How do you keep your seed from getting wet in the rain

How do you keep your seed from spoiling in the rain? Do you bring in your feeders when you know it is suppose to rain?

Hi dpoitras! Most of my seed feeders are in closed feeders. The only ones that are exposed are the Peanut Silos which I check on regularly.

Just depends on the style of your feeder; regular cleanings and checkups after rain especially are needed. Many times you have to empty the feeder and scrape out the seeds from the bottom after a heavy rain (even when the feeder has drainage holes).

Obviously their are going to be times when pop up showers are going to happen so if your going to bring in your feeders you might not know it ahead of time.

I personally do not bring in feeders when it rains but when I put out my Cottage Style feeder and it rains then it becomes more work for me as I have to be more diligent in cleaning them.
Hope I've answered your question. :-) Pelle

LOL, Your post reminded me that I saw some condensation on the top inside parts of the tube style Thistle feeders I have out; so I went out and dried them off with a paper towel and filled them back up to the top. Yes lots to consider with differnt style feeders. :-) Pelle

I just hate to see the seed go to waste with so many hungry little fellows to feed!! Thanks for your post. I will just keep scraping out the wet seed. Which smells YUCKY no wonder they don't want to eat it!!

well, I just picked up a mesh thistle feeder, and after last nights wind and rain its a mess. Didn't think about that before. oh well, there's always something to learn

Thats the truth debilu! I'm sorry that happened. When you told me what type you had gotten in your D mail it was the first thing I thought of (rain) but didn't want to say anything.

Could you possibly return it to the store? Pelle

It wasn't expensive so no biggy - I get to go shopping again. Maybe I can use it for something else. I could put a battery operated candle in it for a little lantern.
I may tell the store owner though, maybe to discourage them selling them. Its a local garden center.

The other thing I learned is that switching to safflower in my furthest feeder has encouraged the squirrels to come in closer to a another feeder. So I think I'll switch back to sunflower out there and hope the squirrels switch back too.

Thanks to everyone here, because if it wasn't for all I've already learned from you, I wouldn't have the birds I have.

That would be a good idea to tell them Deb.

Oh I know about switching the feeders and seeds all around,lol. Right now my thistle feeders are the closest to the house (the squirrels don't bother them).

I even pay attention to which seeds from what stores are most popular w/ the birds (this includes suet).

I guess it sounds silly but since I have the choice of several different stores and different name products I just want the most bang for my buck. Pelle

I just keep an eye on the feeders and check them after the rain. Sometimes I dump them if they are too wet and start with fresh seed. Also, I tried safflower seed for the past few weeks. It attracted tons o mourning doves I dont think I will buy it again. I will stick with tried and true BOSS, thistle, nut and berry and good ole peanuts in the shell! :)

Again its so funny how we all have different experiences. My Mourning Doves will hang under any feeder no matter what the seed is. I usually have 3 or 4 under my thistle feeders. :-)

I always had one or two hanging around. But with the safflower seed its been up to almost 20! Too many! :)

That is too many! I think I probably have 10 a day here.

Does attaching domes over your feeders help with the elements? If it does, then I would buy one for every feeder and stop cringing every time it rains.

It's raining cats & dogs here right now, and I'm looking at my suet basket that will probably need to be changed. (It's a homemade mix) I'm definately considering a dome over that one, that is if they work well for this purpose!

To a certain extent, It helps until you get those winds that push the rain sideways.

I guess there's not much you can do when that wind starts blowing!

This summer I bought a feeder at Lowes. Got it filled up and put it out and even the small birds could not get the smallest seeds out of the darn thing. The portholes were just to small. I took it back and mentioned that I thought is was very poorly designed to the clerk. Figured there is nothing they could really dobut at least expressed my opinion to somebody. Wish I would have thought to contact the company that made it.....

What did the ports look like nanny???

Was it a tube feeder?

No not a tube feeder. The were shaped like most are on any type of hanging feeder, a sort of half circle shape....hmmm.... it had 2 levels that sort of stacked on top of one another so you could put different seeds in each part if you wanted. It was real pretty though, copper which would have gotten a nice patina......

Anyhoo, even the small birds didn't like it, so back it went.

I just bought this new feeder today. It's called All Weather Bird Feeder. It is supposed to keep the seed completely dry even in driving rain or snow. It's very well sealed, and the seed dispenses from a circular rim above the perch so that even horizontally driven rain won't get into the seed. The perch/tray also helps to catch hulls.

I hung it out just 1/2 hour ago, and the birds are already figuring out that they have to pull the seed from above their heads. As far as I can tell, this feeder looks well built and pretty inovative. I guess we'll see if it lives up to its "all weather" name.

You can also buy an optional squirrel cage that fits around the base to make the feeder small bird selective, keeping out squirrels and grackles/starlings. If I like this feeder, I'll be ordering the cage pronto!

Here's a link to a cell phone picture of my feeder from last winter, it's pretty much storm proof:

http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/p.php?pid=3073522

The old "droll yankee" brand feeders are good in bad weather. I had one for almost twenty years and it's probably still in use (somebody else has it now)

Lady_Eagle where did you get that?? Please let us know how you like it through the season.

Those Sky Cafe's look pretty good, too, claypa!

nanny, I got this feeder from Peavey Mart. I've seen them alot online, but I never thought I'd see them locally. I was pretty thrilled! We'll see now how it performs.