Homemade Thistle Feeders

Finches are very social tiny birds that come in an assortment of vivid colors. These friendly little splashes of color in nature bring so much joy to the avid bird watcher. Providing special thistle feeders keeps the finches in your yard without the apprehension of sharing their food with larger birds. Larger varieties of birds cannot usually access seeds from tiny holes in a finch feeder. Making a thistle feeder can be very easy and inexpensive.

Things You'll Need

  • Small mesh bag (such as a garlic bag)
  • Heavy thread, cord or shoelace
  • Scissors
  • Thistle seed
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Instructions

  1. Making the Feeder

    • 1

      Purchase fresh garlic in the mesh bag to use for personal cooking needs.The bag that it comes in, usually found in the produce department of the supermarket, is a perfect tiny mesh bag for use in this project.

    • 2

      Remove the garlic from the mesh bag. Any tiny mesh bag of this sort with tiny holes makes for a perfect thistle feeder.

    • 3

      Trim the paper tag very carefully that comes at the top of the garlic bag and keep the sealing intact where this tag is actually sewn to the bag.

    • 4

      Turn the bag inside out and fill with the thistle seed. Do not overfill so that you can tie the top of the bag shut in kind of a half bow. The point is to tie it in such a way that you can untie it yourself to refill it as needed.

    Placing the Feeder Outside

    • 5

      Tie a cord, string or shoelace to the top of the feeder, again in such a way to give you the option to untie it when you need to refill the bag.

    • 6

      Hang your new feeder from a tree branch or somewhere amongst the greenery in your yard where the finches feel safe. In time, you will have a wide variety of colorful finches enjoying thistle seed from your simple and successful homemade thistle feeder.

    • 7

      Make and hang multiple feeders to keep more finches coming to your yard.