On a frozen, white winter’s day, the feeders in my yard fill with a festival of feathers. What should be a deafeningly silent morning, is punctuated by twittering & chattering & occasional yammering of all sorts of chickadees, finches, nuthatches, woodpeckers, and juncos. And I cannot forget to mention my very loud & proud blue jays! For on a frosty morning, nothing is more essential to my flock of bird’s winter survival than food.
Being a bit of a crazy bird lady, I will admit that I go to extra measures to make sure my flock has plenty of food on especially frigid days. In addition to my regular suet cakes & birdseed offerings, I have taken to making my beloved birds some extra treats. One of my (& the birds’) favorites are Pine Cone Bird Seed Feeders. Yes, I am still a 2nd grader at heart, and I love this wintertime craft. It smells like peanut butter goodness, and gives you messy hands, but the birds love Pine Cone Bird Seed Feeders. Plus, I think they look pretty cute hanging from all the trees.
This craft is really simple. You start by gathering pine cones—the bigger, the better. On the cliff behind our old house, we had a towering ponderosa pine. I hiked up and collected a basket of the biggest cones for these feeders, and have reused many of them a couple of times already. I bake my cones at a low oven temperature to kill any critters, dry them out, and so the bracts can open up fully and create lots of nooks & crannies for peanut butter and seeds to fill in. I tie some natural jute twine (which is biodegradable), to the tops of them, to make them easier to work with and to hang. I use jute so if one gets lost in a tree or taken off by a squirrel, it can fully degrade in the elements. Then the cones get dipped and drizzled with melted peanut butter and rolled in birdseed. It’s that easy—a 2nd grade project, for sure, but so rewarding when you see a siskin or chickadee clinging to a cone, eating peanut-buttery sunflower chips!
How to Make Pine Cone Bird Seed Feeders
INGREDIENTS
Pine Cones
Peanut Butter
Mixed Bird Seed
Jute Twine
INSTRUCTIONS
Preparing the Pine Cones: Spread the pine cones on a large, lined baking sheet in a single layer. Be sure to remove any bits of dried leaves or pine needles to reduce fire risk. Bake in a 200 degree Fahrenheit oven for 30 minutes, until cones have opened up. You may notice that the cones have a sheen to them, as the pine resins have run out & dried. Let cool completely.
Assembling the Feeders: Tie a piece of twine around the top bract of the pine cones. Make sure to use a long enough piece of twine to be able to hang them. I like to do a double overhang knot, then tie the two tails into a granny knot to create a loop to hang the feeders from branches.
Now the Messy Part: Dip each of the feders into melted peanut butter, then into bird seed. I find it easiest to melt peanut butter in a deep bowl to a smooth, liquid consistency. Then, holding pine cone at the top and bottom, I roll it in the peanut butter, then transfer to a shallow dish (like a pie tin) of bird seed. Once the cones are fully coated, transfer to wax paper and allow them to set up.
Hang them & the birds will come!
