diff --git a/pkgs/servers/bird/default.nix b/pkgs/servers/bird/default.nix
index 5683da5e8e3f..94579e1bdb16 100644
--- a/pkgs/servers/bird/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/servers/bird/default.nix
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-{ lib, stdenv, fetchurl, flex, bison, readline }:
+{ lib, stdenv, fetchurl, fetchpatch, flex, bison, readline }:
 
 with lib;
 
@@ -18,8 +18,15 @@ let
 
       patches = [
         (./. + "/dont-create-sysconfdir-${builtins.substring 0 1 version}.patch")
+        # https://github.com/BIRD/bird/pull/4
+        (fetchpatch {
+          url = "https://github.com/BIRD/bird/commit/fca9ab48e3823c734886f47156a92f6b804c16e9.patch";
+          sha256 = "1pnndc3n56lqqcy74ln0w5kn3i9rbzsm2dqiyp1qw7j33dpkln1b";
+        })
       ];
 
+      CPP="${stdenv.cc.targetPrefix}cpp -E";
+
       configureFlags = [
         "--localstatedir=/var"
       ] ++ optional enableIPv6 "--enable-ipv6";