Reuse A Turkey Baster For A Clever DIY Water Fountain Hummingbirds Can't Resist

For those that have a lot of hummingbirds visiting their feeders or if you are hoping to attract hummingbirds to your garden, we have the perfect budget-friendly solution. While it may seem strange, that old turkey baster sitting in the back of your kitchen drawer can be easily transformed into a hummingbird fountain. For this project, you'll also need a large, plastic soda bottle, a submersible fountain pump, tubing, hot glue, and a few tools. While a soldering iron can work great for this project, you may also be able to use scissors or a knife and sandpaper.

Solar powered pumps, like the AISITIN solar water pump kit on Amazon (between $10 and $25), will allow your hummingbird fountain to power itself for free and run continuously without needing to be checked. Otherwise, you might consider an electric submersible fountain pump (around $10 on Amazon). As long as your pump is small enough to fit in your soda bottle, it will create a wonderful fountain for your feathered friends to enjoy. For inexpensive tubing, you might consider using jumbo plastic straws ($1 at Hobby Lobby), or you could use vinyl tubing (about $7 at Home Depot). Many birds will simply take a dip in a large bath, but hummingbirds prefer to wash up in more gentle streams of water. By creating this DIY water fountain, you can attract hummingbirds to your yard with their favorite kind of birdbath, and other species might like the running water as well.

Start by cutting the top off your 2 liter bottle where the label begins. This can be made easier by making a horizontal slit into the bottle with a knife, sticking scissors inside, and cutting all the way around. You can remove the label from the bottle if you'd like, though it's not necessary. Now, poke many holes into the top piece of the bottle with a soldering iron or scissors. When your fountain is finished, this will allow the water to flow back to the pump so you don't need to refill it.

On the bottom half of your bottle, use your soldering iron or a knife to make a small cut for your pump's cord to hang out of your fountain. You may also want to sand the edges of the plastic to make it safer for the birds that will visit. Alternatively, applying puffy fabric paint (about $1 at Walmart) to these edges can also make them a softer, safer place to perch, and using red paint might catch their attention, as hummingbirds are attracted to this color. Now, it's time to break out your turkey baster. Pull the flexible top off the baster, flatten it in your hand, and cut off the tip of the top. This will make a hole for your tubing to fit inside and allow water to flow out the top. Apply a circle of hot glue around the opening to provide another small perch.

Now that all of your pieces have been prepped, you can put your hummingbird fountain together. Start by placing the top of your turkey baster onto the screw-top opening of your soda bottle. Attach your tubing to your fountain pump and thread it through the top half of your bottle and the baster, allowing any excess to stick out for now. If you're using straws, you may have to fit two of them together and secure them with water-proof tape, such as duct tape or painter's tape, to make a tube that's long enough. Tape can also be wrapped around the port on your pump if it's too small for your straw to have a tight seal.

Place your pump inside the bottom half of your bottle, pulling the cord out of the notch you made earlier. Now, push the top half of the bottle into the bottom half, so that it's snug. With your fountain complete, you can cut the tubing at the top to the right size. The top of your fountain will be removable so you can fill it with water or change it when it looks dirty. This hummingbird bath could be placed inside a decorative vase or a flower pot to hide the plastic bottle, or you might decorate the outside of it with floral stickers or other accessories. Your DIY hummingbird water fountain can sit on your porch, patio, or in your garden.