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Weatherproof and Large Bird Proof feeder

Richard B
21/02/2016 00:49
This is a copy of a post I placed on another birding forum, I hope it may be of interest : I thought I would share with you details of the type of feeder with weatherproofing/large bird deterrent I have had in my garden for a while now as it may give some of you an idea for your own garden. Sorry it is a bit of an essay but I hope it is of use to some of you. Firstly I was fed up with seed etc becoming wet, especially suet pellets which when wet became like toothpaste in the feeder! Secondly I have quite a lot of Starlings in my area and they were totally crowding out the smaller birds and very quickly emptying my feeders. I looked on the internet for some kind of mesh/wire which I could then house a feeder in and I came across the following panels which are perfect for keeping out Starlings (though on a very rare occasion I have had a persistent young Starling make its way through), the size of the panel also means that when made into a square there is quite a space between the feeder and the side of the panel so Starlings even when they are sticking their heads through their long beaks cannot reach the feeder : http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/C-C-GUINEA-PIG-CAVY-LARGE-INDOOR-PLAY-PEN-CAGE-CUSTOM-BUILD-METAL-GRID-MESH-CUBE-/290842000716?var=&hash=item43b788bd4c:m:miyW3-4vcZ1ieWOxd_77ySw The next item I sourced was a feeder and I liked the look of the following as I could provide a varied mixture of feed in a small space housed in the mesh. One thing to be aware of though if you might consider buying one of these feeders is the following. I have over a period purchased more than one of these feeders and some are better build quality than others, the better ones have all 3 feeding tubes fixed to the base and the central threaded rod is fully adjustable up and down and the lid fits perfectly. The not so good ones have the seed tube only pushed onto the base and does seem a bit wobbly and the threaded rod is fixed solid (you will see later why this was an issue for me) and the lids do not match up very well with the tubes. The following link is just one seller of many offering this feeder, it is really pot luck if you get one of the better ones or not (you could always perhaps message the seller first and ask them to inspect the feeder) : http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Deluxe-3-in-1-Suet-Nuts-and-Feeds-Bird-Feeder-Seeds-by-Kingfisher-/281912798088?hash=item41a34feb88:g:o68AAOSwEetV-sOk Now on to the weatherproof issue, I wanted to have something over the top of the feeder which was large enough to keep the rain off but still let light through. Whilst going through the process of making this feeder I did take note of how rain tends to fall at an angle in average wind conditions and for a cover to be effective a larger disc than you may imagine is needed and I sourced the following in the 600mm x 4mm option : http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/PERSPEX-DISCS-ACRYLIC-ROUND-CLEAR-TRANSPARENT-2MM-3MM-4MM-5MM-CIRCLES-/271370665263?var=&hash=item84d31f6729 You will see from the picture that I have mounted the cube on a bird table and the wooden squares underneath the feeder are screwed to the table and they fix the cube in place. The wooden squares make the top of the feeder lid level with the top of the mesh panel. The perspex disc is then placed on top (I asked the ebay seller to drill a hole for me which they gladly did free of charge) and the threaded rod of the feeder sticks out the top and then the feeder cap is screwed on to the rod and holds the disc and feeder lid in place. As mentioned earlier, the issue with the feeders made with a fixed solid threaded rod is that there is not enough of the rod sticking out from the top of the disc when it is placed on top (because of the extra 4mm) and the cap will not fix on to the rod, the ones with the fully adjustable rod are able to be unscrewed so that it is still screwed into the base and the extra bit is sticking out the top (hope that made sense!) For my design the feeder needs to be fixed solidly to the wood, this is easily done by drilling 3 small holes periodically on the round base of the feeder and then screwing it down on to the wood. I can honestly say I am really pleased with how the feeder performs. There was an initial reluctance by the birds to going under the disc but once they found out it was safe they are very happy! The disc keeps everything dry, and also the birds love having somewhere dry whilst feeding. Thanks for reading!!
  • 0 21/02/2016 01:18

    Hello Richard,  thank you for sharing your feeder information and guardian cage, seems you came up with some good ideas there and it is working well for you.   I also use guardian cages to keep the larger birds out and also the grey squirrels in our case !    I have seen these triple feeders before but often wondered how easy they are to dismantle for cleaning  ?    I tend to remove feeders every two to three weeks (depending on how gunged up they get with the wet weather) and completely dismantle them in order to clean them.    If the three tubes are fused together this would be dificult for me to do.      Well done on your ingenuity and for taking the time to post up all the helpful information.   

    post edit:   our grey squirrels would be able to get inside that cage - they are like mice when it comes to squeezing through cages !    For the top of our guardian cage I use a piece of thick rubber pond liner which has metal rods running through two ends which keeps it weighted down in windy conditions.    Pond liner is just cut to fit the size and shape of guardian as we also have a pitched roof type.  

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    Regards, Hazel 

  • 0 21/02/2016 01:35 in reply to HAZY

    Hi Hazel, many thanks for your reply. The tubes are all fixed to the base (other than some versions of the feeder where the seed tube is not fixed) and if this type of feeder were to be used in exposed situations where rain etc is able to get to the feeder I guess the ideal way to clean them is with a long tubular brush. I really do not have an issue with any feed becoming mouldy and the feeder becoming gunked up as the sparrows, blue tits, robins etc clear the mesh tube which I fill with suet pellets daily, the sunflower hearts in the seed tube are usually cleared within a few days and the fat balls usually cleared within a couple of weeks and because of the rain cover the feeder stays dry, it really makes feeding the birds even more of a pleasure.

    p.s Nice pics on your Fickr page!
  • 0 21/02/2016 02:11 in reply to Richard B

    Hi Richard,  the tubular brushes are good tools for the inside of the feeders and like you I try avoid any build up of damp seeds turning mouldy which is so harmful to birds.    Looks like your feeder set up is proving really popular with the birds and by keeping the feeder tubes dry it helps not just the birds but also expensive food from becoming spoiled.      I often wonder why guardian cages don't come with an option to buy a rain cover for them;   perhaps I should start a business for pond liner and perspex roofs   !!!     enjoy your lovely bird visitors and thanks again for taking the effort to post up all the helpful info.   

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    Regards, Hazel