Your Favorite Feeders, Commercial and DIY (1 Viewer)

Since I'm already doing improvements and renovations on my parents' house in New York, I'm also making the backyard garden even more bird friendly by adding some evergreen shelter, feeders, water and winter roosts.

What are your favorite commercial and DIY feeders?

Primarily interested in feeding cardinals, thrushes, finches and similar sized birds.

The feeders will be suspended high off the ground between two very tall poles. I don't place a premium on squirrel-proof feeders, since I've seen every "squirrel-proof" feeder that's accessible to squirrels defeated by them.

I have a Squirrel Buster Plus and like it quite a bit. Well-made, holds a lot of seed so it doesn't have to be refilled so often. Easily comes apart (and easily goes back together) for cleaning. After numerous tries to get at it, the squirrels did eventually give up; they hang out underneath now, for the seed that birds drop. It has a ring perch, allowing cardinals to face each of the six seed ports -- they don't like having to eat sideways, as when on a stick perch. I fill it with shelled sunflower seeds, get finches non-stop and cardinals frequently during the day....among others.

Thumbs up on the Squirrel Buster products! I have the Squirrel Buster Plus and the Peanut Plus. I also have 2 Squirrel Buster Mini's that I hang out when activity gets really high.

Squirrel Buster products do work when used correctly by the user. When hung incorrectly, yes they can be defeated by the squirrels. I've yet to see one defeated by a squirrel when they are hung correctly. You cannot use shepards hooks, or have anything within 16 inches of the perch that the squirrel can grab onto and reach over and grab ahold. This is where a most of people fail with squirrel proof feeders. The entire weight of the squirrel must be on the feeder for it to work correctly.

I'd love to see a video of a Squirrel Buster product fail when used correctly. Theres video after video posted on Youtube of people saying they failed, and you can obviously see they dont have it hung correctly.

FYI: I'm only speaking of the Squirrel Buster products by Brome. The other brands I have no clue about. There is one called Wild Bills Electronic Squirrel Proof Feeder that I wanted to try if the Squirrel Buster feeders didnt work, but they did work and I've never looked back. I heard the Wild Bills feeder works well. It gives the squirrel a little static charge like when we drag our feet on the carpet and touch someone.

Heres a great example of a squirrel eating from an incorrectly hung feeder.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e1837iqvYmw&t=16s

Although this squirrel didnt eat this time, he or others will because its way too close to other objects.

https://youtu.be/1uNXWv70WNk

And another one . .

https://youtu.be/VkjiYtugCvw

If you dont have anything to hang it from that would help it perform to its full potential, they make a pole mount adapter for it. I cant find any videos where its hung correctly that it failed.

MeInDallas said:

Squirrel Buster products do work when used correctly [snip] cannot use shepards hooks

Click to expand...

We use shepherd hooks, with vaseline on the pole up to the height of the bottom of the feeder.