How To Make Bird Feeder With Waste Material? 4 Methods

Do you love Birds? Wouldn’t it be great to watch birds from your balcony, yard, or wherever you like?

You may agree with me that the best possible way to attract birds is food. Well, you may have seen several times on TV that people covered themselves with bird feed, and the birds were eating from them even while they were moving around.

Do I suggest doing the same as you saw on TV? Or do you have to spend lots of money to do so? Rest assured, neither of them is required.

You just need some waste materials from your house to make a bird feeder. Why will you use waste materials?

Before answering the question, I would like to bring some information related to our today’s topic.

On average, an American tosses 4.4 pounds of trash every day. With 323.7 million people in the United States, 728,000 tons of garbage is produced in every 24 hours, including 22 Billion plastic bottles every year.

The USA has a 4% population of the world but produces 12% of wastages alone. This fact contradicts with China and India. They recycle only 34% of solid waste, while Germany recycles around 66% of its total garbage.

So, I think making a bird feeder with waste materials can contribute a bit to the world recycling process.

That’s why I choose this topic. Now, I’m going to share with you how to make bird feeder with waste material.

This guide is going to help you in several ways:

First of all, you can make bird feeders at your home without any major cost. Secondly, you can attract birds to your backyard by feeding them food.

The best part is that if you become an expert at doing so, you could earn some money by selling them.

Handy Hint:
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How to Make Bird Feeder with Waste Material

For your convenience, I’m going to present more than one method of making bird feeders, as not everyone is fond of a single way.

You can choose any of the methods that you feel easy and fun. You can also make these feeders with your kids.

So, without further ado, let’s get started!

Method 1: How to Make Bird Feeder with PLASTIC BOTTLE

Among all the conventional methods, plastic bottles for making bird feeders are the most common waste materials. You can use a single bottle or a couple of bottles to make a bird feeder. I’m going to share both of them with you guys.

Single Bottle Method:

In this case, you’ll need –

• Fresh empty plastic bottle
• Marker
• Straw/Pencil/Wooden chopsticks
• Glue
• A pair of scissors/Knife
• A rope or something rope like you can use

Choose your lucky bottle and remove all sorts of stickers and level if possible. Then wash it with soapy water and remove any residual glue attached to its body (You don’t want to stick the birds on the feeder, right!).

Then, dry it thoroughly. It’s because the wet bottle will dampen your bird feed.

Now, use your marker to identify your perch location at the bottom side (1-1.5 inch/2.5 to 3.8 CM up) of the bottle. After that, mark on both sides for better accuracy.

Use a knife or similar things to create holes on both sides (Widen enough for your perch to fit in). Insert the perches into the bottle and apply some glue to tighten them.

(The number of perches depends on the size of your bottle. For 1 liter or less than that, you should mount 2 to 3 perches at most.)

Once you’ve mounted the perches, create some tiny holes at the bottom of the bottle to allow the water to drain.

Next, create feeding holes above each perch on both sides. It should be around 2 to 5 centimeters long. Just make sure that it’s enough for the birds to use their beak to take the feed from the bottle.

Don’t make them too large than your food size. Otherwise, food may come down from the bottle.

Now you have to create two holes (More than two; they will strengthen and will be better stable) opposite of each other to use rope/twine to hang the feeder. Holes shouldn’t be larger than your twine.

Thread through the top holes (size of the thread depends on the location you want to hang the feeder).

One more suggestion, glue a small dish underneath to catch any spillage. Don’t forget to drill small holes to let rainwater flow.

Maybe it would be good to cover these notches with some tape. Smaller birds have the habit of sitting on these wiped edges. And they can injure their feet.

Ok, you are all ready to go. Wait!! You did not put the bird’s feed in the bottle. Done!!

Double Bottle Method:

What you’ll need –

• Two Plastic bottles
• A plate
• A knife
• Rope/Twine or thin metal rod
• A marker

First of all, take one of the bottles you choose. Make sure it’s fresh and clear. Now, use the marker to draw a rectangle shape horizontally on the bottom part of the bottle.

Make two of them, one opposite to the other. Remember to keep them in between 2/3 of the lower half of the bottle.

Use your knife to cut them out. You can have the knife with little heat to cut them easily (No matter what you do, please be cautious, or you may injure yourself while doing so). Then, cut the bottle in the middle to separate the bottom part of the bottle.

Now, take the other bottle and cut the bottom of it to make a lid like part. Do not cut thoroughly; keep some parts attached to the bottle so that you can use it to put your bird food through it.

Then you have to make two holes on the second bottle to hang your bird feeder. If you use a thin metal rod, you have to make two holes and curve the metal enough for a steady hang.

Now, put the second bottle top inside the lower half of the first bottle. It will look like this-

Then use some glue to set the feeder in the middle of the plate. Use glue on another joint as well.

Any feeder I used, which was made of plastic, didn’t last long. The squirrels chewed them up in no time flat. There was absolutely no way a plastic or wood feeder could be mounted to keep squirrels at a distance; if the birds could reach it, the squirrels could too. So, beware of squirrels. At least our plan doesn’t involve any cost, and you could as much as you like just spending some time.

Method 2: How to Make Bird Feeder with ORANGE PEEL

Supplies needed –

• An orange
• An ice-cream scoop
• Threat

After having daily orange juice, you can use the peel as a container for birds’ feeder.

To do this, you, at first, have to cut an orange in half. Then, remove the entire flesh by using an ice-cream scoop.

Next, thread a length of string through the orange peel. This helps you make two hanging loops. And finally, hang it up a branch of a tree.

Method 3: How to Make Bird Feeder with TOILET ROLL

Supplies needed for this craft –

• Empty toilet paper roll
• Peanut butter
• Knife or spoon for spreading the peanut butter
• Plate or paper plate
• String (optional)

You can also use a toilet paper roll to make a bird feeder. To begin with, apply peanut butter on the outside of the roll by using a spoon or knife. Then, roll it with birdseed so that it will stick to the peanut butter.

Next, you have to loop the string through the roll. Then, hang it on a branch of a tree or anywhere you like. Besides, you can prepare more than one by following this method.

Method 4: How to Make Bird Feeder with OLD BOOT

The essential pieces of equipment are –

• A pair of old boots
• A few pins
• A hammer

Most of the people usually throw away their old boots. If you have such a pair of boots that you’re going to throw away, you can use them to make a bird feeder.

Pick your old boots, a few pins, and a hammer with you and go to the tree where you’re going to make a bird feeder.

Now, pin down the boot there with the hammer and then put some birdseed in it. You should mount a perch where the birds can comfortably stand while eating.

Some Frequently Asked Questions with Short Answers

1. How do you make a bird feeder out of recycled materials?

• Pick a carton and punch a large hole at the center of 1 side. It should be at least a couple of inches above from the bottom of the carton.
• Then, cut a small hole just beneath the large hole to poke a stick through it. It will allow you to install a perch.
• To thread the wire or rope through it, make two small holes on both sides of the top of the carton.
• Paint the feeder and then fill it with birdseed.
• Hang it in a suitable spot so that you can get a good view from your window.

2. How do you make a bird feeder step by step?

• Pick a piece of cardboard and cut a shape in it, such as heart, star, diamond, square, circle, rectangle, and more.
• Measure and cut your string or ribbon about 2 feet long so that you can loop it hanging about 1 food down.
• Make a hole at the top side of the cardboard so that you can tie your string or ribbon for easy hanging.
• On both sides of the cardboard, apply some peanut butter that will hold birdseed.
• Pour some birdseed onto a plate and roll the cardboard so that it can grab birdseed on both sides.
• Finally, hang the feeder in a particular place, so you enjoy watching birds from your window.

3. How do you make a bird water feeder at home?

• First of all, take a plastic saucer and glue bottle cap with it.
• Make a hole at the center of the saucer.
• Install a wooden board on the saucer with the help of glue.
• Create holes on both sides of the top of the bottle.
• Insert wires to make a handle of the bird feeder.
• Fill it with water and hang it on a tree or anywhere you like.

Final Words

Watching birds is a mind-refreshing activity, especially when they’re continually twittering around you.

But, when winter comes, the surroundings are covered with snow. And this is a hard time for the birds to find food.

If you make a feeder with some waste materials from your house and serve some food for the birds, they’ll be very grateful to you.

And in this way, you’ll be able to enjoy nature all-year-round.

Besides that, you should choose bird feed according to your desired birds you’re trying to attract to your feeder. Before doing so, research it online on which birds are common and what food they like.

Anyway, that would be all for today, folks!

Regardless of making a bird feeder with waste materials, we should recycle waste materials as much as possible to keep our environment safe for both our next generation and ourselves.

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