Coconut bird feeder

I have been planning to make one for a long time now and thought that it would be a really nice thing for the boys to "help" with. So I thought i would leave a little guide how i went about making it.

Firstly, if you have little ones with nut allergies then do not do this. Secondly, if you’re after a nice and tidy non messy activity to do with little ones again do not do this.

What you will need.

Bag of bird seed

Peanuts

Lard

Coconut shell

Mixing bowl

String

Oats (I used porridge oats)

Breaking a coconut shell, I ended up using the bashing in outside against concrete method. However I Goggled it and found there are a number of methods to breaking it open here is one of them.

We mixed an amount of bird seed, peanuts and oats in to the bowl. The amount you use is up to you there is no precise recipe to follow. You can add more as you go.

 

 

Then we added the lard to the mixture, this is where you can add more mixture as you get a feel for the ratio. We began using a fork to do this but it was too much hard work so we ended up mixing using our hands. I did say this wasn’t one for clean freaks :-)
 

Obviously you need to pause for the obligatory posing photo CHEESE !

 

You can tie the string in the coconut whenever, just make sure that you do it before you cram the shell with the mixture

Ta Da, the boys had loads of fun making this it’s simple cheap and lots of fun. It also looks more natural than using a yoghurt pot or a plastic bottle. The mixture inside will be great for wild birds visiting the garden as it’s a high energy feed, just what they need now the days are getting shorter and colder.

 

And Daddy loved tidying up............! But I'd do it all again just to see the boys getting so much out of helping to make it.

It now has pride of place on the bird feeder and the boys keep looking to see if birds are on it.