Here are a bunch of ideas for making bird baths using a variety of bits and pieces from around the house or harvested from garage sales & thrift stores.
Most are quite simple to make with several featuring creative, original ideas though some are fairly similar to each other…these are included to show how different projects can look using assorted sized pieces, or adding color by using paint and other embellishment ideas.
Tips before getting started:
- Keep in mind that the interior basin holding water needs to be bird friendly, we don’t want to poison the darlings! Do some research on products like sealant before using. Outer materials don’t matter as much.
- No matter how lovely the structure, if you don’t keep it clean…it’s not healthy for the birds. Fill with fresh water daily. For regular maintenance use a plastic scrubby with a bit of bleach until stains are removed. Rinse well to remove all traces of bleach before filling with fresh water.
- Location, location, location! Position a fair distance from feeders, those seeds (and droppings) fly everywhere and can quickly dirty the water.
- If you have a cat at home or on the prowl in the neighborhood…keep that in mind when determining the location of the birdbath.
As with all project collections here on Tipnut, I’ll be adding more goodies to this page as I find them so you may want to bookmark this page for future reference. Enjoy!
Free DIY Tutorials & Ideas
With Feeder: A flower pot is glued between two clay saucers (different sizes) then set inside a hanging basket, one dish for seed and one for water.
Tiered: Goodwill raid for supplies which include a large table lamp, flower shaped bowl, platter & decorative glass cup.
Restoration: You’ll have to check out the before & after to appreciate the work done.
Salvaged Chair: No step-by-step instructions, but are any needed? A terra cotta saucer is fit into the seat of the chair frame.
Stacked Stones: So rustic, so lovely! Topped with galvanized trashcan lids picked up at a garage sale.
Tomato Cage Hack: Now isn’t this clever! Cut the cage down to the size you want then add a decorative dish to the top.
Simple: Three rods (doweling or broomstick handles), a decorate basin and exterior-grade paint.
Leaf Shaped: You’ll need cement mix and a large leaf from a hosta, rhubarb, burdock, castor bean or elephant’s ear. Also see these concrete leaf instructions.
Terracotta Bowl Stand: An old bowl is glued to the bottom of a planter using liquid nail then pebbles and a brick are placed in the center (for birds to rest on).
Hanging Basin: (Video tutorial) Made with nylon twine and a large lipped basin.
Mosaic: A flower pot, saucer, colorful tiles (or pebbles) and tile adhesive are used to make this project.
Love all of these ideas!!