Feeders

We just filled the feeders in the rain. Now that is a bird lover. It wasn't pouring but still raining.  Oh the birds are so happy. They are flying all over the place like they just got something special to eat. I guess even birds think a full plate looks better then a half plate.

I have 10 feeders. Some are summer feeders but most are winter feeders and some are all year round feeders.

Some look like a house type feeder and some are platform feeders, some are tube type feeders, some suet feeders that look like a small cage. Most are wood but a few are plastic. And one a net bag. I once bought a copper feeder that was expensive. It was $35.00 and only lasted a year. The copper all rusted and it didn't hold up. I went back to the cheaper types. They seem to last for several years.

a platform type

Some of the feeders hang in trees, some are on a pole and some hang from shepherd hooks and some hang from the roof on wire. I have from time to time turned onion bags into feeders.

Tube type feeder

Then there are the Hummingbird feeders. I have two. One hangs from the house and one in a tree. The trouble with the one hanging in the tree is it is always full of ants. The ants get inside and drown in their own sugar fix. The one hanging from the roof attracts bees. I once watched the bees chase the Hummingbirds away all afternoon. I have one feeder that looks like this red one and another that looks like a light house. This is the one that the ants get in and drown.

This is the Lighthouse feeder I have

I have made nature feeders too. Taken pine cones and rubbed peanut butter and seed all over them. Birds like those. I hang them from tree branches. I also nail a half of an orange to a tree trunk. Citrus attracts Orioles for one. We have a lot of Baltimore Orioles in the Spring and Summer.

Male Baltimore Oriole

One of my feeders is both a seed feeder with a suet holder on both ends

A plastic type feeder

 The copper type I had that I spent alot of money on and didn't last at all. All the copper rusted.

I have a couple separate suet feeders. By that I mean not attached to another seed feeder.

You have to wire the top shut to keep animals and Hawks from running off with the suet cake.


Hanging from shepherd hooks

My husband has modified several of the feeders to try to keep the squirrels out. The platform feeders are up on a metal pole with squirrel baffles. Others hang by a wire.  Some by hooks. It is worthless to but a a feeder in a tree unless you don't mind the cost of buying huge amounts of seeds and refilling 2x a day. Animals love seed too.

How the baffles work.

However squirrels are rascals. They can think of many clever ways to get into a feeder. I have seen some jump over the baffle and also climb metal. How they did this I have no idea.  But I was very upset when I saw that squirrel in the feeder.

 I have a log feeder given to me by a friend. It is packed away for the winter now so I can't take a picture.

Net bags make good thistle seed feeders. I know my finches love them

And onion bags make good feeders

 There are so many ways to feed the birds. From planting trees or bushes that produce some kind of seed or berry to home made feeders, to fancy bought ones, to very simple to just spreading seed on the ground.  You feed them they will come.