by A Kairi

Created on: September 20, 2009

A troubled economy has spurred many people to find ways to save money. One of the most popular ways to save money these days is taking old or just ordinary objects and turning them into a new and useful objects. This type of reusing often has the added bonus of decreasing the amount of trash a person contributes to the environment.

This article focuses on taking a very commonly thrown away household object: an empty gallon plastic milk or juice bottle and using it to make a bird feeder. This project is great for kids and adults alike, in addition to decreasing trash and saving money this project is also a good way to get children off of video games and interested in nature.

To get started simply find an empty gallon juice or milk bottle. You may wish to fill the bottle with hot water and a few tablespoons of baking soda and allow it to sit for a few hours to deodorize it. After allowing it to soak for a few hours simply rinse it clean with warm water.

Once your bottle is clean and dry remove the handle by cutting a large hole on the side of the bottle. This will provide an opening for you to place birdseed in the feeder; this hole is also where the birds will feed from.

Now you are ready to hang the feeder. There are a variety of ways to do this but I have found that the easiest is to poke (or drill) a small hole in the bottle's cap and then thread either string, nylon or fishing line through the hole. To determine how much string you will need decide how far you would like the bird feeder to hang down from the branch you choose and then cut a piece of string/line that is twice that length. Once you have cut your string thread it through the hole in the cap and then tie the ends of the string together securely to form a loop.

After you have formed the loop you are nearly done. Take the cap and screw it back on to your new bird feeder. Then you are free to hang the feeder from a branch, and fill the feeder with birdseed up to the opening that you carved in the side. Then you are finished and should soon see birds coming to feed.

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