Homemade Wildlife Feeders

Feeding wildlife is something you might be able to do in your backyard. Birds, deer, foxes, squirrels, and many other types of wildlife reside in the country, and will travel to suburbs in lots of places. If you feed wildlife, you'll be helping support them, and you'll also be encouraging them to come to your location. Homemade wildlife feeders allow you to do this.

  1. Bird Feeders

    • Bird feeders are the most common easily-made homemade feeder. They are also the most useful, as birds can be fed from balconies, apartment porches, or even in the city. Homemade bird feeders should be small troughs. Feeders can be made up of any material in a trough shape. Cut a paper towel roll in half, and attach 12 inches of string to either end. Tie the string securely to an overhanging balcony, roof, or other structure and fill the roll with bird seed. Buy a wooden pole at least 5 inches in diameter and 5 feet tall. Stick the wooden pole in the ground. Take a shallow plastic bowl or plastic serving tray with a lip around it, and use heavy-duty screws to attach the bottom of bowl to the top of the stake.

    Trough Feeders

    • To feed animals like deer and wild horses, build a trough feeder. Build one out of scraps of wood you have around the garage or shop. The trough should be at least 2 feet long, although 3 or 4 feet longer would be better. It should be at least 1 foot wide. Build a trough, or buy a window box for flowers in that same dimension. For the base of the feeder, you can use many things -- a sawhorse, an old barrel, or wooden legs built out of scrap boards. Attach the trough to the legs securely with screws or nails. Keep the trough filled with a mixture of hay and grain foods for the animals you would like to attract.

    Small Animal Feeders

    • Smaller animals like squirrels, foxes, and raccoons will need a smaller feeder. Buy several flat serving trays with lips, shallow plastic bowls, or plastic drawer dividers that are long rectangles at a store. To make sure that the feeders are accepted and not scorned for being too manmade or too close to the house, take the small objects you are using and put them around your property. Use shallow screws to screw them into tree trunks, put them under flower beds, or at the base of trees. Then, keep them full of food. Small animals will eat out of any types of feeders.