New to bird feeding

Any suggestions you guys can give me. I live in upstate NY. I assume I am going to attract different birds in the summer than in the winter, yes?? What about squirrels, do you guys put out food for them to keep them away from the feeders? Will that idea work? They are cute and need to eat too! I would like a hummingbird feeder. I was thinking that it is getting kind of late in the season to attract them and maybe wait until spring to buy one and put it out. Considering where I live what kinds of seed should I buy. I have read that the mixed seed is a waste because not many birds eat the millet that is in it. So many questions. Thanks in advance for your help and patience.

I have eight squirrels that hang out in my yard. I feed in feeders and pile up feed in a few more places. My squirrels tend to eat where it is easiest to get feed. There are birds that eat the millet. It is best to buy a variety of feed. Cheap for spreading on the ground(some birds are ground feeders) or in tray or platform feeders. Put the better in hanging feeders. Have more than one kind of hanging feeder. One for thistle and/or chips, one for nuts and one for a mixture for larger birds. I don't know about hummers where you live but our best hummer season has best begun here. If you put out a hummer feeder now you may get some migrating hummers from other areas. I mostly use homemade tray feeders so I can mount some branches on them to get more natural photos.

Hi doitras, I'm a bit opposite from Frank (fchisolm), I do not feed the squirrels at all but they get plenty of food from what the birds drop at the feeders. I have way more than 8 squirrels though. Theres a lot of natural food for them around.

My feeders are on a pole system with a baffle so they won't destroy any more feeders ( I've lost a lot of feeders to squirrels in the past). I have out peanut silos w/ peanut halves in them which is a huge draw no matter where you live, small and large birds alike flock to that feeder. I also put out thistle feeders. Sunflower chips in another and Safflower seeds in another or you can mix these last two.
Suet feeders also/ No Melt suet in the summer, woodpeckers and others love the suet.
I do not believe that feeding the squirrels will keep them from your bird feeders but since everyone has different experiences then give it a try and see how it works.

I have a good amount of Hummingbirds here and they do use the feeders but the thing that brought them in initially were vines I had out called Orange Trumpetvines. Since then I've added more plants they like. I love the Hummingbirds.

I am not a big fan of millet and it is not in any of my feeders but occasionally I'll buy a small bag of the very cheap seed that contains millet and sprinkle some on the ground close to the house to bring smaller birds in for good photo oppurtunities.
There are plenty of mixes that don't contain millet. Most Nut n Berry mixes don't have it.
Let us know what you wind up with. :-)

Pelletory what I didn't know is the squirrels will destroy feeders!! Good thing to know. I see you live in NJ, are you still getting hummingbirds? I am furter north than you so I am guessing that you will have them longer than I would. I am going to get some suet for sure and will let you know about the other seed. Right now we have mixed seed to get started. We have "barrowed" feeders until we decide which ones we want. Probably next weekend we will buy 1 to start, something for thistle I think, and add on from there. Feeders can be quite expensive!! Will use the feeders we barrowed from my mother-in-law until we get a few of our own established. I love the birds and am hoping they will help with the mosquito population next summer. I can see I am going to be picking your brains on this for a while!! ;)

Yes just took some pics of some Hummers a few minutes ago.

The squirrel lesson was a hard one for me to learn (call me slow), they destroyed a close to $200 in feeders here. They even tried to destroy one of my Hummingbird feeders but luckily it was a Yankee Droll that was guaranteed and I was able to get the replacement parts for free.

My first real squirrel proof feeder was a Squirrell Buster Plus, very expensive but it can be hung even in trees. 100% guaranteed. There are other feeders that are supposed to be squirrel proof that people like and are less expensive but your going to have to get a lot of opinions.

When you look at thistle feeders try to find one that also has the option of opening from the bottom for easier cleaning. Water can get in and ruin the seed at the bottom. Thistle seed goes bad pretty fast, try to buy it from a store that has a lot of business. Good Luck :-)

Good advice!! Thanks! Maybe I'll try a agway store for seed? We also have a store locally called backyard birds. Will look there.

LOL, sorry although I've heard of them I'm not familiar with agway.

I too had so many feeders destroyed by squirrels. Because all my feeders are on brackets hanging around two sides of my large deck, at tree height, with woods coming right up to the deck, it is really hard to protect the feeders from the squirrels. They ate many wood feeders, anything plastic, and even the plastic guarded by metal shields, around the feed holes, on tube feeders. They, also, knock feeders down, even ones that contain feeds they really aren't interested once they get them down. Most of my feeders are primarily metal, now.

They will find a way to get to just about anything. I keep out one corn log ("Sweet Corn Squirrelog", "1 ..log replaces 12-24 ears of corn", I get them at Home Depot or Walmart. Lowes may have them. NO MESS as with corn.) amongst the bird feeders, and scatter cheaper seed and critter food (sunflower, corn kernels, peanuts in shell) over one edge of the deck. This does keep the squirrels from constantly molesting the bird feeders. When the log is eaten up, usually daily (the crows help too), the squirrels spend more time working on the other feeders. My signal that log roll needs replacing is a squirrel in the millet feeder that has two baffles over it, hanging down from a tree limb, toward middle of deck. Once I get another corn log up and critter food and seed over the deck they pretty much leave the feeders alone. But not entirely. It's usually the younger squirrels who molest the feeders until they learn that there's much easier food to be had.

The one food squirrels won't touch, and therefore leave those feeder alone, is safflower seeds. The cardinals, finches (all), Mourning Doves, titmouse, chickadees spend most of their time at the four safflower feeders. I go through about 25 lbs of safflower a week.

Have fun. BTW... people who come over here, especially ones who live close by, who are interested in plants and gardening, find it hard to believe that my plants are so relatively untouched by bugs (except for the Brugs that get Neem) because I rarely use any insecticides (chemical or natural). The birds really do help.

Here's a link to show you what the "Squirrelogs" look like. They are cheaper at WM and HD. You can do a Google search "sweet corn squirrelog".

http://www.suetstore.com/32ozswcosq.html


gg=alice

This message was edited Aug 13, 2007 11:10 AM

good info - and I've just been sticking with sunflower seeds, as mixed seed had lots of "stuff" growing in my garden - probably still yankin stuff that started back then....

do you think I can sneak in a few more feeders? My DH although he likes birds - thinks the squirrels bother the dogs, and says he can tell when I fill them as the dogs bark moe....

I've found the best way to sneak more in is to do it over time. My DH doesn't pay much attention to what feeders I have. He knows by now that it doesn't help much to tell me to not do something. But he is one of the very few people who will follow my directions about only taking one down at a time to fill and putting it back up in the same place AND only using the feed that is supposed to go into that feeder. (How hard is that to understand???? Especially when it is in written directions??!!??!!) It's taken me years to arrange the feeders so they are in the very best spots for viewing and keeping squirrel damage to minimum!!!!

Don't know about the dogs. I have 5 GIANT and large dogs who come and go, at will, out the door leading to deck. They don't pay much attention to the squirrels or the birds, thank goodness (there are so many and so much squirrel commotion going on all the time), except for Hilda Rottie, my "ratter", who will catch them and/or at least de-tail them. But my dogs don't bark at them. I stopped scattering seed and squirrel food on the deck early last year when she de-tailed two squirrels, now called Nada and Stubby, who I saw all last year but I haven't seen around the deck this year.

Try some safflower seed. The squirrels learn really fast that they don't like it. They stay totally away from my feeders with safflower. Two of the feeder are large diameter, wire, feeders, with metal top and bottom tray. Two are open, plastic, tray feeders, with covering over them. Before I discovered safflower I did put sunflower in all. The squirrels took a couple of munches out of the plastic trays even though the seeds were so easy to get too. They haven't bothered them since then as long as only safflower is in them. BTW... I don't fill the trays up all the way; just cover the bottom and a little more. Every other day or so I tump them out and refill; keeps down any mold when it is rainy or humid.

I'm not sure what to do about seeds sprouting. It's so wild out here it doesn't make much difference, the feeders are far away from any plantings (except for a few containers on deck), and what sprouts around deck edges, or in the one container near feeders, is so shaded hardly anything will continue to grow. I do let the sunflowers grow anywhere they do come up around the property but most of the sunny areas are pretty much mowed weekly; rest too shady for sprouts maturing.

gg=alice

the sunflowers here and there are an extra bonus! especially with the goldfinches.
thanks for the tips.
I only have 3 feeders up, but will look for more. Do I need a special one for peanuts? I imagine something with bigger openings?

Yes debilu you need a Peanut Silo like this one.

does the woodpecker come with it?
it looks like you have more than just peanuts in there - but you may have already said that

This is an old pic. I used to mix the peanut halves with other things but now just use peanut halves.

No he doesn't come w/ it but he should come for it once you have one. :-)

dpoitras... welcome to birdfeeding! It's addicting, especially when you start picking and choosing favorites and offer feeders and seed based on what you want to draw to your yard.
Yes indeed, squirrels can and will do a number on your feeders. I didn't realize the little buggers HAVE to grind their teeth every day (learned that via communique from Birds and Blooms magazine story on pesky squirrels.) Sadly, it seems they grind 'em on my feeders.
Certainly, you can spend a little money on cheap plastic feeders, but a few times of buying a new cheapie finch feeder after the tree rats chewed through the plastic hanger, and I bought a metal one that they can't bust through.
At first, I thought $25 a pop for the Mandarin Squirrel Baffler was steep... but when I added up all I'd save in bird seed if I could keep the little critters off my bird feeders, the money was worth it. Now I have three of them, one over a suet cake feeder that's a feeder with a paddle tail prop on it for woodpeckers, one over a silo feeder with peanuts and one over a hummingbird feeder (I move this one around, depending on what feeder needs to be "squirrel proofed) because right now, the hummingbirds are out en masse and I can't be out there refilling the feeder everytime the stupid squirrels come drain the feeder .... my squirrels apparently have a sweet tooth... they love sugar water.
People can be divided into two segments... those who love squirrels and those who think they're rodents... you can tell which category I'm in!


This message was edited Aug 13, 2007 5:22 PM

I'm sure some of you have heard the awful nightmares of folks who had squirrels actually get into their house causing thousands of dollars in damage.

Could this darling face really be bad?

The cute ones are always the worst, fchisolm. Those are the ones you gotta watch out for!

But they are so photogenic.

Judy...that is what my mother always told me about girls.

So is Paris Hilton... and look what trouble she causes. Nope... you'll not sway me to your "squirrel lovin'" ways... I'm sticking to my guns... guns... now THERE'S an idea!

ROTFLMBO at you guys.

Yea their just Tree Rats.

I stopped using guns when I got my first good camera. At least now I get a picture of a part of what got away.

aka Tree Monkeys :)

I am certainly going to check into metal feeders!! This thread has proven to be VERY educational!! What about chipmonks? Are they as bad as squirrels??

Not at all, they stay on the ground. They are adorable.

The problem is how do you feed one and not the other??

Well, you really can't do much about Chipmunks but at least they don't eat as much as squirrels and are not destructive to feeders.

no I mean how do you feed the cute chipmunks (ooops I spelled it wrong before) and not the squirrels...

As long as the squirrels are just eating the food that drops on the ground thats fine but its when their able to have access to the feeders is when the problems start.

When you have a pole w/ baffle system you can buy all the cheap feeders you want because the squirrels can't climb the pole. Of course it can't be right next to a tree either or the squirrels could jump from the tree onto the feeders.

It just depends on what you want. The pole/ baffle system is really nice becuse then you can have several feeders up that are all protected by the baffle.

debilu, I only take down one feeder at a time and then put it back up because I'll get them mixed up and put back in the wrong place if I don't, especially if in haste. This is especially important when someone else is (very rarely) doing it for me.

I have them all arranged just so I can see them all from where I sit on the deck, from the kitchen window, and from the dining room window. They are different types and sizes many with clear domes over them. If they are not hung just right and in their own spots and their particular brackets, some will be hidden from view from one or more angles.

Also, some can be hanging a little over the deck; those that aren't as messy and/or have as many birds flocking to them which equals less mess and poop to clean off the deck. Others are better hanging out over the woods for the same reasons.

Also, some are much more attractive to the squirrels (the feed and ease of getting the seeds out). Those are put on very long, heavy brackets that hang up and out over the edges of railings by about 3 feet on the end railing where the trees aren't as numerous (jumping squirrels from limbs). It's harder for the squirrels to get to them. The feeders that are on the side railing have to either be unattractive to the squirrels or harder for them to get into because the trees are right up to the railing.

Virtually all of my feeders, varies between 12-20, not including the hummer feeders, are handing from various brackets around two edges of a 30ft X 30ft deck right off my dining room and kitchen. BTW.... I've collected feeders over many years so the cost is spread out. One small acrylic open "bowl" feeder with dome and another larger, clear acrylic squirrel dome over that is hanging from a limb about 8 ft into deck area. It is filled mostly with millet for the Painted Buntings but others visit it too. And one suet feeder is hanging from a limb, in similar fashion, with dome over it. All of my domes are clear, UV treated. The squirrels can get to both if they want and do knock them down but they don't bother them too much.

Yesterday afternoon I put a smallish metal "bowl", meant to be a bird bath, on a cedar stool towards the corner of deck. I treated the mixed seed very well with the pepper squirrel deterrent. We'll see what happens. In the past the squirrels weren't deterred much with that stuff but I don't think I ever used enough.

All of the bottle type hummer feeders are hanging from the eaves. Otherwise the squirrels eat the bee guards and flared flowers at the ports. For some reason the squirrels haven't eaten the "flying saucer" bowl type (Zingers??) so they can be put in other places. I have clear domes over them to help keep the rain out.

So there are many reasons for taking one down, filling it, and putting it back in its right place, as you can see.

I want to correct something in an earlier post in this thread. The amount of time a corn roll last varies. Sometimes I may go through only two a week. Yesterday and the day before the squirrels were noticeably few in number. Same for Crows, so the log I put up day before yesterday is only 1/4 eaten. I think the squirrels are busy having babies right now as I had one very pregnant girl on the deck today.

I saw my first Downey for the whole summer yesterday. Saw some in late spring but not since. He visited the trees but didn't come down to the suet. Saw a monarch looking butterfly on the butterfly weed yesterday. First one I've spotted this year. I don't have many here but have lots of others. Every fall we have one day when the Monarchs are migrating and there are thousands for that one day. It is a real thrill to sit outside amongst them.

gg=alice

fchisholm - you should always listen to your mother! and as for those squirrels- I planted crocus by the hundred in my lawn in UK so that come spring it would be covered in flowers - HA next morning I had holes everywhere and fat squirrels sitting on the fence waiting for desert - these were not English red squirrels but imported American gray. Here I get a raccoon trying to eat the seeds I leave for the birds - I haven't yet trained the birds to sit still long enough for me to take pictures like you all do.

My squirrels plant as much as they dig. I brought some extra big acorns home for
them last fall and they proceeded to plant them all over the bed where I had just planted beets. They must have used surveyer tools because they were all planted in nice straight rows each way. I still have oaks that try to come up.

seemamma, I read, on another forum, that shaved Irish Spring soap in the beds helps to deter the mammals digging up and/or eating bulbs. I used it last year in some lily containers and didn't have any problems with eaten bulbs. It either worked or the critters don't like those bulbs.

Frank, I have lots of baby oaks everywhere that doesn't get mowed including many in containers. Last year and the year before they were especially numerous due to the trees producing more acorns from the stress of the record two year drought. I just don't have the heart to pull them out of the containers. Some are 3-4 years old, healthy, but somewhat stunted from roots being contained.

I'm now in the process of letting the forest reclaim 1/2 of the front yard. I'm going to plant some of those buggers down there (they are native oaks), water them, hope that some survive, and then let the fittest fight it out.

Some of the woods around here have Eastern Dogwoods that have adapted to our conditions; extremely rare this far west and on our alkaline soil; hence the name "Dogwood Canyon" for the newly acquired Audubon lands all around us. We have lots of native Rough Leaf Dogwoods, but I haven't seen any Eastern ones on my property that I can get on to easily. I'm making it a goal to locate one or more babies in my woods this fall to see if I can get them to grow in my "reclaimed" area and in the "front 40", mostly old woods (a little less than an acre), between the three houses back here.

I've always missed the Dogwoods, that lined a mile of main street in my home town, in Kentucky. They do grow in East Texas but I had never heard of them growing here until I was reading about Audubon's "Dogwood Canyon".

gg=alice

Your Oaks are different to the ones I am used to, but I like growing from seed, so I have planted Yellow Tababouia, and Red African Tulip Trees which are coming along fine, I also have my 1st Brug in bloom from seed - supposed to be tangerine colour but is a bit creamy. Fortunately I have not seen any squirrrels here, but the flowers and birds are just amazing, and so colourful so keep posting the pictures for me to see. I do have cardinals, blue jays etc. a lot and I have my bird books to find out what I am looking at!

Hello everyone - I am new to the Bird Watching forums - had a little time and decided to check it out...love it so far :-D - I am normally on the Garden Forum especially the daylilies

I have a "bird" tree and my other feeders I had in the trees. And I have Squirrels & chipmucks stealing and breaking feeders. But I do love my "bird" tree. I was a beautiful plum tree that we dug up and moved to my new place about 5 years ago... it only survive for a little while and now it have 'gone to the birds'... lol

I don't mind the gray squirrel but the red squirrels I could do without. I have a corn feeder (one of those that you put the 3 cobs of corn on and the corn can be gone in the matter of a couple days if not less. Also they have taken a couple of the screw and the cob of corn with them. I do get irritated with them but they are so cute!!

About the chipmucks... they are terrible by me - they can get right into some of my feeders. My dog loves to chase after them. They dig holes in my flower bed and bury the sunflower seed anywhere and everywhere. I could have thousands of sunflowers growing around but I pull them out. I have just made a chipmuck trap that someone told me about... will see if it works - then I will take them far far away and let them go.... or maybe I will let the dog 'play' with a couple of them... lol

I was feeding with just Black Oil Sunflower Seeds but I have put out some Mixed Berrys & Nuts and some Wild Feed and of course have to haves for me are the suet - hummingbird food (sugar water) & grape jelly & sometimes oranges - there are a lot of birds that love that. Birds that visit that I can identify are Blue Jays, Cardinals, Finches, Chickadees, Downey Woodpeckers, Red Bellied Woodpecker, Orioles, Morning Doves, Ruby-throated Hummingbird, Wrens, Warblers, Red-winged Blackbirds, Grosbeak, Finches, & I am sure I didn't get them all. Robins are also always running around my lawn. I have also been so happy when I see a Indigo Bunting a couple times a year.

dpoitras - good luck! You will love it! They so fun to enjoy!

heyitsmejudy - love that... I would like to stick to my guns also with them ;-)

Also very true the cuter they are the more mischievous they can be!!

~Kim

My wrens .. earlier this spring/summer one would come on my porch where I could see the wren from my computer out my back door and just sing away to me. I have a picture but my camera is not for photographing birds... need to get a new one for that! Takes other pictures great but my birds don't stay around long enough for me to run and get the camera and take a picture.. lol - and another wren family built a nest in my gas grill... so now that became a bird house... lol

A picture of the wren singing to me... see camera is not good for long shots of small beautiful birds - can you see the wren on the chair... lol

Here is the nest in my grill

Also have had a couple Ducks - (Mallards I think) at my feeders

Squirrels.........

Well I purchased some more of the capsin pepper "squirrel away" hoping that maybe it had been improved. I used a whole package on 20 lbs of mixed seed (mostly BOSS and striped but several others including cracked corn) and coated everything well. It's not "drawing" the squirrels in but two young ones are really enjoying the newly available seed mix.

Then I put "shake away" crystals (fox urine) on the stool where I just put an open feeder. It's not deterring at least one youngster. The birds, though, are really enjoying the new mixes.

We had a major attack of woods rats on three autos two winters ago; 10K damage. We have taken all kinds of measures to protect the cars except for building a very sealed garage. We park the cars as far away from the woods, wood piles and wood chip piles, as possible in winter, and put bags of used cat litter and moth balls, and fox crystals scattered around and under the cars, and keep the engine and wiring we can get to sprayed with 409..... No damage this past winter.

So I thought maybe the fox urine crystals would help some around the feeders. We'll see.

A couple of summers ago I used little bags filled with mixed predator hair and dander hanging from some feeders. That didn't work.

Here's a link for the ShakeAway:

https://www.critter-repellent.com/mm5/merchant.mvc?Screen=CTGY&Category_Code=SQUIRREL

I'm going to order some of the packs (pouches) to see if they help any.

gg=alice