Bird Feeder poles

Wanting to put my feeders where I can see them better, avoid squirels, and save money, I decided to make my own poles. (The manufactured poles to hang feeders are NOT cheap!) My tube feeder has a screw hole on the bottom where a tray to catch spilled seeds would attach. I took it to Lowe's and found a copper plumbing fitting for it that screwed into the feeder part and would slide over copper pipe. So, I bought 2 lengths (they came in standard 5' sections, or larger) of that size pipe, and a copper joint connector. The entire copper assembly (3/4" hard copper pipe) will turn a wonderful verdigris eventually, looking good in my front garden.

Back home, I pounded one 5' pipe into the ground, which of course banged over the edge, but then I cut it off flush. Soldered the straight joint connector on the pipe, cut the other pipe in half and soldered the screw fitting to one end. Put the screw fitting into the bird feeder part, and attached it back to the feeder, and the other end just slips into the pipe in the ground. Now, I just lift the short top pipe, feeder and all, to refill it. The squirrels hang around the bottom of the feeder eating the spilled sunflower seeds but don't climb the pole, and there is no tree nearby from which the squirrels could jump.

It sways a tad in a stiff breeze since it is about 6-1/2 feet in the air to the bottom of the large tube feeder, but that doesn't bother the birds, and shows no signs of falling off. It has worked so well that today I am buying more fittings and pipe to post my other feeders (and use the half-length of pipe left over from the first one). I plan to use a 'tee' fitting at the top of one with a short horizontal pipe to hang my niger/thistle feed "socks".

I now have a lovely time watching the birds at the feeders just a few feet outside the living room picture windows!