Making a Bird Feeder Out of House Hold Materials

by Brennen_L in Outside > Birding

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Making a Bird Feeder Out of House Hold Materials

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Here are instructions to make a bird feeder out of a 2 liter bottle and some other common house hold items.

Supplies

2 two-liter bottles

3 wooden skewers, 2 of these will be perches, and 1 will be for hanging the bird feeder.

1 1/2 feet of string

Bird seed

Tools:

Drill

9/64” drill bit

5/16” drill bit

Knife

Marker

Step 1: Clean Bottle

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Clean out bottle and remove label.

Step 2: Mark Hole Locations

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Mark with a marker, where the perches will be located. We will use the wooden skewers as the perches. They will go all the way through the bottle. There should be two opening opposite if each other on the bottle. My feeder has 4 perches but only uses 2 skewers

Step 3: Drill Perch Holes

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Use the drill and the 9/64” drill bit to make the holes for the perches. (9/64” is just the diameter of the skewers I used. Yours may be different.

Step 4: Drill Holes for Hanging

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Drill the holes for the hanging mounts. Also, 9/64”

Step 5: Drill Out Food Holes

Drill out food holes @ 5/16”. These should be roughly 1 ½ “above the perches. The hole is so small because it lets the birds grab the seed, but the seed does not fall out on its own.

Step 6: Remove Rough Edges

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Clean out rough edges from the

drilled holes with a knife. Be careful.

Step 7: Trim Skewers

Trim skewers to approximately 7” long and insert into appropriate holes.

Step 8: Make a Funnel

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Make a funnel using another 2-liter bottle. Cut with a knife at the dotted line. Be careful.

Step 9: Fill Feeder

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Fill feeder with seed.

Step 10: Prepare for Hanging

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I found if you tie your string into a loop and then loop the string over both hanging mounts. (Refer to picture) That has been enough to keep my feeder hanging and makes it easier to re-fill.

Step 11: Hang the Bird Feeder

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Hang the bird feeder.