Make use of a recycled glass bottle and invite birds into your garden with a homemade bird feeder. We'll show you how to make one while adding your own flair.
Recycled-bottle Bird Feeder
After making green-roof birdhouses, Rebecca and Jeff Nickols of Strafford, Missouri, wanted to tackle more environmentally-friendly bird projects. Rebecca's bird feeder is made with a pretty green-glass water bottle and heavy copper wire. The wire supports the bottle and adds a flourish. A small ornament can be attached to the copper wire, like a charm on a bracelet. A feeder attachment designed for this purpose will turn a bottle with a screw top into a bird feeder.
Step 1: Gather the Materials
Rebecca suggests using safflower seeds or black-oil sunflower seeds to fill your feeder. She says safflower is a good choice if you have a problem with squirrels, but sunflower seeds will attract the widest variety of birds.
Here's what you'll need:
About 3 feet of 6-gauge copper wire
Vise grip pliers
Glass water bottle with a screw top
Spool of 20-gauge copper wire
Ornament
Jewelry pliers
Soda-bottle feeder attachment
Birdseed
Step 2: Grab the Wire
Grab the end of the 6-gauge copper wire with the vise grip, protecting the copper with a piece of fabric, and make a tight curl.
Step 3: Hold in Place
Hold the curled end near the neck of the bottle.
Step 4: Wind the Wire
Wind the wire around the bottle two or three times. The wire supports the bottle, but it does not need to be snug.
Step 6: Make a Curl
Turn it 90 degrees and make a large curl, holding the wire with the vise grips. The feeder will hang from this twist of wire.
Step 7: Attach Your Ornament
Cut a length of thin copper wire, attach the ornament, and twist the wire onto the larger copper wire around the bottle.
Step 8: Make Tiny Curls
With the jewelry pliers, put a handsome little curl on each end of this lighter wire.
Step 9: Fill and Hang
Fill the bottle with birdseed and screw on the soda-bottle feeder attachment. Hang your bird feeder from a branch or a shepherd's crook.