Homemade Plastic Milk Carton Bird Feeders

Homemade bird feeders are fun for the whole family to make.

Watching birds in your yard is relaxing and pleasurable. While birds often are attracted by berries and trees in your yard, you can make a homemade bird feeder to encourage birds to visit. Homemade bird feeders can be as simple or complex as you like. An easy-to-make bird feeder is an enjoyable project for the whole family. Plastic milk jugs provide you with the basis for an inexpensive bird feeder.

Things You'll Need

• Utility knife
• Unsharpened pencil
• Twine
• Bird seed

Instructions

1. 

   A utility knife is sharp enough to cut through a plastic milk jug with ease.

   Set your plastic milk jug upright on a work surface. Use a utility knife to cut a window out of one side of the milk jug. Leave borders around the window of about two to three inches.

2. Poke a few water drainage holes in the bottom of the milk jug. Insert the utility knife into the area below the window cut-out and twist the knife around to create a small hole. Make a similar hole on the other side of the milk jug.

3. 

   A new pencil makes a simple perch for birds.

   Push an unsharpened pencil in one side of the milk jug and out the other to form a small perch on each side of the bird feeder.

4. Make a hole on each side of the jug just below the cap. Push a piece of twine in one side and pull it out of the other. Tie your bird feeder over a branch and knot the twine to secure the feeder.

5. 

   Birds are attracted to different types of seeds.

   Fill your feeder with bird seed mix or make your own mix of sunflower seeds, thistle, millet and dried berries.

Tips & Warnings

• Sprinkle a little bird seed on the ground beneath your feeder for ground-feeding birds.

• Use milk and juice jugs of different sizes to make bird feeders for different areas of your yard.

• Complete this project as a family or class while learning about the birds in your area.

References

• Mother Earth News: Make a Homemade Bird Feeder
• Ohio State University: Summer Activities for Fun and Learning: Easy Bird Feeder