How I DIYed a Hummingbird Feeder From a Coke Bottle
**This post may contain affiliate links at no extra cost to you.
How To Make a Hummingbird Feeder…From a Coke Bottle! Fun and Creative Activity!
Ah, hummingbirds…the “jewels of the sky”, no? Learn how to make a hummingbird feeder from a coke bottle and other simple, easy to find household ingredients!
If you’ve ever been enchanted by the sight of these gems of the avian world in your yard or garden, now is the time to give them a reason to hang around and grace your turf with their presence.
Pin Me, Bird Lovers 🕊️
And better yet, I will show you how you can do it too! A great upcycling project using inexpensive materials you might otherwise toss in the recycling bin, so let’s dive in right away
DIY Glass Bottle Hummingbird Feeder Materials List
- A glass or plastic Coke bottle – smaller bottles (20 oz or less work best. I used an 8 oz bottle.) and the cap
- Crafting or cordless drill
- X-Acto Knife
- Pair of pliers
- A flat plastic container with secure lid
- (Optional)Assortment of colorful beads
- 10 to 12 gauge aluminum or copper wire, at least 1 yd
Let’s get started!
1) Choose your container compartment for your feeder base. The base will be the compartment for the nectar product to flow into. In my opinion, bases are a little better than feeder tubes because sometimes tubes have a tendency to leak.
Your container needs to be shallow and have a secure lid. If it is too deep it’s going to be hard for those little guys to get to that tasty nectar! Ideally it should be about 1? in depth and 4-6? in diameter.
(A good example -If you’ve ever eaten at KFC the little containers used for side dishes are PERFECT for this. They have red lids to boot (and red is irresistible from a hummingbird’s point of view :))
I used a cream cheese container for my base; you can use a margarine tub, or one of those food storage containers made of plastic with the different color lid. I painted my container white to hide the writing on it and then red so those little buggers wouldn’t miss it
You can paint it if it was once a particular product container. Aim for red as it is THE color that signals to these cute little buggers that food is nearby!
Another item I’ve found that works great as a base, is a small storage container. They’re made by Rubbermaid and have the deep red ( hummers LOVE this!) lids that snap on easily. I don’t know the quantity but they are about four inches square and an inch deep. You don’t need anything bigger than that.
2) In the middle of the container lid, mark off the spot for the bottle neck to fit into. Turning the bottle upside down and tracing around it will make it easier.
3)Using an X-acto knife, carefully cut out the middle of the opening.
4) Using a Sharpie pen mark four spots on the container lid. This is where the birds are going to feed from. With a drill and medium-sized bit, follow up with the respective holes. I used the drill bit right below 1/4.
5) Now grab the bottle’s cap and drill a small hole (about the same size of the holes you put into the container lid) into the plastic bottlecap. This small hole will ensure that the nectar/sugar fluid will dispense evenly as needed and it will keep the lid flush with the bottle neck too.
6) Push the neck of the bottle through the large hole in the middle of the container lid. Now re-attach the plastic bottle cap on snugly. (It should still be removable so you can pour in the liquid nectar)
7) Attach the base (bottom of container) Your bottle should be upside down at this point.
8) Using the wire, wrap around the neck of the bottle and criss-cross it around midway up the bottle. At this point you can add some colorful beads at this point on the middle for more eye appeal. Wrap the wire around again, and this time bring the loose ends together near the bottle base.
9) Loop it around so you have created little “hangers” on each side of the bottle (picture below)
10) Run another piece of wire (or cord, string, etc.) through the “hangers” and secure tightly and use pliers to bend them in place. This is the part that will hang from whatever point of entry you designate, whether a tree branch, gutter hook, etc.
Anyway, this is one feeder that is sure to attract a lot of attention from those lovely hummers! Let me know how it goes for you or you need help with anything here! Enjoy and happy hummingbirding.
F.A.Q.s for Making Handmade Glass Bottle Feeders
Do other bottle types work?
Do other bottle types work?Any type of soda bottle as long as it’s a 20-oz size or less works well. I find that larger bottles ( e.g. wine) put too much weight on the base – In the case of those, nectar stoppers are needed.
There’s others I’ve tried as well ..a small juice jar and an inverted soy sauce bottle – the latter I can’t take the credit for as I found the idea on another blog…but it was fun and worked great as the cap was designed to allow a slow trickle of nectar. As long as you keep it small,and narrow necked other bottle types work too
Do Plastic Coke Bottles Work as Well as Glass?
New style plastic coke bottles do have the same diameter, but the “threading” is a little different.
👉Threading refers to the ridges in the neck of the bottle…and they are different on different bottles so it can affect how well something fits.
Just for experiment’s sake I got a 20-oz plastic bottle and it was a PERFECT fiit for a ready to use feeder base I found recently ( see next section) so if you’re planning to use one of those you’re in good hands.
Me, I am just a bigger fan of glass and love the old style Coke bottles since they’re collectible and have that “panache” But I found that they didn’t fit that kind of base as easily because the threads didn’t fit as well.
I Can’t Find Anything that Qualifies as a Good Feeder Base?
If you got stuck somewhere, I bet a steak dinner it was the base part. If you had trouble finding the right shape and size container to use for the base, no worries – I can help.
If you’re in need of a base and don’t want to have to go through that whole thing with trying to construct one-and just get straight to the fun part – this hummingbird feeder base
is the one to get, it’s made by Hummers Galore and will do the job well.
Here’s the second feeder I made using the special base!
Should I make more than 1 feeder like this?
Yes! Hummingbirds tend to be territorial ,( like a lot of animals!) and they can have a propensity to bully others. Having 2 or 3 feeders helps cut down on turf spats – hence, why I put together another one!
How to DIY Your Own Sugar Water?
Ah yes how could I forget? I know stores carry this premade nectar, but I wouldn’t recommend it. It may contain additives, and dyes too. Not good.
Just get yourself some of that good old Dixie Crystals ( NOT brown or powdered) and mix one part of it to four parts water on the stovetop. Let cool before you fill your new coke bottle feeder
Most times I mix a cup of water to a quarter cup of sugar if that helps. Or 2 cups water and a half cup of sugar if I’m filling 2 feeders.
How to take apart your feeder for adding or replacing nectar and cleaning?
It’s a little tricky to disassemble at first but you can get the hang of it. Here’s what I do ( and I stress, stand over the sink first)
Simply invert the bottle and remove the lid by prying it off on one side ( Rubbermaid containers tend to have a tab on one side making this easier.)
From there you can then unscrew the cap from the bottle, and walla. Easy now to rinse it out and give it a good scrubbing.
Also, I use a funnel to pour in the fresh sugar water. Helps a lot and prevents a mess. After refilling, just push the container lid back on through the bottleneck, put the cap back on, followed by the container bottom. Invert again, and you are good to go!
Wrap-Up
Oh and since the arrival of my first handmade feeder yep those little beauties have been hanging around! Attracting them is the easy part (and it helps if you’ve got a lot of vivid foliage around) but photographing them is where we talk about difficult.
Those little buggers are speedy, even when I have my Smartphone nearby I always find myself missing them at just the right moment. But I did try – you may be startled at first since they “vibrate” almost while in mid-flight and seem suspended for a moment while they take a drink but then they’re flitting off again.
Nevertheless, I hope this post helps you out and you can make a new hummingbird soda bottle feeder like mine! Enjoy!
Psst…Want more hummingbird goodies?? Check out these other DIYs I’ve put together…..
Make a perch for your hummers
Make an ant moat for your feeder
If yours turn out well, can you do me a solid and tag me @CreateWithJennifer on IG…It would be appreciated. And let me know if you can snap a picture of them. That would be great too!
