How to Make A Tennis Can Bird Feeder
Recycling is becoming ever more important as we struggle to manage our trash and recycling. It’s crucial to reuse and re-purpose materials whenever possible so in this article, I will show you an awesome recycling project that uses old tennis cans to make a tennis can bird feeder!
Among many other of my activities, I also coach Varsity Tennis at our local high school. Every year we open several cases of tennis balls, pour the balls into the practice hoppers and we are left with these beautiful cans.
Well this year my team and I sat and tried to come up with a way to repurpose them. We came up with the idea of a tennis can bird feeder.
Step 1
The first thing that we did was remove the labels from each can.
Step 2
We then found some sturdy and attractive Chinet red and clear plates that would serve as a tray at the bottom of our feeder. The plates were decorated using colored sharpies. We colored the bottoms of the plates so that the ink would last much longer. Decorating them is optional, but everyone had fun!
Step 3
We then drilled 5 holes in the can around the bottoms with a ⅝ drill bit. This will allow the birds access to the seed.
Step 4
Once the bottoms were decorated and the cans were drilled, we hot glued the bottoms to the plates.
Step 5
When cooled, we then drilled a ⅜ inch hole through the can approximately halfway up, to allow for a ⅜ inch dowel rod to serve as a perch for our birdy diners to relax on. We found that an 8-inch dowel for each can was perfect. We bought 48-inch dowels and were able to get 6 from each. Isn’t math great!
All that is left to do is add a hanger or let them sit on a window sill as we are doing.
Conclusion
We called our local nursing home and we are donating 24 of these units to the residents. We are also donating 100 lbs of bird seed. It is a big win for everybody and a wonderful step toward sustainability. This is also going to become an annual tradition for my tennis team to give something back to our wonderful community.
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Thank you for spending some time with me.
Peace, Love, and Light.
About the Author
Terry has a Master’s Degree in Business Administration. He has taught in the New York State School system for 18 years, where he teaches Career and Financial Management, Agricultural Business, Marketing and Distribution, Sports Management, Wildlife Conservation Management, and Resort and Recreation Management. His time has also been spent as an FFA advisor for 12 years, and he has been farming his 100-acre family farm since 1991. Terry has a deep love of all types of agriculture and takes every opportunity to promote agricultural education.