This DIY bird feeder might possibly become your favorite upcycling project.
Milk carton and juice carton can be upcycled and turned into bird feeders. So do not throw them just yet, clean them up and store them for this DIY.
If you are like me and my family and you enjoy watching birds, welcome them with bird feeders made from milk and juice cartons.
Where we used to live, we would leave pieces of bread outside our house so the birds would come by. And when they do, my kids and I and my hubby, too, will peek silently so we do not startle them away and just watch them until they fly away with the bread. The most amusing thing is if only one or a few came, in a little while a whole flock of them would come. It’s as if they go and tell their clan “There’s bread over here! C’mon!.”
Don’t you get thrilled to hear birds chirping again after winter. Spring becomes a season to look forward to especially if winter seems to have overstayed, right!
Ready to feed the birds with seeds from your DIY bird feeder?
Grab the materials listed and we are ready to rock this:
Milk and juice carton
Craft knife
Acrylic paint
Paintbrush
Disposable chopsticks or BBQ sticks
String
Ruler
Ballpen
Start collecting your used milk and juice carton. Do remember to rinse the inside with water and drain before storing them for your future DIY. If you don’t you will find green and black aliens inside it as you cut through it. I swear! I cut one which apparently I forgot to rinse and boy was it the yuckiest thing ever!
Outline the shape you want to cut out for the opening with a ball point pen. The outer part of the carton is glossy and water resistant so ball point pen will do the job or a marker pen.
Use a craft knife to cut through the carton following the outline you made.
Not that the birds will mind it if their bird feeder had a window or not. But I thought it would look so cute to place some window opening on the carton. So you can use the cut-out as a template to trace it on the other side of the carton. Only cut through the top and bottom, then the center. I did this to both sides of the carton.
If you want a round hole, you can use any jar cover from your pantry as a template.
If you want to make another round hole on the other side of the carton, measure the distance from the bottom of the carton to the first opening. Then follow that measurement as you trace another circle on the other side.
Time to prime.
When you’ve made all the openings on the carton, you are ready to prime them. Place a drop cloth to protect your table. You can use a water based primer or even chalk paint to prime these cartons.
Here is the fun part, painting! First, make an outline of the design you want on the carton using a pencil. If you want to freestyle paint on it, that works as well.
Prepare your colors for the bird feeder.
You can use acrylic paint or chalk paint. When I do crafts, I prefer to use water based paints.
Paint the bottom with black acrylic paint.
I had to paint two coats for each paint color. Check how yours will come out and if you think the colors are not solid enough, paint another coat on it. I suggest that you finish painting all the background color first, let it dry then you can do another coat if you wish. Here is how mine looked like…
I did two of these bird feeders and my daughters painted one, too. This is a great weekend project to do with your kids.
Next step, get some disposable chopsticks. You only need one chopstick for each bird feeder.
Cut through the carton to make a hole for the stick using a craft knife. Slice an X mark on the spot you want to insert the stick through.
Then just poke through the X mark all the way through until the chopstick goes in.
Measure the distance from the bottom using a ruler so you can mark the hole on the other side and poke the stick through on a straight path.
Ready to string your bird feeder ?
Make a hole on the top of the carton where the string will go through. Use the craft knife and again slice through making an X mark at the center. Then poke the hole with something cylindrical like a chopstick or the end of pencil to make the opening bigger.
I used sisal string because that was what I had on hand but you can use any kind of sturdy string. Then make a knot.
You can be extra at this point. I know I did!
Your bird feeders are good to go from here but if you want to add like a roof for the bird feeder, here’s how you would do it. Look for any box or carton then cut a shape a half inch bigger than the measurement of the top of your milk carton.
How I did mine was I placed the top of my bird feeder on the folded section of my box carton and added half an inch extra, then I cut the box.
I just flipped the carton over so I won’t need to paint it. The box I used was colored and glossy on the front side so that worked out well.
Use a hot glue gun to attach the carton roof on the bird feeder.
It will be tougher to make the hole, now that the top has become thicker from the carton roof so be very careful using the craft knife as you slice the X mark.
Here are the bird feeders my daughters made.
Yay!! Finally done. Perfect spring project.
We were so excited to fill them in with bird seeds and hang them outside the house but Canada decided to snow again in the middle of spring. We’ll wait it out because these feeders look adorable!
