The RunnerDuck Plastic Bird Feeder Project, is a step by step instruction on how to make a really neat bird feeder out of a plastic Mayo jar.

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This project appeared in our June 18, 2004 Newsletter.

Plastic Bird Feeder

This project started off as a kids project but it soon turned out to be much harder than expected. It still would make a great kids project but with lots of adult help.

Here's what you'll need:

A large round plastic mayonnaise jar, we used a Miracle Whip jar.

A 1/2 liter plastic pop bottle.

3/4" thick piece of wood approximately 12"X 12"

Screws

Cut four 1" diameter holes evenly spaced around the jar, 1 1/2" up from the bottom of the mayo jar. This should be to the bottom of the hole. We used Forstner bits for this.
Remove the lid from the pop bottle and place it in the mayo jar top down.
Mark around the pop bottle flush with the top of the mayo jar.
Cut the bottom off the pop bottle just slightly, approximately 1/16", longer than your mark.
Put the pop bottle in the mayo jar and put the mayo jar lid on.
Using a felt tipped marker mark the center for four holes on the pop bottle just about 1/4" above the center of the mayo jar holes.
Remove the pop bottle and cut or drill four 1/2" diameter holes around the pop bottle.
Using two screws, screw the mayo jar to the piece of wood from inside the mayo jar.
Center the pop bottle in the bottom of the mayo jar with the hole off center of the holes in the mayo jar.
Fill the pop bottle with bird seed. The seed should run out to and seek a level about even with the large holes.
Put the mayo lid on and set it out for the birdies for feast.
We colored wide black circles around the holes to make it easier for the birds to see but we think it might be scaring them. The first one we made without the pop bottle didn't have the black circles and the birds seemed to come to it faster.
The nice thing about this feeder is that you don't have to fill it as often.
Now get out there and enjoy all the birds.

UPDATE

A couple of years after we showed you how to make this really neat bird feeder from a plastic mayonnaise bottle and pop bottle. They work great and we've been feeding our birds with ours for a long time. Just recently the squirrels have discovered it as a great food source. We didn't mind so much until they decided that making the hole bigger would net them more food.

What we found that worked pretty good was metal caterpillar grommets. They are not really easy to come by but they sure do work great. Ken brought home some samples that he got at work from Spring-Fast, www.devicetec.com. We used their "T" Series, T1. If you have a business or work at a business you can probably get a sample kit from them just for the asking. There are other caterpillar grommets on the market that you could check by checking in your web browser.
We roughed up the area around the holes so that the epoxy would hold to the plastic better.
Cut and bend the grommets into place and glue with a good epoxy like 5 Minute Epoxy.

There may be other material out there that can do a similar job but these worked pretty good.
Here's what we are dealing with. It didn't discourage the squirrels from going to the feeder but now they reach inside and scoop out the seed with their paws. It's pretty cute and the birds don't seem to mind sharing.

We hope you liked this project. If you build it and your friends ask where you got such a clever idea, please tell them that you got it at RunnerDuck.com.

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