My "Simple" Bird Feeder

I thought this would be a very simple project but boy, oh boy was I wrong.  Thankfully, I can share my screwups so you can avoid them when you upcycle your very own bird feeder.  Here's my finished product:

I actually found two of those wavy plates at Goodwill and the mug at a yard sale. They were the perfect match for this project!  So here's what you'll need:

1.  Mug and a saucer
2.  Length of PVC
3.  PVC cutter
4.  Silicone adhesive
5.  PVC coupling with a threaded end
6.  PVC plug

First, you'll want to take care of the gluing. Use the silicone to glue the plate and the mug together.  Then the PVC plug - well, this needs some backstory!  I desperately wanted to put this project together without drilling holes in the bird feeder so I headed to the plumbing section of my local hardware store.  I searched high and low for a  cap that I could put on top of the PVC pole with a flat surface for gluing to the bottom of the plate.  Unfortunately, every cap in the plumbing isle had a curved surface, not ideal for attaching to the plate.  So I grab a plug that would screw into a coupling.  It sort of has a flat surface but there is a giant crevice in the plug.

After several failed attempts at attaching the plug to the plate, this is what I figured I needed to do. Screw the plug into the coupling then fill the crevice in the plug about a third or the way with silicone.  Let it dry overnight, then repeat one to two more times until you have a nice flat surface.

Then you can simply apply glue to the plug and attach it to the plate.  Let dry overnight.  Right about now, you might be wondering why we would need to fill the plug.  I just couldn't get a good grip on the dish when I applied it to the rim of the plug alone.  And I tried to fill the plug up all at once and it just wouldn't dry.  But this crazy method seems to be working.  If you can find something with a truly flat surface you can avoid all this nonsense but I didn't have a ton of luck.

Hi, Chico!

While everything is drying, cut your PVC to length and stick it into the ground.  Then you'll just need to drop the finished feeder on top of the pole once it's dried.

This method also makes for easy cleaning.  You can just pull it off the pole and bring the feeder portion to the sink.

If you figure out a better solution for the plug, please do post it below!  Enjoy!