For years I have hated it when it would rain, or snow and get your bird seed all soggy. Then you'd have to throw that wet seed out of your feeder and put new in. What a waste! Plus in the hanging feeders if you didn't get it cleaned out soon enough it would get moldy. What a pain. I figured if I could find plans to make one that would be great. No such thing out there in cyber land. So then I did a search for a weather proof feeder. There it was the feeder of my dreams. :-D :-D Songbird Essentials Weather proof feeder ( photo / image / picture from Tooty2shoes's Garden ) Weather proof bird feeder ( photo / image / picture from Tooty2shoes's Garden ) It's from a company called; Songbird Essentials "All Weather Bird Feeder". This one is the 4 quart feeder. It also comes in a 6 quart model. You can order them to hold whole seeds like Sunflower, or just smaller seeds, or the sunflower seed hearts that are ground up. So far it has been threw two small snow falls with no wet seed at all. The reason the seeds stay dry is because the birds have to reach up under the middle disk to get the seeds out. If you look closely at the last pic. you can see the slit in the bottom where the birds pick the seeds out of. So there is no way the seed in the feeder can get wet. I'm in love with this feeder. But I didn't like the price. The 4 quart was 68.00 dollars plus shipping. Now that I see how they made it I am putting my little grey cells to work to see if I can come up with something similar. So far I figured if I use a coffee can and some plastic pot saucers I just might get one rigged up. I am also going to see if I can put some kind of rubber or flexible edging to give the birds a less slippery edge to hold on to than just the plastic one. Think, think, think hummm what would work that. Any ideas anyone?
The concept is easy, implementation with available material is a bit more challenging. My coffee now comes in a plastic container. Better, as it will not rust. I will retire to the laboratory put my thinking cap on and see what I can come up with for a 'weatherproof' bird feeder as I torture a coffee container. Jerry
Nice feeder, 2T-- as for the edge...perhaps you could apply some glue onthe edge thensprinkle sand or fine wood chips on it then let it dry and put it back out. Just a thought. Good luck.
Sjoerd thank you for the idea. That gave me another idea of putting. I could put a bead of flexible caulk around the rim where they sit. Letting it dry first indoors. Thank you.