Types of Butterfly Houses & Feeders
You can create your own butterfly houses and feeders to attract butterflies to your garden or yard. There are specific types of food that you can make available to butterflies as well as putting houses in ideal spots that are attractive to butterflies. Planting specific plants and flowers can also attract butterflies.
The best type of butterfly food is over ripe. Butterflies like very sweet food, think of how sweet nectar is. If you have any over ripe fruit in your fridge, don’t throw it out but give it to the butterflies. Fruit trees are great butterfly feeding areas, as the fallen fruit is great food for them. They best type of fruit is rotten even moldy, over ripe fruit.
You can find objects to use as butterfly feeders from everyday household item. Dishes with slopping rims, pie plates, and plant saucers all make great butterfly fruit feeders. Find a nice shady area in your garden and hang the fruit feeder from an overhead branch. You can create your own hanger from twine or use a plant hanger. You should add rotten fruit sprinkled with water and fruit juice to keep the fruit moist.
You can also make your own butterfly nectar feeder using a small glass jar, cotton and homemade butterfly nectar, twine and any decorations. The butterfly nectar is 4 parts water to 1 part water, boil and then allow to cool. Punch holes in the jar lid with a nail and hammer. Fill the jar with nectar, screw the lid on tight and stuff the holes with the absorbent cotton. Invert the jar and hang in a good spot. Make sure you used good cotton so the material is wet but doesn’t drip.
Butterfly houses are specifically designed to protect the butterflies form the weather and any wind as well as any predatory birds. These house look like birdhouses but have long slits in the front for the butterfly to get in and keep the birds out. Tree bark or twigs will be in the inside of the house so the butterflies have something to rest on. The butterflies will use this house for shelter, particularly as the weather cools down.
You can attract a lot of butterflies to your butterfly house by having a butterfly feeder close by. Makes sure to place the house in a good viewing spot so you can enjoy any butterflies that decide to reside in your garden or yard.
