Info from Debbie on Bird Feeding....

[Lou Buscher]

Believe it or not they can not get passed that piece of stove pipe.
Flashing can also be used as a preadator guard as that's what we use on the trees our eagles nest in. It keeps the raccoons out but for them you will need about 4 foot of it. As for the bears there is no defense but to remove the food and you remove the bear.
Lou

 

[Lou Buscher]

Here is a squirrel proof feeder I use. It works well. You set the acceptable weight to an accuracy of 1/10 ounce, any birds heavier than, say 2 oz, cannot eat, only birds that are lighter. No more squirrels, Common Grackles, or Blue Jays. "Fat birds" and squirrels simply tip the balance and the perch connected to the feed cut-off door lowers and shuts the seed supply off...:

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Hey JOhn maybe not so. My friend has one looks and works like that and you know what they did??? One got on one side and than the other went to the other and had a meal. They placed more weight on one side than the other and took turns feeding. This is what he told me after spending a lot of mony on it.
Lou

 

[gadgetguy11]

Hey JOhn maybe not so. My friend has one looks and works like that and you know what they did??? One got on one side and than the other went to the other and had a meal. They placed more weight on one side than the other and took turns feeding. This is what he told me after spending a lot of mony on it.
Lou

Well, the only problem with that is, as you see in my photo, the bar in the back is much shorter than the bar in the front. So, since force x distance is affected by 1/3 distance, the force would have to be tripled. In other words, maybe if my macaw got out of the house and sat on the back perch, a Common Grackle could eat off the front.

Bottom line: I have 2 of these feeders in use for 2 years. I had to adjust the weight LIGHTER than the ounce numbers on the feeder by 50%. I learned this, because Grackles were eating away when the weight was set to spec. Now set to 2 ounces, only a Cardinal, and lighter can eat. Birds sit on the back perch all the time. At this weight setting, there is no significant difference.

It works 100% of the time. Tell your friend to take a 2 ounce can of spices from the kitchen, sit it on the front perch, and set both right and left screws equally so it just tips the scale. Problem will be solved!

 

[Lou Buscher]

I wish walmart would drop all together.
people tend to stay out of walmart for their animals do to the low quality of their foods.

Hey Baseballer I had the very same trouble with Lowes and tried to turn them in to the board of Health but they passed me to the Argriculture Dept. and there I found there are no laws against wild bird food. I wonder if sme of those cows eat it :biggrin::biggrin: HUMMmmmmm
Lou

 

[Lou Buscher]

Well, the only problem with that is, as you see in my photo, the bar in the back is much shorter than the bar in the front. So, since force x distance is affected by 1/3 distance, the force would have to be tripled. In other words, maybe if my macaw got out of the house and sat on the back perch, a Common Grackle could eat off the front.

Bottom line: I have 2 of these feeders in use for 2 years. I had to adjust the weight LIGHTER than the ounce numbers on the feeder by 50%. I learned this, because Grackles were eating away when the weight was set to spec. Now set to 2 ounces, only a Cardinal, and lighter can eat. Birds sit on the back perch all the time. At this weight setting, there is no significant difference.

It works 100% of the time. Tell your friend to take a 2 ounce can of spices from the kitchen, sit it on the front perch, and set both right and left screws equally so it just tips the scale. Problem will be solved!

Hey John , WOW that sounds like I'll stick to my stove pipe as it works great and I bet a lot less money.
Lou

 

[JMontes]

Here's a feeder I use, the squirrels have not been able to get food out of it. They are relegated to eating food off the ground with this one.

http://www.bestnest.com/bestnest/RTProduct.asp?SKU=BRM-1024

Here's a shot of it in action from my yard. It's quite comical to watch them hang on it and below it trying to get food. They are persistent, but they do learn that they can't get in it!

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[BirdLady]

Thought I would post this here.

Grapes, grapes and more grapes. This is the time of the year that insects and bugs are starting to disappear. Almost all insects and bugs eating birds will eat grapes. Any type of grapes will work but they prefer the Globe grapes. They are the big, red, round looking grapes with seeds. A benefit of using grapes with seeds is that the birds will disperse the seeds and you might end up with a grape plant. Another benefit is that the grapes will attract insects and bugs. Since I can not afford to feed birds meal and wax worms all day long, I keep grapes out for them to eat until it time for me to feed them the worms. The Tennessee Warblers and Gray Catbirds were constantly eating and fighting over the grapes. This is the number one reason that both the T. Warblers and Gray Catbirds stay in my yard for so long. Birds that will eat grapes are Woodpeckers, American Robins, Brown Thrashers, Bluebirds, Towhees, Blue Jays, Gray Catbirds, Northern Mockingbirds, Northern Cardinals, Grosbeaks, Tennessee Warblers, Vireos, and a few others. Just hang them up at different heights to attract the most variety of species. Now, this may sound a bit crazy but Hummingbirds and Butterflies will drink the juice from the grapes. I took several pictures of this just to show my husband.

 

[8100LT]

Thanks!

This sticky thread really helped in getting my backyard feeder up to speed!
Thanks!
Steve

 

[raian]

Some great info here.
Can anyone tell me a sure-fire way to keep the squirrels away???

 

[FisherPete]

I really think the only way to keep squirrels away is to not feed the birds. Even a squirrel-proof feeder gets spillage when the birds knock the food to the ground. There are some foods squirrels don't like, such as nyger thistle seed, which goldfinches love, or peppered suet blocks, which house finches and downies seem to like. But there's an up-side to squirrels, too. If your feeders are high and protected from them, the squirrels will clean up the ground and help keep the rats away. I'd rather have the bushy-tailed rats than the naked-tailed ones. Right now, I've got both and I'm a little grossed out by them.

 

[FisherPete]

It's coooold here in Oregon, but I still have hummies coming to the feeder. Since I feel responsible for their decision to stick around, I also need to be responsible for their feeding during the cold snap. I'm curious what others do. What I've been doing is bringing the feeders inside after dark and putting them back up before dawn. I've also been masking taping a disposable hand-warmer to the bottom of the feeder. They radiate heat for about 8 hours, providing a little warmth and preventing the feeder from freezing.

 

[Jyoung]

Wow! What an education. Thanks for posting these hot tips. My yard birds need all the help they can get.

J.

 

[sandy130]

It's coooold here in Oregon, but I still have hummies coming to the feeder. Since I feel responsible for their decision to stick around, I also need to be responsible for their feeding during the cold snap. I'm curious what others do. What I've been doing is bringing the feeders inside after dark and putting them back up before dawn. I've also been masking taping a disposable hand-warmer to the bottom of the feeder. They radiate heat for about 8 hours, providing a little warmth and preventing the feeder from freezing.

Hi Pete,

Here is what i do:

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The light is warm enough to keep the nectar thawed but not hot....i bring in the feeders overnight and hang them back up in the morning...you can tell this little guy wasnt straying too far from the feeder....i find when the feeders are underneath the soffets and protected, the feeders stay pretty thawed unless there is a north/east wind coming over the mtns and freezing the nectar....they feed very regular when its cold like this..Thankfully we dont have to do this too often!

 

[GeeJay]

Thanks for this great information, Debbie and Frank,
I'm going to the store today.

 

[Flew]

Thanks for this great information, Debbie and Frank,
I'm going to the store today.

Thank Debbie for this Gaye. I'm just the messenger. :smile:

 

[OHcorgis]

I got my bird houses up when we had a one day thaw. Silly me took them all down late fall, cleaned them up but never put them back out. Sometimes I hear some singing, can spring be far behind? I have 11 feeders up, two of them for the huge crop of squirrels that live here.

Walmart does not seem to be selling much in the way of bird supplies anymore. I don't buy seed at Lowes after some mice got into a bag I brought home. I found a bunch of dead mice around the bag. Stored by poison perhaps? I also had a bag filled with moths. So now I buy more expensive seed at Ace Hardware and at the local Bird store. I love the hulled sunflower seeds (and so do the birds), but the price has gone sky high. I also buy unsalted peanuts at the grocery store. The squirrels and birds only eat the nuts, but the silly dogs will eat the shells and have runny poops from that.

If you have dogs, you should be careful about bird food containing dried grapes/raisons which are poisonous to dogs and will at least give them a bad case of diarrhea.

I am so looking forward to spring. I hope the bluebirds use the bluebird nest this year. Last year they just sat on it, but I think they already had a nest in the woods.

I am surprised to read that hummers will stay in cold climates. That does not happen here. My hummers will not eat prepared nectar. They want home made sugar water.

Enough rambling....

 

[2Sharp]

I thought I would add to this thread. Many birds love raw peanuts and I get raw shelled peanuts bulk at this place. http://mr-macs-peanuts.com/store/page2.html I got 25 lbs last winter and ran out about half way through winter. This year I am going to get the 50 lb bag and hope it will last the winter. I give them a little spin in my food processer to break them up a little so the little birds can get a bite.

bj

 

[aspiringphotos]

I've learned a lot from this thread and feel like I've discovered a whole new exciting project. Thanks to everyone who contributed!

The kids and I made a few bird feeders out of 1 liter bottles and some food storage lids that lost their bottoms. We've had quite a few visitors in just a couple of days. In searching for making bird feeders on line, I found instructions for making your own suet cake. I think for spring we'll just buy a few, but for holiday gifts next year maybe the kids and I will make some for my husband's family -- they love birds, and what a great project for the kids. They are already having a very fun time watching the birds we've attracted so far, and since they were both sick over spring break it was a welcome distraction for them.

We put out the fruit and seed bell but no takers on that at all yet. Very surprised about that.

The peanuts were a big hit with the blue jays and grackles. I don't mind them, I think the blue jays are beautiful and the grackles are even pretty in the sunlight.

I have a suet cake and cage to put out but haven't decided where to place it. It's huge! I'm thinking of mounting it on a board facing the kitchen windows. I had planned to mount it on one of the oak trees, but there's not a good vantage point from the windows.

Here's a photo of one of the home made bird feeders we made. I think this is a finch -- I need to get a guide!

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[Brooklyn]

I understand that squirrels don't like safflower seed, you might want to try that..

 

[kc4coj]

Thanks for the outstanding info on bird feed, some of it I have never heard of before.