How To Remodel A Bird Feeder

We bought an old hanging bird feeder made of cedar for $2.00. In the image above you can see the price sticker. Although it is hard to tell in the image, the feeder was pretty rough, dirty and chewed on. We decided to remodel the feeder to enhance the beauty of it, as well as to make the feeder last longer. Cedar feeders are great to remodel because the wood is soft and easy to work with. We sanded all of the inside and outside that we could get to after opening the feeder and taking some of the screws out. We cleaned the glass and replaced the rusted screws and eye hooks with new ones. We used a natural wood finish made of walnut oil and beeswax, (discussed on another post on our site). Below is the newly remodeled feeder.

"A bird feeder can be a well thought out design or a very poor design. This was a well thought out feeder... "

The feeder design was very well thought out. A large roof keeps the seed dry and keeps the bigger birds out. Some birds are reportedly getting ill from molds that can grow in the wet seed. The feeder is held up with the hanger from four sides so it will not tip over and allow the seed to dump if larger birds like crows land on the edge of the roof. There is a triangular section of wood in the center of the feed area that is raised so the feed rolls out to where the birds can reach it, rather than staying stuck in the middle. The perches they land on are wood so there is no danger of their feet freezing to the perches which can happen with some metals.

1Take the feeder apart and sand it - we used a random orbital sander with a fresh 120 grit sand paper.

2Coat the cedar with natural drying oil.

3Replace the rusty parts that you can.