Squirrel Proof Feeder (1 Viewer)

My grandmother bought me a squirrel proof feeder for Christmas. It is a wide mesh wire cage around a finer mesh wire tube. The idea is the birds can perch on the wire cage and reach the food in the wire tube while the squirrels can't reach. I put the feeder up with a mixed food made up mostly of sunflower seed and cracked corn. The squirrels could not get to the food but it seems neither can the birds!! Or at least they dont' like this feeder.

I changed the food out a few days ago for a food made up of slightly larger pieces, mostly dried corn kernels, peanuts and sunflower seeds. The pieces are still small enough to fit through the mesh though. I don't know why the birds are avoiding this feeder. We've had alot of very cold weather and I would think if anything that woudl bring more birds into feeder stations. I still am getting nuthatches and chickadees at my suet feeder. If my birds don't start coming back I think I'll just have to go back to my old NON squirrel proof feeder (Never will forget the day a chipmunk got INSIDE the seed reservoir of the 'cabin' style feeder).

Sierra

I used to have a feeder that the squirrels learned how to push the lid open and they would sit inside with their heads and shoulders sticking out, calmly eating eating away and surveying the world. It always gave me a chuckle.
As far as your new feeder is concerned, it could be that the birds just have get used to it or it could be that it's intended to excluded some of the larger birds. I have a squirrel proof feeder that works on the weight of the bird (squirrel) and I've got it adjusted to excluded anything bigger than Grosbeaks. It's possible that Blue jays etc can't reach the feed.
It sounds as though you replaced one feeder with the other. My advice is to run both feeders, the new one and the hopper feeder. What did you have in the origianl feeder? If you put them fairly close together the birds should start moving back and forth between them. That way they will get used to the new style of feeder. If you see that going on, and you still want to that's when you could take down the original feeder.
Without seeing the feeder it's difficult but just make sure that your feed suites the kind of birds that you expect to attract. Kernal corn doesn't do much to attract anything except crows, pigeons and maybe jays. Cracked corn is much better. Whole peanuts won't attract finches or sparrows. Black-oil Sunflower seed does better than Gray-stripped.

Squirrels are bright.

I have a feeder outside a second story window. It's well below the roof. Yet, after a year a squirrel somehow got onto it. A running leap from part of the roof some distance away, then a scramble down the side of the house.

I once accidentally hired a squirrel guard. I left a small can full of sunflower seed near my main feeder. A squirrel would take over the can, but he would keep all other squirrels away from the can and the feeder. Birds could use the feeder, though.

I went shopping a few days ago and bought a squirrel feeder, a thistle sock and several types of food to try in the squirrel proof feeder. I emptied the critter food into the new squirrel feeder and tried the new feed in the squirrel proof feeder. THe squirrels have been a riot at the new feeder. The little reds will actually get entirely inside the hopper style feeder and sit eating sticking their heads up occasionally while the greys will sit inside propping the lid against their back and shoulders while they eat. Very amusing and well worth what I paid for watching.

The new feed in the other feeder appears to have helped some, I have at least gotten the chickadees and nuthatches back. Both of them had stayed at the suet feeder and now are using the squirrel proof as well. I've seen the cardinal eyeing the feeder but not actually approaching it yet. This one doesn't work on weight, it keeps the squirrels away from the food by a metal cage outside the tube feeder within. Really large birds wouldn't be able to use it since I am not sure they would be able to fit their heads and shoulders through the cage to reach the food within.

I would love to have my old feeder AND the new one up but I don't have many places to put a feeder, only sheperds hook style posts and I can't put up any more this time of year with the ground frozen solid. This summer I plan to put up two wooden poles and a board between them to hang multiple feeders from but for now I only have places to hang two feeders. The thistle sock feeder I have hanging off the edge of the deck and I plan on putting a bracket there as well to hang my old feeder from and in the summer probably a basket of flowering plants of the types to attract hummingbirds (I only run one feeder in the summer).

Sierra

I would love to have my old feeder AND the new one up but I don't have many places to put a feeder, only sheperds hook style posts and I can't put up any more this time of year with the ground frozen solid. This summer I plan to put up two wooden poles and a board between them to hang multiple feeders from but for now I only have places to hang two feeders. The thistle sock feeder I have hanging off the edge of the deck and I plan on putting a bracket there as well to hang my old feeder from and in the summer probably a basket of flowering plants of the types to attract hummingbirds (I only run one feeder in the summer).

Sierra[/QUOTE]
It sounds like you will have a nice setup next year. One of the neatest setups and most creative for hanging feeders that I've seen belongs to man that I know. He has taken a smallish uprooted tree that has been water worn in the ocean. He has turned it upside down and buried the top in the ground. He hangs several feeders from the roots. I know it sounds strange but it really looks great and it's really effective. Someday when i'm near his place, I'll get a picture to post. I'm also keeping my eyes peeled for a suitable driftwood tree so that I can do the same thing.