I have two new feeders!

AW Admin · Mar 5, 2016

So I've been a birdwatcher and hand-tamer of birds since I was a kid.

And now we finally have two bird feeders where we live, and a suet feeder.

We put them up Wednesday, March 2nd.

The seed feeders are mixed seed feeders, the kind that you use suction cups to attach to a window.

One of them is a bit unusual, and I quite like it for appearance, the fact that it's a small platform feeder, and that it has drain holes. It's a Droll Yankees Window-Mount Songbird Feeder.

Duncraft carries it so does Amazon; we got it at the local feed store/co-op.

Today I got my first bird; it's a black-capped chickadee, naturally :greenie

. But they're one of my very favorites, so I'm pleased.

Earthling · Mar 5, 2016

Oooh exciting! I've had to revert to a simple tray feeder because the squirrels chewed through everything else I bought. The only way to deal with it is make food freely available for birds and squirrels alike.

mrsmig · Mar 5, 2016

That's a pretty feeder. I will be replacing several of mine as spring approaches; I'm partial to ones made of recycled materials since they seem to last longer than plain wood.

Captcha · Mar 5, 2016

Earthling said:
Oooh exciting! I've had to revert to a simple tray feeder because the squirrels chewed through everything else I bought. The only way to deal with it is make food freely available for birds and squirrels alike.

I have a glass feeder and a wire feeder that have survived the squirrels, but I sympathize with your other issues. Got one for Christmas that's plastic but with metal around all the ports and edges, and it's surviving so far...

And chickadees are EXCELLENT early visitors to a feeder - so busy and cheerful! I hope he brings his friends and they all enjoy many future seeds!

Earthling · Mar 5, 2016

Captcha said:
I have a glass feeder and a wire feeder that have survived the squirrels, but I sympathize with your other issues. Got one for Christmas that's plastic but with metal around all the ports and edges, and it's surviving so far...

I tried everything, even so called "squirrel proof" feeders. They always found a way so I figured hey, if they're that hungry, let em have it!

AW Admin · Mar 5, 2016

Earthling said:
Oooh exciting! I've had to revert to a simple tray feeder because the squirrels chewed through everything else I bought. The only way to deal with it is make food freely available for birds and squirrels alike.

I'm braced for squirrels.

AW Admin · Mar 5, 2016

Earthling said:
I tried everything, even so called "squirrel proof" feeders. They always found a way so I figured hey, if they're that hungry, let em have it!

I think really the only remedy for squirrels is to give them their own buffet. I used to use the corn-cobs-on-a-bungee effectively.

KiwiChick · Mar 5, 2016

I used to have a squirrel feeder (when I lived in a place with squirrels). The birds kept coming to steal food from it.

Captcha · Mar 5, 2016

Earthling said:
I tried everything, even so called "squirrel proof" feeders. They always found a way so I figured hey, if they're that hungry, let em have it!

Oh, mine always find a way to get to the food - but I'm with you, I don't mind that. I'm just happy to have found feeders they don't chew through on their WAY to the food. The little piglets can eat through the ports like everyone else does, can't they?

Earthling · Mar 5, 2016

AW Admin said:
I'm braced for squirrels.

I'm picturing you standing in the shadows with a shotgun aimed at the feeder.

Roxxsmom · Mar 5, 2016

That's a cool feeder. Some of the birds that come to our hanging feeder do fly up to our window sometimes, so they might use it. But it would be empty in no time (they seem to come in voracious little swarms).

I'd love to see some chickadees. We get a lot of house finches and lesser gold finches, and of course (sigh) English house sparrows.

So far, our squirrels (we get both gray ones and fox squirrels) haven't been able to reach the hanging feeder that's under the eaves. One (we called him "Big Gray") was so big he could almost reach the seeds by hanging from the eaves by his toes, but he couldn't quite. So they content themselves with eating what's fallen to the ground with the doves, juncos, and white-crowned sparrows.

Kylabelle · Mar 5, 2016

My sister buys a birdseed that is mostly safflower seeds (those white ones) and laced heavily with hot pepper. It's marketed as a seed that the squirrels will avoid and, they do! while the birds have no problem whatever with the hot pepper. I'll see if I can find the name of it; she orders it from Amazon.

I love squirrels and the way they display a whole network of life above ground among branches and powerlines, but they will hog that birdseed and the birds won't get much if any, if all is left to develop without measures taken.

By the way, that squirrel-proof seed can be a bit dangerous; the first time I filled a feeder with it I didn't take enough care to avoid inhaling the powder that wafts up, and my nose was in pain for a while, with sneezing fits. It's potent!

Chumplet · Mar 5, 2016

I have an old crab apple tree outside my living room window, and all sorts of birds perch there to eat the little cherry-sized apples, and even the odd hawk will settle on a branch to tear apart a chickadee (sorry, chickadee). The squirrels use it as a highway from the roof to the yard. I occasionally put leftover scraps on the back porch, and all the woodland creatures make short work of it. Last week, a big grey squirrel (I call him Tippy) munched on a garlic naan bread, then scampered off to breathe all over his fellow squirrels.

That window feeder is neato. I'll bet squirrels can't climb up the glass to get at the treats! Hopefully, you won't get birds smacking their little noggins on the glass on the way to their feast.

Kylabelle · Mar 5, 2016

There are bird shaped decals that can be put on glass expanses to prevent bird collision.

Maryn · Mar 5, 2016

I like watching the scalloped loops of the chickadees' flight paths as they come to the feeders. The only time I had a feeder that attached to the window, I ended up taking it off because it was getting us bird droppings all down the sill and siding.

We get mostly chickadees, sparrows, and house wrens, plus the occasional goldfinch and junko. And pigeons and doves once in a while. In winter we have cardinals, and in summer hummingbirds if I keep up with the nectar.

I bought a new feeder in January when I saw a sale--but I won't put it out until spring, when I put up new shepherd's crooks and squirrel baffles. I have a squirrel-proof feeder in front, also from Droll Yankee, which works pretty well, but it's not deer-proof and their teeth have scraped off enough paint that it's looking pretty sorry. Like squirrels, they chew through wood and plastic with ease, so my feeders rarely last more than a couple of seasons. This one cost enough that I'm thinking of taking it apart and repainting it.

I did have much success controlling a growing patch of crabgrass by moving the crook and its feeder to its center. Wild turkeys kindly dug up every bit of the crabgrass seeking dropped seeds.

Maryn, who can see the feeder the squirrels emptied yesterday from her perch

ElaineA · Mar 5, 2016

I have the luxury of a yard that I can plant with birds in mind. I have perennials that attract birds all year long (I leave the seed heads on the Black-eyed Susans and bee balm all winter and have fruiting shrubs they pick at) but because of our early spring this year, I cut everything back last weekend, and now I'm having bird withdrawal! They aren't even coming to my usually-crowded birdbath.

I stopped doing feeders once I got the yard revamped for birds so now I'm stuck until the plants lure them back.

Maryn said:
I did have much success controlling a growing patch of crabgrass by moving the crook and its feeder to its center. Wild turkeys kindly dug up every bit of the crabgrass seeking dropped seeds.

Okay, now THAT'S clever!

AW Admin · Mar 5, 2016

Chumplet said:
I have an old crab apple tree outside my living room window, and all sorts of birds perch there to eat the little cherry-sized apples, and even the odd hawk will settle on a branch to tear apart a chickadee (sorry, chickadee). The squirrels use it as a highway from the roof to the yard. I occasionally put leftover scraps on the back porch, and all the woodland creatures make short work of it. Last week, a big grey squirrel (I call him Tippy) munched on a garlic naan bread, then scampered off to breathe all over his fellow squirrels.

That window feeder is neato. I'll bet squirrels can't climb up the glass to get at the treats! Hopefully, you won't get birds smacking their little noggins on the glass on the way to their feast.

Those decals work; they're made of clinging plastic so don't require adhesive.

This is an old house, with rippled glass windows, so I'm pretty sure they won't be smackin' themselves. Both the seed feeders are near tall shrubs, so the birds have a safe place to flee in case of invaders/felines/hawks/eagles.

The suet feeder is in a giant Washington-sized Rhododendron (they get to be roof-tall here), and I'll have to go look at it; it's too far away for me to see without my scope.

Maryn · Mar 5, 2016

If you get to feeling adventurous, I made my own suet cakes a few times. Holler if you want how-to.

That was before the squirrels chewed through the wood feeder, then chewed through the metal grid one, too. I don't do suet since then.

mrsmig · Mar 5, 2016

I use those chimney-shaped baffles on my feeder poles and they work very well at keeping my neighborhood's gray squirrels out of my feeders. Placement is everything: you have to make certain the feeders are situated well away from anything (tree, fence, decking) that might provide a springboard into the feeder, and you may have to adjust the baffle itself up or down the pole to find the optimum position.

My largest feeder area is a dogwood tree in the middle of my back yard. I essentially "baffled" its entire trunk by wrapping it in a sheet of rigid plastic. The squirrels simply can't climb it. I have three suet feeders, two hanging tray feeders, a seed column feeder and a bell-shaped feeder all in that one tree. Now if I could just figure out a way to keep the starlings and house sparrows out of the suet...

About the capsaicin-laced seed: I won't use it, since there haven't been any long-term studies to determine if the hot pepper is damaging to the birds that eat it. Just something to think about.

Cornell Labs has a good page about feeders, seed and bird-feeding in general.

Maryn · Mar 6, 2016

I tried that hot-pepper feed only once. The dust from pouring or scooping it into the feeder about killed my eyes and nostrils, and I was deliberately moving slowly to minimize it, too. I'd hate to think what it would feel like if I'd let it reach my lungs.

I've read the birds cannot taste it, but as you note, that doesn't mean it does them no harm.

AW Admin · Mar 6, 2016

Maryn said:
If you get to feeling adventurous, I made my own suet cakes a few times. Holler if you want how-to.

That was before the squirrels chewed through the wood feeder, then chewed through the metal grid one, too. I don't do suet since then.

Yeah, we used to do that when we butchered. I confess I've gotten increasingly lazy, and we buy them.

I also don't miss butchering . . .

AW Admin · Mar 6, 2016

Maryn said:
I tried that hot-pepper feed only once. The dust from pouring or scooping it into the feeder about killed my eyes and nostrils, and I was deliberately moving slowly to minimize it, too. I'd hate to think what it would feel like if I'd let it reach my lungs.

I've read the birds cannot taste it, but as you note, that doesn't mean it does them no harm.

I keep some of the bird seed in an old plastic salsa bottle; it's quart-sized and has a handle so I can use it one-handedly to add seed.

I was worried a bit because I couldn't quite get rid of the salsa odor after multiple washing, but decided if birds ate the suet with peppers and capicin laced seeds, the faint salsa aroma should be ok.

Maryn · Mar 6, 2016

It probably makes it delicious. Ole!

You don't have other critters chew through your plastic bottle? Or maybe you have space for it inside. I kept seed in a Rubbermaid bin in the garage, but chipmunks or perhaps field mice chewed right through it. What a mess. And somebody with brownish fur died in there. Yuck!

In fact, if anybody knows a place to buy a small metal garbage can with a secure lid (wastebasket size), I'm all ears. I don't like keeping the seed inside, since the bottom of the container comes back snowy or muddy at times. I tried a popcorn tin kept in the garage, but critters got the lid off and had a party in there.

Captcha · Mar 6, 2016

Maryn said:
It probably makes it delicious. Ole!

You don't have other critters chew through your plastic bottle? Or maybe you have space for it inside. I kept seed in a Rubbermaid bin in the garage, but chipmunks or perhaps field mice chewed right through it. What a mess. And somebody with brownish fur died in there. Yuck!

In fact, if anybody knows a place to buy a small metal garbage can with a secure lid (wastebasket size), I'm all ears. I don't like keeping the seed inside, since the bottom of the container comes back snowy or muddy at times. I tried a popcorn tin kept in the garage, but critters got the lid off and had a party in there.

I'm in Canada, but I store my seed in a metal garbage can like you describe, which I bought after a chew-through-the-plastic-garbage-can incident like you describe. I got mine at Home Hardware, but I think that's a Canadian chain.

AW Admin · Mar 6, 2016

Maryn said:
It probably makes it delicious. Ole!

You don't have other critters chew through your plastic bottle? Or maybe you have space for it inside. I kept seed in a Rubbermaid bin in the garage, but chipmunks or perhaps field mice chewed right through it. What a mess. And somebody with brownish fur died in there. Yuck!

No, the Really Big Bags of seed and other feed are in large metal trashcans; they're rodent proof.

I'd try a feedstore. They're used in barns all the time all over the world. They make smaller kitchen-trash-can sized ones just for feed.

But I keep the formerly-contained-salsa bottle inside the house so I can refill the feeders, or at least one of them (the other's just a bit too high for me) easily.

'coons will tear apart even the industrial strength garbage cans; I've seen it happen.

My brother the bird obsessed has bears who come raid his feeders every spring, so he takes them down, or at least some of them.

I have two new feeders!

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