Bird Houses Feeders ON EARTH DAY

Bird Houses & Feeders

Materials you will need:

Clean out the Plastic Milk Cartons really good. Once cleaned, rinse the cartons out with really hot water... parents should be here so you don't burn yourself on the hot water! Clean the lid to the milk carton too... then place the lid back on the carton.

Bird Houses Once the cartons are totally dry... take the sharp knife and cut a circle in the carton. You can use the gallon milk cartons and the half gallon milk cartons for the birds houses. Make the hole about 1 inch to 1 1/2 inches round... birds like holes that fit their size. Check your area for the birds that live by your house. Smaller birds like small holes... that way they are safe from large birds coming into their home. You can put little bits of torn up clean cloth, or paper in the carton to help the birds start their nest. We like to put small pieces of straw in our bird houses.

Put a little hole near the hole for the bird's door... then put another little hole on the other side of the plastic milk carton. Push the dowel stick through the 2 small holes. This will be the perch where the birds will land when they arrive home. Birds like some place to set their feet before entering their house.

There... you've built a bird house... you will make a family of birds very happy! Now that you are done, you are ready to find that perfect spot in your backyard to hang your birdy house! Hang it in an area where you will be able to watch the birds as they come and go.

Now... if you've got another plastic milk carton... you can build
another house... or make a bird feeder...

Bird Feeders Take a sharp knife and cut a large opening on the side of the plastic milk carton. You want this to be large enough so you can easily add bird seed. The birds will sit on the edge... and even jump inside to get at the bird seed. If you'd like, you could add dowel sticks like we did for the bird house to give them extra room to land. The area on the top of the carton will help to keep the snow (and in the summer months, the rain) off most of the bird seed.

It is a good idea to really think about feeding the birds... in the winter, it is not very easy for the birds to find food. Please remember one thing, if you start feeding the birds... they will come to expect food to be there for them... so if you start... plan to feed them ALL winter long!

Another option for feeders... On our deck, we have posts that stand higher than the rail. We take old pie tins... using a nail, we puncher small holes in the bottom of the pie tin. (not too many holes, and not really large holes... these holes are only there to keep water from setting in the pans). Next we take the pan, and use a nail to hold the pie pan to the post. We like to use 2 nails so the pie pans don't move around.