How to Make Outdoor Bird Food Ornaments

Attract wild birds to your yard by hanging bird-seed ornaments from your trees. because these treats use all-natural ingredients, you do not have to worry about waste. Birds and squirrels can consume the entire ornament. Choose a rainy day to make several of these, then hang them after the rain stops. After hanging, you can watch the birds flock to your yard as they visit these decorative feeders.

Things You'll Need

  • For pinecone ornaments:
  • 1 suet cake
  • 1/2 cup natural peanut butter
  • Two 2-cup glass mixing bowls
  • Spatula
  • 1 pinecone (per ornament)
  • 1 1/2 cups bird seed
  • 8-inch length of string (per ornament)
  • Wax paper
  • For orange ornaments:
  • Orange (1 per 2 ornaments)
  • Knife
  • Grapefruit spoon or spoon
  • 2 8-inch lengths of string or ribbon (per 2 ornaments)
  • Bird seed or suet
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Instructions

  1. Pinecone Ornaments

    • 1

      Place the suet cake into a glass bowl and microwave on high for 30 seconds to 1 minute, stirring after every 20 seconds.

    • 2

      Stir 1/2 cup natural peanut butter into the melted suet.

    • 3

      Mix 1/2 cup bird seed with the melted peanut butter and suet.

    • 4

      Tie a 6-inch length of string around the top 1 inch of each pinecone used. Tie a 3-inch loop at the end of the string.

    • 5

      Pour the remaining 1 cup of bird seed into a second glass bowl.

    • 6

      Dip each pine cone into the suet/peanut butter mixture.

    • 7

      Roll the dipped pine cone in the dry bird seed to completely cover it. Be careful not to bury the string in the bird seed.

    • 8

      Lay the ornaments onto a sheet of wax paper to cool and harden.

    • 9

      Hang several ornaments from low tree branches in your yard.

    Bird-Seed Ornaments With Oranges

    • 10

      Cut an orange in half.

    • 11

      Scoop out the fruit from both halves with a grapefruit spoon or spoon. Leave the orange peel intact.

    • 12

      Make two small holes across from each other by poking through the peel with the knife 1/2 inch from the cut portion of the orange half. Repeat on the other orange half.

    • 13

      Tie each end of the string or ribbon into the holes to create a handle to hang your orange ornament from a tree. Repeat with the other orange half and other string.

    • 14

      Fill the two orange halves with bird seed to the rim and hang from a tree.