Invite your feathered friends to your garden this summer and in all seasons with these seven bird feeders that you can build from recycled materials like plastic bottles, milk cartons or pieces of wood.
1. Recycle a soda bottle
Recycle a soda bottle. Cut small holes through which the branches that will support it on the tree will pass through.
Fill the bottle with bird seed, twist the lid to close it, and then hang the bird feeder. This way you will create a place for the birds to eat peacefully.
2. Use a milk jug
Fits a milk or juice carton. It’s simple: simply cut windows or holes of the same size on three sides of the box, leaving 3 centimeters of clearance from the bottom. Next, make two holes in the upper part and hang it from a tree with some strong thread.
3. Make a bird feeding tray
Any wooden board can be used to make a tray that will feed the birds as if you were forming a box. Get a hammer, nails and a sheet to put as a floor, this will make the feeder flash when there is sunlight and call the birds.
4. Use the old floppy disks you have saved
Many people hardly know floppy disks anymore, but these are good for making walls and forming a cube and thus building a bird feeder. You’ll need silicone and an applicator gun to glue the corners, plus some masking tape to reinforce the box.
5. Recycle wood and glass bottles
Cut two pieces of wood from a wooden plank: one 11 x 15 centimeters and the other 31 x 15 centimeters. Join them with screws or wood dowels to form a right angle. Use the glass bottle to mark where the two wire handles will connect: one near the neck of the bottle and one near its base. The opening of the bottle should be 3 to 4 centimeters above the base. Make the holes in the plate with an auger and pass the wire through. Staple the wire to the back of the gasket to hold it in place. The space left between the opening of the bottle and the base will allow the flow of birdseed to be gradual. Screw the hook into the board to hang the bird feeder. Next fill the bottle about 2/3 full with bird seed mix. Close the cap and turn the bottle upside down, then unscrew the cap. The seeds will gradually fill the plate, so that it recharges automatically.
6. Make a plastic hummingbird bottle
If you want to attract hummingbirds to your yard, take a look at this video, it explains in detail how to achieve it:
7. Make a Stylish Plastic Bird Feeder Bottle
Do you want to build a recycled bird feeder that doesn’t sacrifice aesthetics? Follow these simple ones:
Materials
2 6-inch wooden discs
1 ball-shaped piece of wood
2 circular lids from a plastic mold or 2 acrylic plates
1 threaded crown stud
2 nuts
1 threaded rod
Vegetable paints and an eye hook
Tools
Drill, scissors, a hole punch and a hacksaw.
Step 1: Paint all the pieces with the vegetable paint and let them dry completely. The color depends on your taste.
Step 2: Drill a hole through the disc and the cover and make sure the holes are the same size but larger than the threaded rod.
Step 3: Cut the plastic bottle with scissors so that you have a cylinder. With the hole punch, add an opening large enough for the seeds to pass through.
Step 4: Measure the length of screw you need to secure the feeder parts and then saw the threaded rod to the desired length.
Step 5: Put all the pieces of the feeder together making sure the holes are at the bottom of the feeder so that gravity will push the seeds.
Fill it with various types of seeds and hang it on a tree so that the little birds come to eat and that’s it!: this is what your bird feeder should look like.
*Photographs: Earth911