How to Make a Bird Seed Wreath for your feathered friends!
Try this easy ring pan mold from unflavored gelatin and bird seed and watch the bird flock to it! This idea was discovered last month and it caused a ripple effect amongst the Flea Market Gardening gang that even now spreads ever wider. I love when ideas circulate like this!
Annie Steen, passed the idea to Jeanne, then Patty and Kirk, each made one… How fun! This is a neat project to do with a child, too. I hope many of you will try this and make your birds happy!
Annie Grossart-Steen’s seed wreath started int all, with a star hanger and a ribbon of red and white ticking
Kirk Willis took photos of his second wreath to show us.
Kirk Willis’s seed wreath bird feeder
Here are photos of the step by step process in making the gelatin wreath:
BIRD SEED WREATH RECIPE
1 pkg plain Knox gelatin
1/2 cup warm water
3 Tbsp light corn syrup
3/4 cup flour
4 cups bird seed
EQUIPMENT
Bowl
Bundt or ring pan
Spoon or whisk
Non-stick oil spray
Wide ribbon or fabric remnant
Hook or metal ring
Dissolve the gelatin in warm water. Add the flour and corn syrup. Mix in the bird seed
INSTRUCTIONS
Spray the mold with oil spray
In a large bowl, stir together the gelatin, warm water, corn syrup and flour until it becomes a paste.
Press seed mix firmly into the oiled pan
Add the birdseed and mix well.
Press it firmly into the oiled pan….
Wait until mold is completely dry, 24-48 hours
Cool seed wreath bird feeder…finished! “So fun and easy.”
Tie on the ribbon add the hook or ring and hang!
Enjoy watching the birds!
Kirk’s tips:
- I’ve learned so much in making these. Wait for 48 hours until they completely dry.
- I doubled the recipe and added an extra packet of the gelatin to fill my bundt pan.
- I originally tried to hang one with rope. Not good. The rope broke the wreath! Fabric ribbon works perfectly.
- I attached a metal ring so I could hang it.
Jeanne Sammons’s wreath attracts a woodpecker
Patty Hicks made hers with a wire mesh frame and says, “Bush Tits are so much fun here and so social. It’s like a mob of hungry teenagers flying into feast, lots of happy chatter.”
Bush tits feast away
Patty wound wire around and provided a frame of wire mesh to make a handy perch
The Nuthatch seems happy so I’m happy. They love nuts.
Patty’s Tips
- Hang you wreath where it won’t get too wet to avoid molding and/or disintegration that heavy rain might cause.
- I had to tie it down to a base that is wired to the trellis because of thieving squirrels!
- Stuff the extra into some pinecones to hang outside
Note: Patty substituted 1 cup of juicy meal worms in place of some bird seed for some extra birdie treats.
Oops! Squirrel attack!
The wreaths will be eaten up eventually, but they last a long time in dry weather and it’s easy to make more. I hope you’ll let us know on the Facebook page with a photo or in a comment her, if you try this…
Jeanne ‘captures’ a Cardinal and a Junco
Jeanie Merritt’s all black seed wreath. She says, “I hung a new seed wreath today… ALL sunflower seeds; knowing it would definitely attract the cardinals…. Pretty sight…sunny day… NO cardinals. I know I shouldn’t have cleaned those windows..now they can see me watching and waiting.”
A Sweetheart variation:
Jeanne Sammons has a heart for her birds. Use a small can to form the hole to hang ribbon, as shown
24 Comments
This comment is for Krik. When you said you double the recipe, did you double everything or just add an extra packet of Knox gelatin?
Thanks
I don’t know if Kirk will see your question or not … but from the looks of how ‘full’ the bundt pan is I would say he doubled ‘everything.’ The two wreaths of mine shown in this article only filled the bundt pan about half way. Hope that helps. Jeanne Sammons
Have you trued using smooth peanut butter,raisins, cornmill and lard, mix together let set . you can put in molds to set or let set and slice and put in suet feeders, high in protein for the birds…. you can add mealworms also..
Do u mean all 4 packets that come in a pkg of knox or just 2?
Kirk used two packets total when doubling his recipe to fill the bundt pan. ~~ Sue
Sue, Kirk’s comment is, “I doubled the recipe AND added an extra envelope of gelatin”. Do we know if he used 2 or 3 envelopes for the recipe. Thanks.
Thank you so much for sharing this recipe! I’ve seen these in catalogs, but they are so expensive. I can’t wait to make my own!
podria decirme que es la gelatina knox, y desde ya la idea es preciosa y voy a intentar ponerla en practica
gracias
cristina
They have a seed cylinder at the bird store with hot pepper in it to discourage the squirrels. Sure does work.
Alice, how does “hot pepper” discourage the squirrels? Can it be added to this mixture. with the same results?
Can I leave out corn-syrup, or would the mix not stick together if I leave it out ?
Should I substitute it with something else to make the mix stick together ?
Corn syrup is more toxic than refined sugar, I rather leave it out.
You can try! Let us know if it holds together all right. btw, sugar isn’t toxic to birds,…otherwise the Audubon Society would not be recommending using sugar water solutions for hummingbirds.
I don’t use refined sugar for hummingbirds, due to witnessing the little beaks crystallizing, hence leads to death. I have read in B&B that sugar is not recommended because of this, and they have shown pictures of hummingbird beaks crystallizing. A few years later, B&B changed their story, and said that sugar is safe for hummingbirds. Which is it? I am so discouraged right now with B&B, because of the horrifying pictures of little hummingbirds dying due to crystallized beaks from using refined sugar, then changing their story. I realize this page is about seed cakes, but I was stunned to read the above statement regarding sugar water for hummingbirds. Please forgive me, and don’t take this message as a negative breakdown toward you, or anyone here. I am truly discouraged. Deb
I am going to make this for a Christmas gift, how far in advance could I make it you think?
I made the bird feeder ring without the gelatin is that why it fell apart?I left it in the freezer for 4 days.I f not the gelatin why would it fall apart? Thank You
Yes, it is the reason. You need the gelatin to bind the seed together. Try again! 🙂
Hi I made this wreath and when I took it out of the greased pan,tied a ribbon it broke .I had put this in the freezer over night.Should I not have put in freezer?Any other reason it fell apart? Thank you
Hi I made this wreath and when I took it out of the greased pan and tied a ribbon around it.I put this in the freezer over night.Any reason why it fell apart? Thank you
Corn syrup can affect the way birds perceive satiety (whether or not they are full or have eaten enough) and thus affect their diet in general. I’ve read many comments (since this recipe is posted on a gazillion sites) from people who have tried making these for wedding favors, only to find that they mold. I’ve also seen many people questioning whether corn syrup and/or gelatin is good for birds. I’ve done quite a bit of research and tried a similar recipe (without corn syrup or flour) myself and found that it will indeed mold, even without corn syrup, so I wanted to share what I had learned. You can feel free to ignore the information. I just wanted to pass on what I had learned for those who might be interested.
Why does my bird seed wreath keep falling apart after I take it out of the pan?
I don’t know if putting it in the freezer had anything to do with it, but it could be that the ingredients that were binding it together could not work properly when frozen. Corn syrup becomes hard and brittle and not as sticky when frozen. The other issue that I noticed when making these myself (using a different recipe) was that the seed mixture had to be extremely compressed to hold together. I would need to press down on the seed mixture when putting it in the mold to make sure it was as tightly packed into the mold as possible for it to hold together well.
I hope that helps!
Thank you very.I will keep trying.That does help.
I made some of these , the molds developed a green mold on the rings.
Shad, try setting your seed wreath out in colder weather… That should fix this problem.