My excellent bird feeder ;)

Post by **thegawd** » Thu Dec 08, 2016 9:07 am

Kim I dont think a bird feeder would attract any more rodents than the poultry. just keep the feed locked up in a garbage can and all should be well. and also keep the feeder well away from your coop.

Ontario Chick · Post by **Ontario Chick** » Thu Dec 08, 2016 11:22 am

KimChick wrote:QR_BBPOST Looks good!
Hubby asked if I wanted a bird feeder. My response was: 1. There is nowhere suitable that it could be where I would be able to watch them while doing other things; 2. We have enough mice in the basement in the Fall; 3. We don't need to attract anymore small or large rodents near the house.
Which is really sad because I love watching wild birds, especially our winter birds.

thegawd wrote:QR_BBPOST Kim I dont think a bird feeder would attract any more rodents than the poultry. just keep the feed locked up in a garbage can and all should be well. and also keep the feeder well away from your coop.

Can't help you to find a suitable place, but on the rodent front I agree with Al.
We put out bird feeders up when the first snow flies, although the chickadees start knocking on the kitchen window in November, we wait until the bears a safely asleep, so they don't come calling.

There is definitely a mouse invasion in the cold storage every year when the apples go in there, but few well placed traps fix that in the hurry.
Never had mice or rats at the bird feeder, although squirrels are a pain, I can live with that and hope they will not be able to figure out my new Excellent bird feeder.
The only other uninvited guests are wild turkeys and occasional dear, but we are happy to oblige :)

ross · Post by **ross** » Thu Dec 08, 2016 11:37 am

Ontario Chick wrote:QR_BBPOST
windwalkingwolf wrote:QR_BBPOST That's awesome, OC! But what are you going to do with the skis?
I was thinking maybe build a sled? Perhaps the deer would be willing to pull, bring in some wood from the back?

Try this OC ....my last dog Rye

Ontario Chick · Post by **Ontario Chick** » Thu Dec 08, 2016 1:55 pm

Nice!
I tried it once, when we had a Samoyed, to see if he would pull me on skis, when he realized what was happening, he gave me one of those "you have got to be kidding me" look, sat down and absolutely refused to move until the harness came off.

kenya · Post by **kenya** » Thu Dec 08, 2016 2:33 pm

I'd love a bird feeder but I know from experience that the cats use it to pick off the birds so I won't put one up.Love yours though!
Ha! Ha! Ross I used to hook up my dogs to the sled and have them pull my niece's and nephews around, they still remember and talk about how fast they went. They were a bit scared because the dogs went so fast.

KimChick · Post by **KimChick** » Thu Dec 08, 2016 8:42 pm

Ontario Chick wrote:QR_BBPOST
KimChick wrote:QR_BBPOST Looks good!
Hubby asked if I wanted a bird feeder. My response was: 1. There is nowhere suitable that it could be where I would be able to watch them while doing other things; 2. We have enough mice in the basement in the Fall; 3. We don't need to attract anymore small or large rodents near the house.
Which is really sad because I love watching wild birds, especially our winter birds.

thegawd wrote:QR_BBPOST Kim I dont think a bird feeder would attract any more rodents than the poultry. just keep the feed locked up in a garbage can and all should be well. and also keep the feeder well away from your coop.

Can't help you to find a suitable place, but on the rodent front I agree with Al.
We put out bird feeders up when the first snow flies, although the chickadees start knocking on the kitchen window in November, we wait until the bears a safely asleep, so they don't come calling.
There is definitely a mouse invasion in the cold storage every year when the apples go in there, but few well placed traps fix that in the hurry.
Never had mice or rats at the bird feeder, although squirrels are a pain, I can live with that and hope they will not be able to figure out my new Excellent bird feeder.
The only other uninvited guests are wild turkeys and occasional dear, but we are happy to oblige :)
Turkeys under the bird feeder.jpg

Turkeys? Now that is tempting. If I had a window over the kitchen counter or even at the kitchen sink, I may not have given it a second thought. As it stands, no matter where a bird feeder is located, I would miss a lot of the activity and feathered friends if I am not purposely standing in front of a window looking at it. *sigh*

Ontario Chick · Post by **Ontario Chick** » Sat Dec 10, 2016 10:57 am

I actually don't worry too much if we can see the bird feeder from the house, the most important thing is to help the birds make it thru the winter and position the feeders so we can get to them to re-fill even when the snow gets deep, also far enough from the windows so the birds don't hit them. Over the years we have tried different bird feed and there was so much left on the ground which apparently nobody liked so we just feed the black sunflower seed now.
Being able to get it locally from WCG is just icing on the cake :)

ross · Post by **ross** » Sat Dec 10, 2016 11:26 am

Big thing bout feeding birds is to do what you did OC & don't feed the cheapest stuff that has cracked corn in it a waste as you've seen Few will eat & it falls on ground gets damp & mildew & salmonella in it spreads making birds sick or dead . Had a friend of mine awhile back who had salmonella in one coop close to wild bird feeders & not others . Traced to him walking from bird feeder to coop with decease on boots & stomped snow /seed off in first coop by time he walked thru barn to other coops his boots were basically cleaned of . Once changed routine things got better . Just a heads up from experience. Luck

Ontario Chick · Post by **Ontario Chick** » Mon Dec 12, 2016 11:39 am

I don't really consider myself a serious birdwatcher, but living in the country and taking time to observe, generally you acquire some knowledge purely by accident.

Came across this titbit in an article by our famous local birdwatcher, and now find myself counting the "dee's"
Apparently the large predators like a Great Grey Owl, elicit the Chick a dee dee sound....
Turnes out I count as a "large predator" :)
a medium size predator like a Coopers hawk and the call is dee dee dee
and a small roosting owl brings them to four.
An imminent danger brings the "seet" notes which makes it difficult to locate where the sound is coming from.
Who knew???

KimChick · Post by **KimChick** » Mon Dec 19, 2016 2:15 pm

Silly me!!! How could I forget!?!???
A good way to deter rodents from a wild bird feeder is with the same spice that helps keeps our chickies warm - cayenne pepper! I used this many years ago when we had a bird feeder in the city.
So what is husband doing right now? Setting up a place to hang a couple of finch feeders - one he just bought and one that came with our house.
This is so exciting!

..... not 2 finch feeders... one for finches and the other for chickadees and friends, with black oil seeds - a cylindrical wire feeder.