bird feeders plans | Wild Bird Feeders

How To Make Sure The Wild Bird Feeders You Buy Will Be The Right Bird Feeder For Your Garden

Having the right kind of wild bird feeder can often mean the difference between seeing a varied variety of bird activity to in some cases nothing at all.

First and foremost it is advisable not to use ornamental or bizarre bird feeders as these often look very attractive, but are not really very practical.

When choosing a material it is always better to use hard materials that are more robust such as metals and light alloys, these tend to survive quite well, even when being eaten from by wild parakeets or dropped to the ground by mischievous hungry squirrels. Bird feeders that are made of wood or plastic don't tend to last to well.

A bird feeder enemy such as the squirrel will make short work of a plastic or wooden bird feeder, which will leave more food on the floor for the rats rather than in the feeder for the birds. There are slide down mushroom cones that can be added to most suitable bird feeders, which will protect it from predators. Predators cannot hold onto the smooth cone shape, but also if they do manage to it actually slides down to protect the feeder.

Locating the bird feeder is also quite important,

if it is too low or close to a climbable surface such as a tree or fence the probability of a cat stalking birds visiting the feeder would be quite high.

Where possible a bird feeder should always be placed fairly high, using S hooks if need-be and with a bit of cover offering protection from flying raptor (Hawk) attack as well as keeping the contents of the bird feeder out of direct sunlight making them stay fresher for longer.

Sometimes it may be necessary or worthwhile to make-up a lifting tool for placing higher bird feeders onto the S hook. This can easily be achieved by using a sturdy pole or piece of wood with a U type hook fitted into the end.

It is always better to have two or even three bird feeders so as to offer a variety of foods such as nuts, seed, and suet shapes to the visiting birds. The type of seed obviously depends on the type of wild birds in that area.

A nice finishing touch to any bird filled garden is to offer somewhere for the birds to wash and drink by means of a bird bath, as well as a bird table to offer the birds the everyday tit-bits such as bread and maybe even some meal worms.