Bird Feeder » See You In The Garden

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Bird feeders are an easy addition to any garden or balcony. They do not take up much space and can match any style you currently have going on.

Do not be discouraged if you do not get immediate results, it may take some time for our avian friends to find the new food source. Once they do, though, you will have regular visitors.

Whether you are considering a craft for kids, need a gift ASAP, are on a budget, or are wanting something different for your garden, here is a quick bird feeder you can make. The actual crafting time is mere minutes, or seconds in one case, though the glue may take longer to cure. (Mine was dry enough to move in about 2 hours, but took 24-48 hours to fully cure.)

Here is another bird feeder to use your creativity with, or follow along with some of the examples below if you are feeling a bit creatively challenged today.

BIRD FEEDER #2 – cup and saucer

Cost: $0-$8

Materials needed: tea or coffee cup, saucer or small plate, E6000 glue, chain or other hanging material, acetone, cotton swab

Step 1

Gather your materials. This can be random pieces from around your house, yard sale or thrift store finds, or even items from the Dollar Tree.

Keep in mind how they look together. My first try at this was purely a trial run with items from a thrift store. As I was short on time and had input from one of the kids, proportions were not necessarily top of the list of things to consider. Colors and price were the important things. Mainly colors. 🙂

Step 2

Clean the pieces. Glue sticks better if there is not a layer of dust in the way.

If there is a sticker, gum residue, or marker on any of your pieces, a cotton swab dipped in acetone (nail polish remover) makes quick work of removal.

Step 3

Decide how you want the pieces arranged. Use your imagination, try a few different ways. Keep in mind how you want to hang or mount your feeder – does the weight need to be centered, will it sit such that it needs to not top over, or any other needs?

Step 4

Glue pieces together. Use a strong glue which can endure the outside elements. I have had luck with E6000, though there are others you can use.

E6000 holds better than super glue (which does not stick to ceramics), though does not set up as quickly. Where super glue sticks within a few seconds, E6000 takes an hour or two to set, and 24-48 hours to cure. This can be a good thing, if you make a mistake, or a challenge, if you need to keep pieces in place while the glue dries.

(Several craft projects using E6000 have been outside in 0 degree weather and are holding up just fine. The two problems I had were in cases where not enough glue was used.)

Step 5

Decide how you want to hang your feeder. One of my feeders was light enough for me to use an old metal necklace. (This is the one I did not use enough glue on. The chain came off a few weeks after I hung it up.)

For yet another we hung it by the cup’s handle from a shepherds hook.

The majority of feeders were fitted with a smaller-linked chain. (A package purchased from the local hardware store.) While I did not measure them out, they ended up being about 9-12 inches long.

After some trial I also learned that crossing one chain over another, on the underside of the feeder, meant the glue does not hold well at all; it was too bulky. I ended up separating the chain so I could glue the ends together at a common meeting point. A pair of pliers were used to open a link, slide it off its neighbor, then close the link up again. (See the photos above.)

An ‘S’ link was added at the top, where all the chain ends meet. Not only did this hold everything together, but also makes it easier to hang from a branch or other support.

Note: This step was done a few hours after the first ones, so pairs could be turned over and handled with little worry.

Step 6

Find a place to hang your feeder and fill with appropriate seed…or leftover, un-popped popcorn because your bird loving kid was too excited to wait for a trip to the store.

I would love to see your creations if you try this DIY project. Share a picture below and let us know how it went.

Bird feeders are an easy addition to any garden or balcony. They do not take up much space and can match any style you currently have going on.

Do not be discouraged if you do not get immediate results, it may take some time for our avian friends to find the new food source. Once they do, though, you will have regular visitors.

BIRD FEEDER #1 – cup and spoon

Cost: $0 – $8

Materials needed: tea or coffee cup, spoon, E6000 glue, chain or other hanging material, acetone, cotton swab

This feeder has a lot of room for creativity. The general jist is to provide a container to hold seed or other food, as well as a perch.

I chose coffee mugs which appealed to my vintage mood at the time, as well as spoons with designs on the handles. These are fairly arbitrary details in the grand scheme of bird feeders. One thing I would keep in mind is the size of bird – if you are wanting chickadees, I would pass on using a large handled serving spoon.

When it comes to putting you spoon and cup together, again you have freedom in the details. Due to my spoons and cups, I chose to glue them at the back end (the bottom) of the cup. I tried placing them further out, but realized the handles hung at an odd angle.

Find the center point by holding the handle of the cup with two fingers, putting the spoon in so it sits like you want it.
Paying attention to where the spoon makes contact with the cup, remove the spoon, place a drop of glue at each contact point.
Reinsert the spoon, double checking you placed the glue appropriately.
Set the cup off to the side to dry.

I found a few things to help keep the cup at the correct angle, so the spoon is not lifted up by it’s handle being lower than the bottom of the cup.

Once the glue is firm enough to handle, or completely cured, add a chain or rope by which to hang your bird feeder.

Note: I initially glued my chain in place, but had trouble with the chain constantly sliding, not enough glue staying in place, and the resulting angle. In the end my chain came off, over a week later, due to insufficient glue holding it in place.

Find a place to hang your feeder and fill with appropriate seed…or leftover popcorn because your bird loving kid was too excited to wait for a trip to the store.