How to Build a Bird Feeder Out of a Bottle

Putting up a bird feeder is one of the easiest ways to attract birds to your yard. There is an endless supply of feeder styles available and choosing the best feeder can be overwhelming. To attract a wide variety of garden birds and save money, construct a feeder from a recycled soda bottle. Tube feeders will draw a wide variety of birds depending on the kind of seed used. If you have basic carpentry skills, this project can be completed in an afternoon.

Things You'll Need

  • 1-liter soda bottle
  • Dish soap
  • Scrubber
  • Cloth
  • Scissors
  • Drill
  • 1-by-6 inch lumber
  • Carpenter's pencil
  • Jigsaw
  • Wire
  • Measuring tape
  • Wood glue
  • Eye bolts
  • Epoxy glue
  • Copper newel cap
  • Bird seed
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Instructions

    • 1

      Empty a 1-liter soda bottle. Clean the bottle thoroughly. Scrub off the label of the bottle with a scrubber and dish soap. Dry the bottle thoroughly with a cloth.

    • 2

      Use scissors to cut the top and bottom of the bottle. You should be left with a clear plastic tube. Drill several holes in the bottom of the tube. These holes need to be large enough for the bird seed to come out.

    • 3

      Trace the top and the bottom of the tube on a 1-by-6-inch board with a carpenter's pencil. Cut out the two circles you traced. Label one circle as top and one circle as bottom. Set the circles aside for use in a later step.

    • 4

      Cut two 6-by-6-inch squares out of the 1-by-6-inch board. Glue one of the circles to the center of one of the squares, and repeat with the other circle and square. One of these structures is the top, and the other is the bottom of the bird feeder.

    • 5

      Screw several small eye bolts to the sides of the bottom square. These will be perches for the birds while they eat.

    • 6

      Drill a hole through the center of the bottom piece. You should be drilling through both the circle and the square that make up the bottom. Pull a piece of the wire through the hole. Crimp the end of the wire under the square to prevent the wire from slipping.

    • 7

      Drill a hole through the center of the top piece. Like the bottom, you should be drilling through both the circle and square piece.

    • 8

      Glue the copper newel piece to the face of the square using epoxy glue. Drill a hole through the center of the copper newel.

    • 9

      Place the bottom piece down flat, so the square is resting on the bottom. Place the plastic tube over the bottom piece and thread the wire through it. Adjust the tube so it fits over the circle piece.

    • 10

      Pass the wire through the bottom of the top piece, and up through the newel. Fit the top piece over the tube, so the circle goes inside the tube.

    • 11

      Hang the feeder from a tree limb using the wire coming through the newel. To fill the feeder, slide the top piece up along the wire, and fill the plastic tube. The bird seed will fall through the holes in the bottom, so the birds can eat it.