What feeders fo you prefer.

[Paul]

My feeders got destroyed last spring in a hail storm and want to put 2 more back up in my Norway Pine. I have large Squirell prolbem though. Anybody know of a squirell proof feeder that you would recomend or maybe I should feed something different that the plain ol food bought at wally world.

[Steve Foss]

Paul, the best all-around food is black oil sunflower seed. It's the best combination of economy, energy and popularity among birds. Even the finches (goldfinches, redpolls, etc) go for it. I used to feed niger (thistle) seed as an addition to the sunflower, but it's very expensive and I found that I didn't get any more finches with it than without it, so it went bye-bye.

I also scatter cracked corn on the ground if I have any sparrows or juncos, and feed suet as well in a suet holder.

You can put up a post with a baffle on it to keep squirrels off the feeder, as long as it's not under a tree they can jump down from. I haven't bothered. I have three different types of feeders, a big long wooden tray feeder, a hanging tube feeder and another hanging feeder.

This way, when the squirrels come along and get up on the tray feeder, which they do now and then, the other birds still have seed on the ground and on the other two feeders.

That's how I do it. What do others do?

[jonny_redhorse]

Im still PO'd at the city of Hibbing and at this time only have 3 suet feeders(no birds for many days now )in my front yard...they're still enforcing the "pigeon thing" and psychotic neighbors call the local gendarms if they see a pigeon at your feeders. ....one of the reasons why I pack up my seed and head out to my designated area at Carey Lake(5 miles away) to do the "sit and watch and photo thing)...pigeons certainly can be a problem but what erks me is I don't want the neighbors peaved...no real answers ...

[Steve Foss]

Sorry to hear that, Jonny.

[finnbay]

What a hassle! I have a flat feeder on a post for shooting, and anthother flat one on my deck railing. A couple of suet hangers and another hanging tube in front of my patio doors. I am rethinking some of this to encourage more action in front of my blind for shooting.

[MN Shutterbug]

Yep, them danged squirrels. I made my own suet feeder out of 2X treated lumber. I constructed it about 4 times the size of a regular suet feeder. This way, when I make a pan of suet, I can put the whole square in there at one time. I then hung it with a rope from a limb. Unfortunately, the squirrels chew through the rope so it falls on the ground and opens. They did this twice in a row. Squirrels aren't stupid. Now I have it hung with nylon coated steel leader material. It stays up but the squirrels still manage to gradually work away at the suet, which is enclosed with 1/8" hardware cloth. They must use their tongues to scrape away at it. They are persistent. I also have a store bought suet feeder hanging from a shepherd's hook. Somehow, when we were gone, one managed to actually open it and remove the suet. I don't believe squirrels can be outwitted.

[finnbay]

I have a 30 gallon galvanized garbage can on the deck that I store feed in. Doggone squirrels were getting the lid open! I put a brick on top of the lid, and watched one of them pesky little red devils roll the brick off of the cover and then pull the lid up! I have given up. I feed 'em all now!

[MN Shutterbug]

Yep, if you can't beat'em, you might as well feed'em. That is funny, though.

[Dotch]

You need a cement block or a big-arse rock finnbay! I agree with Steve's assessment about the black oilseed sunflower. It's very versatile. We have primarily fox squirrels here in rural SC MN so they're easier to deal with than those little red devils up north and in more wooded areas. I had a plastic baffle that hung over the top of the sunflower feeder that was fairly effective as a squirrel deterrent, long as you didn't place the feeder where they could easily crawl onto the baffle from a branch and grab onto the edge. Was fun to watch the dumb ones end up on the ground. It's a given here the feeders need to have the metal perches and inserts around the feeding holes or the squirrels can/will destroy them. I feed ear corn on a feeder I made with pole barn spikes so they can't run off with it. It seems to help keep them out of the other feeders. Blue jays and red-bellied woodpeckers like it too. I feed thistle seed and have had no issue with squirrels. The house sparrows either don't care for it or haven't figured out how to get the seed out of either the thistle socks or the plastic feeder with the small openings. The sparrows do however monopolize at times and empty the sunflower feeders, something that irritates me to no end amongst some of their other nasty habits. The goldfinches seem to prefer the socks but have taken a shine to the sceen type feeder I recently purchased. The wind tends to empty the socks if it's windy like it is today. The 'dees and house finches don't seem as fussy. I had to give up melting suet a few years back. Wife wasn't too keen on the smell or the mess so it's been cakes for a number of years. No squirrel problem with that for whatever reason.

[goose52]

i've been using metal feeders for years, where the bar they sit on drops down and covers the feed if anything heavy lands on it. ones over 10 years old and still working good. had to repair it once. did have one destroyed by deer though. i've always thrown feed, sunflowers and cracked corn on the ground, for the ground feeders and squirrels. i do shoot the red squirells and chipmonks. too destructive on my buildings.

[DonBo]

Quote:

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i've been using metal feeders for years, where the bar they sit on drops down and covers the feed if anything heavy lands on it. ones over 10 years old and still working good.

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I also use these types of feeders. Have one at the cabin that has been taken down dozens of times over the years by racoons and bears, but it still works great for keeping the squirels out. Would definetly buy another.

[sirfishalots]

I've had the best luck with a feeder called The Flipper by droll yankee, its kinda funny too. I have around 20 feeders up right now so I make every one happy the 15 deer, 12 pheasant, 34 turkey, rabbits, squirels, and of corse lots of birds around 200 a day with a high of 342 2 weeks ago. I go through 150 lbs. of bird seed a week.

[enclak]

I agree with those who have squirrel problems. I spent over $50 last year in constructing a deer feeder out of PVC. I read about PVC deer feeders on the Internet and thought "oh, that sounds fast and easy to do!" So I did it.

It took me about five hours to make the PVC deer feeder, drove to the property and filled it with whole corn, returned a week later and the squirrels completely chewed up the whole thing! That's the LAST time I ever build or buy a feeder out of plastic. Right now I'm in the process of building some birdhouses, maybe I'll make some bird feeders out of wood later on too.

Moral of my post:

If you live near squirrels (even one), DO NOT use PVC/plastic for ANY type of feeder, especially large capacity ones! Spend the extra time and money and use wood!

[MN Shutterbug]

Quote:

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I've had the best luck with a feeder called The Flipper by droll yankee, its kinda funny too. I have around 20 feeders up right now so I make every one happy the 15 deer, 12 pheasant, 34 turkey, rabbits, squirels, and of corse lots of birds around 200 a day with a high of 342 2 weeks ago. I go through 150 lbs. of bird seed a week.

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Wow, whereabouts do you live to be able to attract this much wildlife in the twin cities? I envy you.

[sirfishalots]

X-tackleman

I am lucky to live on ten acres north east of Elk River. I'm a big birdwatcher so every morning when I go out and fill the feeders there are lots of birds waiting. I do feed year round and that seems to help pull in more birds and animals. Once they find the food they know it will be there every day. I put out fresh water, berries, mealworms, crickets, and seed (peanuts(in the shell and shelled),greystripe sunflower, black oiler sunflower, safflower, thistle, canary seed, white millet, sunflower chips, whole corn, craked corn, oats, and popped popcorn) nearly every day.

[MN Shutterbug]

It sounds like they eat better than I do. It sounds like a photographer's paradise. I'd love to camp out in your backyard, for a day.

[Paul]

Squirells are very nasty in my neighborhood. Last fall they chewed a hole in the roof of my garage through the shingles and plywood to store nuts and apples in the soffit. Imanging my surprise when I crawled up in the rafters to get the x-mas decor and boom It was like a squirrel shopping mall up there, except it was closed no squirells, just lots of rotten food and nuts. (I had roof fixed this sring after hail storm, and we used extra valley tin over the bottom 6 feet.) I even had one in the live well of my boat, and much to his surprise the water on WHite Earth Lake was very very cold in November when I filled it up and he was inside.

[JayinMN]

I have a few different types, but this one is my favorite this year. I usually look for something not over priced and durable. I found this at wally world for ten bucks and the birds really love it. I bought one and ended up getting another one to hang with it. Seems almost indestructable too.

[MN Shutterbug]

Nice bif shot on that nuthatch, Jay. If you could have just isolated it a bit more and a bit closer, it would have been awesome. Oh, you were showing us a picture of the feeder?

[JayinMN]

Well, I had to spurce up the picture a little bit, ya know proof birds actually use it....