sunflower seed pipe feeder

Almost any bird you can think of prefers to eat sunflower seeds — black oil sunflower seeds, to be exact. To avoid the mess of sunflower hulls all over your yard, you can buy hulled sunflower seeds, which contain only the hearts of the sunflower.

For this project, I took a piece of leftover PVC pipe from the back of my dad's plumbing truck and attached a simple platform bottom and a hinged top to deter squirrels. The real fun came when I painted the feeder. My goal was to camouflage it so it would blend in with the trees in my backyard. First, I painted it dark brown all over and let it dry. Then, using a smaller brush and acrylic paint, I applied streaks in light green and yellow. I allowed it to dry before applying a stamped effect with a few leaves from my backyard. I chose a darker green paint and stamped the painted leaves all over the feeder. For the final touch, I sprayed on a coat of lacquer gloss finish to ready the acrylic paint for the outdoors.

Cut the base at a 15° angle.

Cut the sides for the bottom piece.

Use a staple gun to assemble the feeder bottom. Then cut a 15° angle on the top of the PVC pipe using a crosscut handsaw. Smooth the cut with sandpaper.

Use a jigsaw or band saw to cut the radius on the hinge bracket. Sand the inside of the radius to match the angle on the pipe. Attach the hinge bracket with polyurethane glue and let it dry overnight. Cut out the lid and attach it to the bracket with two 1″ butt hinges. Install a hook-and-eye catch to hold the lid shut.