Repurpose A Plastic Popcorn Bucket For An Easy DIY Birdhouse

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Looking for a yardwork assistant? Chickadees, nuthatches, and other birds can serve as little helpers in your garden. The key is getting them to spend time on your property. If you want to persuade birds to flock to your yard, offering lots of good shelter options is a winning strategy. Adding a new birdhouse to the mix gives your feathered friends another place to nest while bringing a bit of charm to your yard. There are lots of budget-friendly ways to make a home for a bird brood. One involves a trip to Dollar Tree, which offers little plastic popcorn buckets for a small sum. Or, upcycle a similar-sized container that you already have. The containers in Dollar Tree's 2-count pack of reusable plastic popcorn buckets offer birds about 98 square inches of living space. They work well for birdhouses because they are easy to cut and clean but relatively sturdy, which helps them handle rainstorms and bird activity.

To make a birdhouse from this style of popcorn bucket, you'll also need a sharp utility knife for cutting holes in plastic and a flat object to be the house's bottom. There are many weather-resistant items that could serve this purpose. One to try is the lid from a plastic tub of yogurt or cottage cheese. If it's larger than the top of the popcorn bucket, it should do the trick. Also gather some string for hanging the house and a bird-safe adhesive such as Titebond Quick & Thick multi-surface glue. 

You can start the birdhouse building process by poking holes in the popcorn bucket's bottom. One hole is a spot for a string loop to hang the house. The others help air and water move through the structure. If your bucket's top edges have scallops, cut them off. Once these edges are smooth and straight, glue the house's bottom to them. For a demonstration of this step, check out the video above by TikTok user @lulucraftscreation. Don't forget to cut an entrance hole in the bucket, too. The size and placement depend on the bird species you're targeting. Choosing the right birdhouse size for your desired species also matters. Dollar Tree popcorn buckets are about 3 ¾ inches long, 3 ¾ wide, and 6 inches tall once you've removed their scallops. A house of this size could attract tree swallows or Carolina wrens if you create an entrance that's 1 ½ inches wide and place the finished product 6 to 10 feet from the ground, a few hundred feet from your house.

Want to decorate your popcorn bucket birdhouse? Great! Paint is the right tool to use. To be safe for birds, it must be non-toxic and have minimal volatile organic compounds (VOCs). It should also be able to handle rain and exposure to the sun's ultraviolet rays. Consider choosing colors that camouflage the house from predators, and don't paint the house's entrance hole, air vents, or interior. Applying a non-toxic sealant such as EcoProCote Eco-Tuff polyurethane clear coat is also a good idea, as it can help your birdhouse last longer. Make sure the sealant has finished curing before placing the new birdhouse in your yard.