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One dog-eared cedar fence picket, about five dollars, becomes a proper gabled bird feeder: two peaked end walls, an offset two-piece roof, a floor, and side rails that keep the seed from blowing off the platform. It's the ideal first project with a brad nailer — every joint is glue plus pins, and nothing is bigger than your hand.
The design quietly handles fence-picket reality. Pickets run nominally 1/2" thick but vary, so two of the cuts are measure-to-fit: the side rails are cut to the assembled feeder's actual length, and one roof panel gets ripped 1/2" narrower than the other so the two overlap into an even peak. Cut the fixed dimensions first, assemble, then fit the variable pieces to what you actually built.
Use a glue rated for oily woods — cedar's natural oils starve ordinary glue joints. An eye hook at the roof peak hangs it; a lag from below mounts it on a post. Either way, put it where you can see it from a window, because that's the entire return on investment.
| Item | Qty |
|---|---|
| Cedar fence picket, 5-1/2" x 72"Dog-eared is fine — the eared end becomes offcut. Nominal 1/2" thick; the plan absorbs the variation. | 1 each |
| Exterior wood glue, rated for oily woodsCedar's oils defeat ordinary glue — the rating matters. | 2 oz |
| Finish nails or brads, 1-1/4"Small exterior screws work too. | 30 each |
| Eye hookFor hanging from the roof peak. | 1 each |
Overall cost: $. Lumber prices vary by region, species, and season, so we give a band rather than a figure we would only be pretending to know.
| Part | Qty | T × W × L |
|---|---|---|
| Gable wallsCedar fence picketTop cut to a center peak with 45° angles both sides. | 2 | 1/2" × 5 1/2" × 7 3/4" |
| FloorCedar fence picket | 1 | 1/2" × 5 1/2" × 7" |
| Shorter roof panelCedar fence picketRip 1/2" off one edge — the narrower panel tucks under the wider one at the peak. | 1 | 1/2" × 5" × 10" |
| Longer roof panelCedar fence picket | 1 | 1/2" × 5 1/2" × 10" |
| Side railsCedar fence picketMeasure and cut to fit your assembled feeder, then rip into 1-1/2" strips. | 2 | 1/2" × 1 1/2" × 8" |
Buy 3 boards at 8 ft.
1 board
1 board
1 board
Assumes 8 ft stock, a 1/8" saw kerf, and buying each part at its own width. Change the board size or kerf on the full board plan →
Mark the peak on each wall piece with the speed square — 45° from each side to a center point — and cut. Then glue and brad both walls to the ends of the floor, square and flush at the edges.
Rip the shorter roof panel to 5" wide, then glue and nail it to one slope of the gables, its top edge landing at the peak line.
Glue and nail the full-width panel to the other slope so it overlaps the narrow panel's top edge — that overlap IS the ridge, and it sheds rain away from the seed. Nail into both the gables and the narrow panel's edge.
Measure the assembled feeder's platform length, cut the rail stock to fit, rip into two 1-1/2" strips, and glue and nail one along each open side. The rails keep seed on the platform and double as perches.
Add the eye hook at the peak (pilot it — 1/2" cedar splits), hang it in view of a window, and leave the cedar raw: it weathers to silver and the birds could not care less.
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