seed covered birdhouses

[Patbob]

I want to make seed covered birdhouses for gifts, which I will need to ship. I need a recipe for a non-toxic glue that will hold the seeds on the wood and will dry hard enough to survive the shipping.

[dananne]

Noticed you still had not received any replys so I'll add my two cents worth. Elmers glue, the white stuff that the kids use at school, may be safe to use. A thin coat on the bird house, then lay the bird house on a flat bed of seed and what sticks, sticks. The bottle I have here that is for use here at the desk is Elmer's Glue-All. Says it is safe, no harmful fumes. Of course, that safe most likely means for children and/or people and birds do have a different digestive system. I did use some on one of my bird cages and I think the birds may have chewed on it some from the looks of it but there have been no health problems in that cage. You have a cute idea, good luck with it. Dan

[john_p]

very nice, i am going to try honey, dried with a hair dryer. maybe even mix it with powered nuts to act as a hardner. i have used peanut butter to make feed balls for birds but i don't think it would ship let me know if you come up with a workable "glue" jp

[dananne]

That honey idea may not give you the desired results. When honey crystalizes, you heat it to get it back into liquid form. If the Elmers glue sticks to the hull of the seed, the birds don't eat the hulls so they wouldn't be eating the glue. I just wouldn't want to get glue all over the seeds. Make it hard for the birds to get at the meat.