Make A Squirrel Feeder

This time of year is when it begins to be difficult for wild animals to find food. Many people are thoughtful enough to help the birds out by setting out feeders with plenty of food for them all winter. But what about the squirrels? Many of those same people think of them as just thieving vermin. But why are they any different from the birds?

Squirrels are every bit as entertaining as birds, and they're more intelligent than many of them. Did you know that squirrels help the trees grow by planting seeds? They care about their trees, so maybe we should care about them. I know I do. So I thought I would share some directions on how to make a bird feeder from a two liter bottle.


What We Need

• A 2-liter bottle
• Scissors or a knife
• A piece of stiff paper
• Seeds or nuts
• Two feet of strong wire
• A strong straight stick or a wooden dowel about one inch in diameter and a foot and a half to two feet long.
• Pliers

Directions

1. Make sure the bottle is clean and dry. And keep the cap!
2. Cut two holes on the sides of the bottle near the bottom on opposite sides that are just big enough to tightly squeeze the stick or dowel through. This will be used for the squirrels to stand on.
3. Make about five or six holes in the sides of the bottle near the bottom with the knife or scissors, but above the holes for the stick. The holes need to be slightly bigger than the seeds or nuts you are going to use, around the size of a dime.
4. Poke a few 1/4 inch holes in the bottom of the bottle. This is just to keep everything dry.
5. Poke two 1/4 inch holes in the bottle a few inches down from the top on opposite sides from each other.
6. Roll the stiff paper into the shape of a cone to use as a funnel. Stick it in the top of the bottle so you can use it to help pour in your seeds. Fill up the bottle to just under the holes you poked at the top in step 5.
7. Pass your wire through the bottle's two top holes from step 5.
8. Use the wire to hang the feeder from a tree branch that's near the trunk. Make sure you twist the two ends of the wire together very firmly so they don't come apart.

There we are! We now have a feeder for the squirrels. And sometimes even a few birds might be able to use it too. The best thing is that feeding the squirrels this way won't attract other creatures, like rats. (I'm too big to eat out of those dime sized holes anyway.)

This was inspired by an article by Judith Wilson at eHow. I changed some things because I thought it was better my way. I encourage you to visit that site for more good ideas.
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