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 scrap 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 closed, then hang the bird feeder. In this way you will create a place for the birds to eat quietly.
2. Use a milk can
Adapt a carton of milk or juice. 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 with some resistant thread hang it from a tree.
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 drawer. Get a hammer, nails and a sheet to put down as a floor, this will make the feeder sparkle when there is sunlight and attract the attention of the birds.
4. Use the old floppy disks that you have saved
Many people hardly know about floppy disks anymore, but these are good for making walls and forming a cube for building a bird feeder. You’ll need caulking and an applicator gun to glue the corners together, plus some masking tape to reinforce the box.
5. Recycle wood and glass bottles
Cut two pieces of wood from a plank of wood: one 11 by 15 centimeters and one 31 by 15 centimeters. Join them with wood screws or dowels to form a right angle. Use the glass bottle to mark where the two wire loops will connect: one near the neck of the bottle and one near the bottom. The opening of the bottle should be 3 to 4 centimeters above the base. Drill the holes in the plate with an auger and thread 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 fill the plate little by little, in such a way that it recharges automatically.
6. Make a plastic hummingbird bottle
If you want to attract hummingbirds to your patio, take a look at this video, it explains in detail how to achieve it:
7. Make a fancy plastic bird feeder bottle
Do you want to build an upcycled bird feeder that doesn’t sacrifice aesthetics? Follow these simple steps:
Materials
2 6-inch wooden discs
1 piece of wood in the shape of a ball
2 circular lids from a plastic mold or 2 acrylic plates
1 screw-down crown bolt
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 vegetal paint and let them dry completely. The color depends on your taste.
Step 2: Drill a hole through the disc and cap, taking care that the holes are the same size but larger than the threaded rod.
Step 3: Cut the plastic bottle with the scissors in such a way 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 together, then saw cut the threaded rod to the desired length.
Step 5 – Attach all the feeder pieces together making sure the holes meet at the bottom of the feeder so gravity will push the seeds out.
Fill it with various types of seeds and hang it on a tree so that the birds come to eat and voila!: this is how your bird feeder should look.
*Photographs: Earth911
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