House Sparrows and Feeders (1 Viewer)

I have two feeders that are about 25 yards apart and I put black sunflower seeds in both. In less that 24 hours, the house sparrows have emptied both, not by eating, but by kicking the seed out. Both of these feeders are fairly large, holding about 5lbs of seed. Is there anything I can do to keep them from emptying them so fast, other than not filling them back up? I would like to continue to feed the finches, sparrows, blue jays, chickadees, ... but these darn sparrows are about to make me nuts.

Tommy

I heard Safflower Seed helps keep undesirable birds away from your feeders. I’m not sure if it keeps house sparrows away or not? My parents use that and a mixture of SF seeds and never really have sparrows visit, but have tons of house finches.

I wouldn't count on safflower keeping House Sparrows away. They aren't a problem in my yard, but while I've never seen one on our sunflower feeder, the safflower feeder gets one every once in awhile.

I have heard about some of those "squirrel-proof" feeders combating House Sparrows because they like to show up all at once, so their combined weight closes the seed ports (obviously this only applies to some designs).

Other than that, you might be able to distract them with a millet feeder elsewhere in the yard, as they seem to prefer that over anything.

Thanks for the input. I have researched this a bit and think I may give the 'Halo' a try.

I use safflower in some of my feeders, and none of those feeders get touched by starlings, house sparrows, grackles, squirrels or chipmunks

You can also get a type of feeder made for black oil sunflower seed that is house sparrow proof (but, only chickadees, nuthatches, woodpeckers, titmice, house finches and goldfinches can use this feeder)

here is the link
http://www.duncraft.com/Duncraft-Super-Cling-a-Wing-Save-500-P144C27.aspx

Since the birds I mentioned above are the only ones that can use this feeder, I would still put up a feeder with...

Safflower to attract cardinals
Whole peanuts to attract jays

Hello, my first post here.

When it comes to the house sparrows, its always interesting. I've had the same issue, but only with certain feeders. The sparrows aren't doing anything other then intentionally emptying ALL the seed onto the ground. I just removed the particular feeders that tended to be a problem. I've basically removed any hopper type feeder, as those got emptied in an hour. I've basically got several tray feeders, because most birds seem to like them better, and the seed doesn't get spilled much. Also, I made them removable so I can dump the shells out, and minimize the mess.

Gotta learn to live with the sparrows, because they're a fact of life now, which is a whole topic on its own!

Zoogoer2000 - Packwatcher said:

I use safflower in some of my feeders, and none of those feeders get touched by starlings, house sparrows, grackles, squirrels or chipmunks

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Its funny that I've read that safflower keeps away starlings, house sparrows, grackles, and squirrels. Maybe its the lack of food sources in the city here, but all four of the above mentioned will eat safflower especially the grackles and the squirrels. Thankfully my new homemade baffle is baffling the squirrels now (but I can see it in their beady little conniving eyes, the squirrel gears turning the cogs of seed theft as they silently laugh at me, while figuring out how to get at the seed), but city birds...they eat anything I put out there.