How to Make a Thistle Bird Feeder

How to Make a Thistle/Niger Seed Feeder
You see this little guy? The American Goldfinch?!

Goldfinch_1

At this time of year in the Northeast (Connecticut) the goldfinch is in his beautifully bright yellow phase.They look like yellow flowers flying around. If you have a thistle (Niger) seed feeder they will all flock around it.
My thistle feeder was really disgusting. All the seeds were caked together at the bottom and I knew it was time to get (or make) a new feeder. I saw a soda bottle sunflower feeder online (don't remember where that was – if anyone knows I'll gladly give that person credit). That struck a chord. No, I didn't need a sunflower bird feeder (I have one). I needed a thistle seed feeder. Sometimes thistle feeders are no more than a black mesh bag, but that would be far too simple. ha ha
I found a really long, skinny bottle. .. forgot what was inside it. :) I took the paper and gummy stuff off and had this:

Bottle

I am reluctant to say how I put the holes in the bottle for fear that someone else might want to do it that way also. Don't read this part. I had a metal pick and heated up the end and melted a hole in the plastic bottle. DON'T make the hole that way. It can also be drilled but no one around here (son or hubster) wanted to do it so I took to my own resources. I would feel awful if someone burnt themselves taking my advice. Take my advice – use a drill!!
That being said, I then took a wooden dowel and put the dowel through the two holes I made. The dowel goes straight through the bottle.Then I used Fabri Tac glue to glue the dowel in place. I then made two more holes just above where the dowel was for the seed to come out of. See in the picture below.

plastic

I also had a small bottle of Coke and I prepared that bottle the same way. I put a cute little sticker on it for Valentine's Day for the birds. They are my Valentine's, too, after all. Plus it looks kinda cute hanging in the tree.

Thistle Feeder

bird seed

thistle seed

Feeder
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This was an easy project and cheap. Easy, cheap and fast. That's the best kind of projects, huh? Now I just hope that these holes are the right size and that the little goldfinches find these feeders soon.
Happy Valentine's Day, pretty little birds....
If you found this helpful, will you pin it? Or share it? Many thanks,
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UPDATE: We are under 34 inches of snow in Connecticut! So the birds are looking for food. They found the homemade thistle feeder and are having lunch! See here. The holes on the bottles are just right, not too big at all. I was worried about that. Thanks for viewing, everybody!!

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I'm Linda. My sister, Carol, and I have a super creative family (my nephew even makes cabin furniture) and I try to log it all right here on Two Succulent Sisters/Crafts a la Mode.
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