12 Homemade Treat Ideas You Can DIY To Keep Birds Visiting Your Yard Or Garden

Keeping feeders stocked with seed should attract plenty of wild birds to your backyard, and putting out additional treats is like expanding your menu. You might even attract more diverse kinds of birds passing through your yard. Providing treats can give wild birds some supplemental nutrients that they need during high-energy periods like nesting and migrating. Adding extra treats to your yard also creates more opportunities for birds to get some food without having to fight for a place at a feeder. DIYing your own treats can be a fun project for any bird lover, and is a great nature-themed activity to do with kids. It's a treat (pun intended) to watch birds stopping by to eat something you've handmade for them.

DIY bird treats can take different forms, but many are made from the same basic mixture of unflavored gelatin, water, and birdseed. Refrigerating these treats hardens them enough so they can be hung up. The standard recipe for gelatin-based treats is 1 packet of unflavored gelatin mixed with 2 tablespoons of cold water, followed by ⅓ cup boiling water and 2 cups of whatever birdseed recipes are best for the birds in your yard. Once you have this ratio down, you can create bigger or smaller batches of bird treats whenever your backyard buffet is running low. 

No matter your age, you probably made a version of this bird treat as a kid. Smearing peanut butter over an empty toilet paper tube and rolling it in seeds is a delightfully messy hands-on task. Sticking the tubes right onto horizontal branches is even simpler than adding hangers. Plus, it's easier for birds to stop and snack on this treat if they have a branch to perch on. One important caveat? Don't hang these treats on warm days when the peanut butter is likely to melt and become sticky in birds' mouths and on their feathers. 

Birdseed ornaments are even simpler to prepare than seed wreaths, making them another classic kid-friendly craft. All you need is the gelatin and seed mixture and cookie cutters or small ring molds. Even after setting in the fridge overnight, these ornaments are still soft enough that you can easily run threaded needles through them to create hangers. Finally, another use for all the random cookie cutters you've collected. How cute would a whole batch of seed ornaments hanging in your trees be?

Suet attracts some cool little birds, like multiple varieties of woodpeckers and Northern Flickers. It's also a vital source of nutrition for birds in wintertime, though you can keep a suet feeder stocked year-round. Make your own DIY suet cranberry cake with pantry staples. The base is a mixture of birdseed, nuts, oats, and cranberries. Lard holds the mixture together and provides migrating birds with the fat they need. Bonus: Suet cakes made with lard shouldn't melt in your yard except on very hot days. 

A seed log is a treat that can feed a crowd — or an entire flock — and making your own is relatively low-effort. All you'll need is your gelatin and seed mixture and a plastic container like a big yogurt tub. A cut-down plastic soda bottle or small bucket could also work as a mold. If you plan to hang a seed log in a tree, make sure to press a dowel or something similar all the way through its core before refrigerating. Once the log is set, pull out the dowel and run a length of sisal rope or some other natural fiber through the hole to make a hanger. 

Pine cone bird treats will keep birds busy for a while. It takes a lot of work for beaks to get into all those nooks and crannies that you've filled with peanut butter, nuts, and seeds. These treats are super easy to whip up, and many of us can find pine cones in our own backyards or at the park. Don't forget to tie a piece of rope or twine to the top of the pine cone first; it'll be harder to add the hanger once the cone is covered with sticky peanut butter. 

Fat balls are essentially suet cakes in a slightly different form. If you don't already have a suet feeder (it's easy to DIY suit feeders that will look natural in your trees), try this method instead. By shaping your mixture in yogurt cups or single-use plastic drinks cups (you can also use cupcake liners), you will be able to embed hangers before the fat balls harden. The key is to make a small hole in the bottom of the cup and run a piece of twine through it before packing the mixture into the cup and around the twine. 

You could say that making an orange peel birdseed treat kills two birds with one stone ... but we won't. It is a pretty genius way to repurpose orange peels in your garden and keep your backyard birds happy, too. Push two long skewers at a criss-crossed angle through the peel to create perches, so you don't have to hang it near a tree in order for birds to access the food. Fill the orange shell with seed and use string to hang your feeder. Once the peel starts to decay, toss it in your compost bin.

This sweet treat could be the perfect way to use up mealy, bruised apples that you don't plan to eat. It's not pretty, but it is bird-friendly and easy to make. Jam some large apple chunks onto skewers and spread nut butter and seeds over the top. Adding some shards of dried egg shells makes this treat extra nutritious for nesting birds, who need additional calcium. Per the Audubon Society, clean shells should be baked in a 250-degree oven for about 10 minutes until they're dry but not browned. Crush the cooled shells and add them to treats.  

Looking for ways to repurpose plastic Easter eggs? They make perfect molds for a big batch of gelatin-based bird treat balls. This method will work best with seed that's designed for small birds. The smaller, rounder pellets will hold together in a perfect oval shape better than a mix made with bigger pieces like sunflower seeds or nuts. Once they're set, remove the plastic mold and hang these festive Easter egg balls all around your backyard, then let the birds do their own version of an egg hunt. 

A garland made of dried fruit, nuts, and popcorn definitely looks beautiful against the foliage of a snowy tree. This is absolutely a year-round treat, though. Customize your garland based on whatever bird feed you have on hand. As a bonus, adding a ton of different ingredients lets you track the local birds' preferences. If the cranberries and peanuts are all gone while the popcorn and millet sprays remain on the garland, you'll know to adjust the mix for the next batch you make. 

It's rare to look at a bird treat and think, "I want to eat that." But that might happen if you put a beautifully prepared charcuterie spread out for the wild birds. A hanging tray is the perfect vessel to hold a mix of seed, fresh fruit, whole nuts, and other bird-friendly treats. As an alternative, you could create a similar presentation right on a backyard table or the railing of a deck. Just be prepared for a lot of cleanup when they're done feasting, and don't forget to make yourself a treat to enjoy while you watch visiting birds pass through. 

A birdseed wreath, studded with cranberries and hung from a beautiful ribbon, looks decorative and will provide enough sustenance for a lot of birds. Some seed wreath recipes call for ingredients like flour and corn syrup as well as gelatin, and can be made in a standard Bundt cake mold. Be sure to spritz the cake mold with cooking spray to help the wreath slip out easily once the gelatin has set. (And give the mold a really good cleaning before using it to make your next Bundt cake for human consumption.)