How to Make a Hummingbird Feeder

For those of you that are creative “DIYers”, have a little bit of building skills, and would like to make your own homemade hummingbird feeder, here’s how to do it. You just need a few simple tools, a couple of items from around the house, and these simple directions and you will have yourself a nice homemade hummingbird feeder.

We put together these step by step directions with lots to pictures to help you make that beautiful homemade hummingbird feeder. And we are positive that with a little imagination, you can make that is absolutely beautiful. Follow along and feel free to click on any of the pictures below to see a larger image.

Directions

Note: Clicking on an image will open a larger image in a new window.
	Here is all you need to make a hummingbird feeder. Gatorade Bottle (or any other bottle you want to use as a container) A Large Salad Dressing Bottle Cap (or any other bottle cap that is slightly larger and deeper than the Gatorade Bottle Cap) A Drill A Napkin A Hot Glue Gun Hot Glue Gun Glue Sticks A set of Pliers (optional) Aluminum Foil (optional) Scissors (optional) Non-Toxic Paint (optional) Faux flowers (optional)
	For these directions we will use an empty Gatorade Bottle as our tank and part of the base. We like the Gatorade bottles because the mouth of the bottle is large making it easier to clean with a Hummingbird Feeder Brush. It is also easy to change the tank out if the plastic yellow’s in the sun. Plus, this particular type of bottle has pre-made ridges in the bottle to wrap some string or wire around to hang the finished feeder up. You can make a hummingbird feeder with any old bottle that has a top you can modify and still screw it back on the bottle. Some suggestions, try an old soda bottle, a mason jar, or even an old water bottle.
	Ok, let’s get down to business. Take the top off of the Gatorade Bottle. We are going to completely rebuild this top to become the base of the hummingbird feeder.
	Using your Drill, carefully make a bunch of holes in the center of the top bottle cap.
	Still being very careful with the Drill (and Pliers if needed) work the holes through to make one big hole in the center of the bottle cap.
	Now, pick up the salad dressing jar. Keep the cap and get rid of the jar. We are using the salad dressing jar cap because the cap is slightly larger and deeper than the Gatorade bottle cap.
	Get the napkin and tear it in half. Push half the napkin through the center hole of the Gatorade bottle top, leaving a little sticking out. This is a temporary spacer to keep the Gatorade bottle top off the bottom of the salad dressing top while we glue the two together. If we don’t do this, the hummingbird nectar will not be able to flow into salad dressing top for the hummingbirds to drink.
	Place the Gatorade bottle cap with the napkin through the hole directly into the center of the salad dressing top.
	Make sure the Gatorade bottle top is slightly below the rim of the Salad Dressing top like shown in the picture. You also want to try to keep the Gatorade bottle top as level as possible with the salad dressing top. Adjust the napkin as much as needed to get the spacing just right.
	Using the Hot Glue Gun, build up four bridges that will glue the two lids together, keeping the Gatorade lid off the bottom of the salad dressing lid. By very slowly building up the hot glue, the glue won’t flow all over the bottom of the salad dressing lid.
	After the glue has completely dried, carefully take out the entire napkin. Inspect the two caps to make sure the Gatorade lid is floating off the bottom of the salad dressing jar.
	Also inspect the two caps to make sure the top of the Gatorade lid is below the rim of the salad dressing lid.
	Take the Gatorade bottle and screw it onto your new bottle top. And you have the basics of a hummingbird feeder, without the flowers. Now would be a good time to decorate your feeder. Remember to use red (and maybe yellow) as it is a hummingbird’s favorite color. Plastic flowers tend to work the best as they are colorfast and easy to clean. You can also use silk or fabric flowers if you like when making your hummingbird feeder as long as the ink in the fabric does not run into the nectar when it gets wet. This would not be very good for the hummingbirds health. If you would like to make your own flowers out of aluminum foil, we will show you how next.
	Pull out a piece of aluminum foil. Now is the best time to paint the foil with a non-toxic paint. We did not paint the foil for these directions as we want to see your creativity in making your own homemade hummingbird feeder.
	Fold the pre-painted foil in half.
	Cut four leaves out of the foil, leaving a large center.
	Carefully pull the two pieces of foil apart and cross them over each other.
	Use your finger to push into the center of the two foil pieces, but don’t punch through, yet.
	Take your newly made flower and using a small pencil or paperclip, punch a small hole in the bottom of the cup of the flower.
	Glue the flower to the base of your hummingbird feeders with the Hot Glue Gun. When you glue the flowers in, make sure the hole of the flower has access to the flow of nectar in the bottom of the salad dress cap.
	Repeat this as many times as necessary all around the base of your homemade hummingbird feeder. For this example, we used four oversized flowers. Your flowers don’t need to be this big; we were just having way too much fun.
	Carefully move the flowers out of the way and screw it to the top of the Gatorade bottle tank filled full of hummingbird nectar. Carefully turn the filled hummingbird feeder over.
	Twine, string, rope, or wire can be used to create a mounting bracket for your homemade hummingbird feeder. If you need to drill and eye hook into the top of your hummingbird feeder to hang it up, make sure you re-seal the hole so that no air or water can leak, otherwise the vacuum in the tank will not hold back the flow of nectar.

We did not paint or decorate this feeder on purpose. So let’s see your homemade hummingbird feeder. Be creative. Use different types of old bottles. Decorate them with a wide variety of colors and flowers. Please send us a photo of your homemade hummingbird feeder being enjoyed by your local hummingbirds. We may just feature it here on the World of Hummingbirds website.

And that is how you make a homemade hummingbird feeder.

If you would like to purchase a hummingbird feeder instead of making one, please visit our hummingbird feeder shop to see a wide variety of hummingbird feeders. We have found some that are very simple and inexpensive to some that are extremely fancy and decorative. Check it out by clicking on the link below.

Note: We don’t actually sell anything on this site. We just link to those that do. If you find a link that is invalid, please contact us and let us know.