 4 cups of birdseed (we chose a winter bird mix, with differing sizes of grain to attract different birds)
- 3/4 cup of flour
- 3 large spoons of golden syrup (corn syrup)
- 1/4 cup of hot water, in which you’ve sprinkled and stirred a sachet of powdered gelatine (find these in the home baking section of supermarkets)
Mix all of these together in a bowl. Have lengthy and circular conversation with any young children about why this is one recipe where they are not allowed to lick the spoon and/or bowl at the end
Spoon into pre-greased cookie cutters, using your fingers or the back of a teaspoon to squish the mixture into the edges and compress it down; the more firmly you can pack it, the easier it will be to hang and then peck. For the birds, that is. Resist the urge to peck at them yourself. Poke a chopped up piece of straw into each to create the hole for hanging.
After a couple of hours of drying, ease them out of the cookie-cutters and remove the straws, then turn over, so each side can harden. Ideally leave them overnight for this stage. If you need to free up the kitchen counter space, you can pop them in the freezer for an hour instead, which does the trick.
Finally, thread a piece of string, cord or ribbon through each, ready to hang; we chose bright ribbon to attract the birds, and to give us something cheerful to look at through the kitchen window..
So now we’ll retire indoors, and await the happy sound of chirruping and crunching from our feathered friends. At least, that’s what I have assured Harry will happen. I suspect that in fact I will be bursting through the door again in minutes, shrieking at the squirrels who will descend upon our efforts with glee, as the neighbours look at me, baffled at such random behaviour. Such is life…
Chad
Cute! Feeding the birds is one of my favorite past times and will give this a whirl with the kiddos. All is Ok on this side of the pond. Many inches of rain and extreme wind. We did not lose power so other than a few branches in the yard we are all safe and well. Love the blog! Cheers, Chad
Kate
Chad, so lovely to hear from you! I’ve heard so many stories of devastation and chaos in the wake of Sandy, it’s great to know all is well with you…
Bestof2sisters
What cute little birdie snacks – lucky feathered friends who enter your garden!
/Camilla
Erika@ TheLindenLife
Those are adorable! I am going to have to try that with my little helper. What a nice way to brighten up a dreary day.
Kate
Thanks Erika; let me know how you get on! We did a circuit of the garden today and the trees all just have scraps of ribbon hanging from them, so the treats seemed to go down well our local wildlife! Have a great weekend
domesticali
I was put off making these by a version I tried a few years ago which used lard – fine when cold, but when the sun hit them they melted into slurry. Your flour and glycerin recipe sounds far more stable (and I love the cute cookie cutter shapes).
ElizabethWolf
I love it. Those poor birdies. I hope they swarm to your yard before the squirrels do!
K @ Shift Ctrl ART
What a great idea!!
Addielyn
Cute idea!!! I definitely have to try! Looks fun to make
Sarah
Where do you get powdered glycerin?
Kate
Hi Sarah, I was scribbling a detailed reply to you when I realised my typo – it’s powered gelatine you need (I’m using glycerin to make snow globes at the moment, hence my distraction!). I’ve updated the main post to reflect this. You can get powered gelatine in any good supermarket in the home baking section; you could use leaf gelatine too and just adapt the instructions on the packet to allow for soaking time. Thanks for spotting my error and good luck!
Carol
Where do you get powdered glycerin and how much do you use? Thanks… I love these
Kate
Hi Carol, apologies, it was a typo from the original post that I’ve since correct; it’s powdered gelatine you need (I was planning to make snow globes with glycerin at the time of writing and got distracted!). You’ll find powdered gelatine in the home-baking section of the supermarket – I used Dr Oetkers, which comes in a box of sachets of around 12g each (70g for 6); one sachet was perfect for the quantities of seed etc I describe in the post. Good luck!
Jillian
Super cute! Always on the lookout for stuff like this
Claire (Diary of the Evans-Crittens)
Hi,
Great minds think alike! I just blogged about making hanging bird feeders too! We used messy smelly lard though! Haha! They look so pretty in your garden! I found this blog via Design Mom, but only just remembered to search for the post to start “Following” you! I love what I see!
love
Claire
xxx
A little birdie SOS call « Server Monkey Blog
[...] A little birdie SOS call. [...]
pegges
such a great idea… I will definitely try this! thank you
Focus On: Seasonal Craft & DIY Blogs | The Daily Post
[...] projects she does with her son, Harry. From homemade pinecone firelighters to ornament-like winter birdseed feeders, Kate’s arts and crafts activities are not only fun and festive, but beautifully presented on [...]
SVSeekins
Lovely idea! The cookie cutter shapes are cool… & creating the hole with a piece of straw is a stroke of brilliance.
I got a kick out of a similar recipe last year – - it used suet to hold together a seed mixture that is pressed into a hanging log / bird feeder.
http://svseekins.wordpress.com/2011/12/29/for-the-birds-suet-logs/
The little birds that typically run up & down trees finding food in the racks & crevices love it… as do the woodpeckers… and the crows… and the squirrels….
I’m curious about the ingredient list. I figure that suet isn’t in the natural diet of birds – - same goes for the corn syrup & gelatin…. Have you heard of any concerns or endorsements about the birds consuming any of those ingredients?
pegges
Reblogged this on My Family Bliss and commented:
Found this on “Kate’s Creative Space” and really loved this idea! It’s fun for kids to make it and good for the birds to have. That way, kids also learn to take care of animals in need Thanks Kate for this lovely idea!
nr11blog.wordpress.com
Just made a batch of these super winter bird feeders, a somewhat sticky affair! Tip: use a palette knife to press the seeds into the shapes and flatten the tops. Using a knife rather than fingers will prevent seeds sticking everywhere. Such an inspiring and pretty blog, thanks Kate & Harry! Hannah
Jo
Mine broke up a bit did you use three quarters flour or 3 cups?
Kate
Hi Jo
I definitely used 3/4 of a cup (rather than 3 to 4) – it just helps the syrup to bind vs bulking them up – If yours are crumbling I’d try adding a little more gelatin or syrup, and perhaps freezing them briefly once they’re stamped out, to help the sticky elements to set hard. Good luck!
The Itty Bitty Boomer
Adorable! Can’t wait to try these! So glad stumbled on your blog!
Caiti
How did you make that balls? Was it just rolled up in the kids hands? How did you get the ribbon to stay after the birds had pecked away some seeds?
Kate
Hi Caiti, I knotted the ribbon and then we simply scooped and pressed handfuls of the seed around it, building it up in layers. Messy, but effective, and once we had a good-sized ball we placed them in the freezer for 30mins to help them set hard. Inevitably, once a certain amount of the ball has been pecked away, there is a risk of crumbling; some of ours stayed to the very end, others dropped off in clumps when they were half-eaten. This didn’t seem to matter (the birds just pecked on the ground, and then the remnants were whisked away by squirrels).
NC
Hi! These are a great idea! About how many shapes does 1 recipe make? Thank you!
kamitchell2012
Reblogged this on HOBBIT HOUSE and commented:
G. – we should make some of these? X
Siobhan
These are so cute, I’m going to make some this weekend!
Kate
Made some. They looked fabulous but the birds haven’t gone near them, unlike some other bird feeders/fat balls we have in the garden. Not sure the gelatine is bird-diet friendly, or maybe that”s just Swiss birds??
Kate
Hi Kate, what a shame! I’m sure suet is a bit tastier, I just couldn’t face using it.. gelatin is definitely classed as not harmful to birds and fine as a carrier / binder, but there’s a difference of course between being benign and being delicious. Our birds wolfed it down but they’re a bit rough around here; perhaps you have better, more refined class of bird…
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[...] Homemade bird feeders / Kates Creative Space [...]
10 Ideas to Entertain Bored Kids | coffsforkids.com
[…] Homemade bird feeders / Kates Creative Space […]
Meagan
This is a great idea! Christmas presents for sure this year!
Robin
Thanks for the recipe – my 5-year-old had a ball making it. http://knotsandweeds.wordpress.com/2014/02/11/bird-cookies/