Mason Jar Bird Feeder

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Do you love to watch the birds? The best way to attract them to your backyard is to feed them! Learn how to make your a cute mason jar bird feeder with this easy and inexpensive tutorial.

Do you love to watch the birds? The best way to attract them to your backyard is to feed them! Learn how to make your a cute mason jar bird feeder with this easy and inexpensive tutorial. #backyardbirds #birdfeeder #diybirdfeeder #masonjarcrafts

Mason Jar Bird Feeder

Each time I walk out the door I feel like I’m instantly transported to a nice park. With the big trees and the birds singing all around me, this tall prairie grass girl is in heaven. I didn’t grow up in a place like this, at our house the prairie grass was so tall that it looked like waves when the wind was blowing and the only trees were the ones we planted and they didn’t grow very fast.

Here, we are surrounded by a mini oasis of trees that are over a hundred years old. Along with those tress come birds that I’ve never seen before. Big birds, small birds, creepy birds, and loud birds. Blue birds, red birds, yellow birds, and white birds. At our last house, I was lucky if I saw a Meadowlark in the yard and here I have pheasants and egrets running through my trees. I think it’s quite amazing.

I like to watch these little creatures from the house during the day and see all of the different kinds so I’ve created all kinds of birdhouses and bird feeders to put around the yard. The little bird feeder that is our project today is my favorite! It’s heavy-duty, cheap to make, and SO cute! I hope you will make some for your little singing friends as well.

DIY Mason Jar Bird Feeder

What You Need:

  • Mason Jar
  • Twine
  • Small Round Chicken Feeder
  • Bird Seed

Mason Jar Bird Feeder

Here are the supplies you will need. I used an old blue mason jar because I have so many, but you can use any jar you have on hand! Any regular mouth mason jar should fit in the chicken feeder. You can use craft twine or any thick string. I found some old twine in the barn that we used for ours.

—Make your own Tinted Mason Jars.

Mason Jar Bird Feeder

Start by tying the twine around the jar. I tied it around the top (which is now the bottom) of the jar and the ran the string up the sides and tied another piece of twine around the middle to help keep the jar upright.

Mason Jar Bird Feeder

Fill the jar with birdseed. You can fill the chicken feeder too although putting the jar on gets a little interesting if you do this. But what’s life without a little interesting?!

— Here are 8 Ways to Reuse Mason Jars (Other Than For Canning!)

Mason Jar Bird Feeder

Place the jar on the feeder and screw it on. Tah-dah! Your bird feeder is done! Hang it in your favorite place to watch the birds come and enjoy! You can also skip the twine if you don’t want to hang this and just secure it to a post in the yard.

This is a fun little project to do and it only takes a few minutes to put together. The chicken feeder cost me just under $3 at my local farm store and I had the twine and jar so that was my only cost for this feeder. Even if you have to purchase all of your supplies for this project brand new, the project should still be well under $10.

Want to craft some other fun projects? Here are a few fun ideas to get started on!

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Milk Jug Bird Feeder- Here’s another simple bird feeder idea that recycles an old milk jug. Learn how to make it and get some other creative ideas for repurposing milk jugs.

Simple DIY Garden Projects – These 10 easy projects will look great around your home and garden.

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How to Make Chalk Paint – This is a great DIY project if you have little people. Let them make some chalk paint! Perfect outdoor activity for nice, summer days!

What are your favorite birds that come into your yard?

merissabio

This Mason Jar Bird Feeder Project was originally published on Little House Living in July 2014. It has been updated as of May 2020.

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35 Comments

  1. This is an awesome idea! I am running to the farm supply store today to get the chicken feeder base. Thanks 🙂

  2. This is a cute idea!! I have a couple of these in the shed by the chicken coop,so I think I’ll make one. Might I suggest drilling a couple of drain holes so water doesn’t collect and rust the bottom out. Mine are old,so if the new ones have drainage please disregard that idea!!

  3. Genius! I’ve been wanting a bird feeder because my kids love to watch to birds and we just bought two chick feeders when we only needed one! It’s perfect! Thanks!

  4. GREAT idea! I’ve been wondering about some cute ideas for my Mason jars and I need more bird feeders! Found the chicken feeders on eBay! Stoked! 🙂

  5. I made three of these yesterday and they look great! The only thing I did differently was I use wire in place of the twine so it would last longer. Love this craft; I’m going to do a bunch with green colored jars for Christmas gifts!

  6. That looks so good, I can think of a few people these would make great gifts for come Christmas.
    My favourite bird in our garden is the Robin who visits in the winter, my least favourite are the blackbirds who insist on nesting in the ivy on the fence and then get really stressed when we are sitting out in the garden. Moma blackbird likes to divebomb us! Bless her, I know she is just protecting her babies but still. I’m in the Uk so I guess my garden birds are a little different to yours.

    1. Gifts! That’s exactly what I was thinking. This would make a really sweet Mother’s Day gift/project from the kids. So simple yet so pretty and it will provide many hours of enjoyment!

      Diana

  7. Very cute and creative use of the chicken feeder! I love feeding the birds too and recently posted a thrifted bird feeder made from items I found at Goodwill.

  8. Hi! Thanks so much for stopping by the Wednesday Roundup! This awesome post is being featured this week! Come on by and grab a featured button! I’ve also pinned this to our Link Party Pinterest board!

  9. I love it! Simple, effective and cute. These would be nice holiday gifts, who can’t enjoy a bird feeder?

    Thank you for stopping by the Thoughtful Spot Weekly Blog Hop this week. We hope to see you drop by our neck of the woods next week!

  10. Love the bird feeder idea. I too have a plethora of mason jars as I never throw them out. I needed another idea to make use of them. I bought plastic lids so I also use them for leftovers in the fridge.

  11. I love your very original construction of a bird feeder! My only concern is how would I keep the greedy squirrels out? I live near Baltimore and haven’t been visited by the Baltimore Orioles yet, but I keep watching for one. We have cardinals, mourning doves and many small birds which I haven’t identified yet. Also raucous crows and possibly ravens. There are occasionally quieter birds than the crows and I immediately get my bird book out to detect the difference, but I’m never sure. Last year some small brown birds built their nest in a hanging planter on my porch and proceeded to raise a family of 4 or 5 babies. I discovered this when I watered the plant! Then, I let nature take its course and worried almost as much as the parent birds when all but one of the fledglings left the nest. Finally, two days after the others, he was gone. I choose to believe that he made it!

  12. Cute idea but you should probably drill a few holes in the bottom of the feeder so it drains and you don’t end up with a soggy, moldy mess of bird seed after it rains.

  13. Amazing how something my Grandma used to do is all the rage now lol. I remember my Grandma do this when I was a kid (I’m 51 now). People are finally realizing they don’t have to go out and buy new to have something nice. Just use your imagination and what you got on hand lying around colleting dust and turn it into something functional and cute or pretty or rustic or whatever look you are going for. So much better for the environment. It also gives us a sense of worth to be able to create something functional and eye pleasing.

  14. I have received several of your pages n the last few days. I hope to see more. Love this idea.

  15. Aww…this sounds so cute!

    I would love for you to share this with my Recipes, Crafts, Tips and Tricks Facebook group.

    Thanks for joining Cooking and Crafting with J & J!

  16. I really like this idea. It’s so simple, yet beautiful. My favorite. Anything with a mason jar is good!

  17. Is there nothing mason jars can’t do?! 😉 What a lovely craft – I love the rustic feel!

  18. Love this DIY for the birds! Thanks for sharing at the Inspiration Spotlight party. Pinned & shared.

  19. This is so cute and I love, love, love it that you can make it so easily with stuff on hand! Thank you so much Merissa for linking up to our Bewitchin’ Projects Block Party last week; you are one of my Feature picks this Sunday over at Recreated Designs. Have a wonderful weekend! Hugs, Lisa

  20. How do you screw the jar on with seed in it? I have filled the bottom and jar and still spill. What’s the secret? If I don’t fill the bottom then all the seed goes there and jar is empty. 🙁

    1. Put a piece of thick paper (or cardboard) over the bottom of the jar, flip it over onto the bottom and then pull out the paper and screw on the lid 🙂

  21. I couldn’t find a mason jar that fit in the feeder bottoms that I bought. The bottoms look the same as you used.

  22. love the mason jar idea…I stay at home….so love to watch the birds and butterflies…i have several jars…Ill be going to the feed store to get the feeder…have everything else I need …thanks for sharing your ideas 🙂

  23. I use the chick watering bases with mason jars and hang them in trees and on shepherd’s crooks to give the birds water during the hot dry months 🙂

  24. Sorry, but these are the most vague instructions I’ve seen. And no step by step pictures to show how you tie the twine. If you tie it on the base you have one reference point to go up one side – you cannot “tie the twine around the jar” and bring the string up the “sides”… it’s only going to go up at the spot you just tied the jar at. Again, these directions, especially without illustrations for reference, are very lacking.
    Your jar bird feeder is beautiful and functional which is why I wanted to try to make one for myself. Guess I’m too much of a visual learner which made this post more frustrating than functional for me.