Have you ever been told that to keep birds around your house all winter, you should see that they have a constant drinking water supply? And have you ever tried to do this, only to have the water freeze about as fast as you put it out?
We got around the difficulty of using a simple little electric heater. It does, of course, depend upon your electricity, but taking that for granted, it is something any reasonably handy person can make, and it is certainly successful.
Its efficiency on our place is proved by about 15 years of use, during which time we have had endless numbers of birds with us all year round, some so tame that they come to our hands.
If your stores have enameled or aluminum pans the same size as ours, all the dimensions given in the following instructions will be correct.
If the identical-sized pan is not obtainable, any similar pan will serve the purpose. You simply change the dimensions of the box to fit the pan.
Pan’s Materials and Dimensions
Our pan is 5 1/4 inches in diameter to the outside of the flange at the top; the depth of the pan is 2” inches.
With this plan (A) as a starting point, the inside dimensions of the box are 5 ½” inches long, 5 ½” inches wide, and 7” inches deep.
For ease in working, I have used soft white pine. Any thickness of lumber may be used, but with the common 13/16-inch material, the dimensions of the various parts of the box are as follows:
- 2 ends—7 by 5 1/2 inches
- 2 sides—7 by 7 1/8 inches
- Top and bottom—7 1/8 by 7 1/8 inches
Assemble the above ends and sides, using nails, and lay aside until through with further steps.
Enhancement For Efficiency
Next, take the top (B) and boi-e or saw in it a hole that will permit the pan to slip in but will not permit the flange of the pan to go through.
The bottom (C) is the same size as the top, but without the large hole and with only a small hole (D) through which the electric wire is to pass.
The bottom can be nailed in place after attaching the electric receptacle (E), a common porcelain type generally available at ten-cent stores.
However, for convenience, it is perhaps best to attach the wire cord (J) and then do the nailing.
The cord should be of the rubber-covered type, either No. 18 or No. 16, and of length to reach whatever source of electricity you aim to use.
Wiring and Electrical Considerations
Here we have many outdoor outlets, but if you have none, the cord can enter the house under a slightly raised window, the rest of the crack being filled with a narrow strip of wood to keep out draughts.
If you install an outdoor electrical outlet for this heater, be sure it is of weatherproof type to avoid short circuits.
Maintenance and Longevity
The heating element (F) is of the cone-shaped type, which looks like those used in electric heaters of the bowl shape, but this is not the same thing.
Earlier, it is a 40-watt unit obtainable from the mail order houses at a little over 50 cents and will be found in the catalogs in connection with poultry items, as it is a heater made for chicken brooders.
It gives only mild heat but ample for the purpose and takes so little electric current that it is cheap to use. This unit is screwed into the receptacle (E) just before putting the top on the box.
The next items are not imperative but are desirable. I cut out both ends, I take a large round tin can, such as the 1 quart 14-ounce cans in which such things as tomato juice come.
I then slip this around the heating element so that it acts as a chimney to conduct all the heat to the pan.
In the sketch, I have shown this merely as vertical lines for the sides of the can and horizontal lines for the top of the can, all being marked “K.”
In the space outside this can, and between the can and the wooden box, I put mineral wool to conserve the heat.
Before placing the pan into the hole in the top, cut a gasket or washer from an old inner tube and place this gasket under the flange of the pan.
The point “L” on the sketch shows the flange of the pan with the gasket under it. When held down tightly, this arrangement prevents rain from leaking in.
It is not a bad idea to fasten the top with, say, four screws (not shown), in addition to which the screws mentioned in the next paragraph also bold the top in place.
Attracting Birds With Food
Items “G” are pieces 7 ⅛” inches by about 1 by 1 inch extending across the top and held down tightly by screws at the ends.
These pieces or cleats cross the edges of the pan and force the pan down to a tight joint. The pegs (H) are merely little sticks inserted in the items “G” for the birds to perch upon when drinking.
When the heater is finished, paint it to preserve it from the weather and attach it to a tree or post.
The electricity must be turned on only during daylight hours—of course only when the temperature is below freezing— and hence is not expensive to operate. Our heating unit has been in use for years and is good indefinitely.
Conclusion
Of course, water alone will not attract the birds, but with a good supply of food in convenient places and fluid water always available, you should have birds all winter.
We keep our heater filled with water all summer so that the birds habitually go to it for their drinking.
And if you are interested in what we (in New Hampshire) feed our birds, here are the items: Hungarian (not Japanese) millet, sunflower seeds, suet, peanut butter, dry bread crumbs that have absorbed a little unsalted vegetable shortening, and finely cracked corn that is called chick feed.
If you are a bird lover, the trifling labor and small cost of this heater will repay you many times, besides helping to keep alive the birds that are so necessary for the control of insect pests.
Good luck in holding your bird friends this winter!
44659 by Tiffti