Feeding Blackbirds

Hi,

I have seen in my local garden centre an iron dome that looks like an upside-down hanging basket only a bit bigger. I would suggest blackbirds could fit in and not pigeons. I will see if i can find a link on the net and post it.

Regards

Sarah 

Hi Alison

Welcome to the Community from me too. :-)

There are Guardians that you can put around ground feeders, that would stop pigeons getting in, but it's sometimes difficult to know the mesh size without seeing it first. The link shows one that is adjustable, but there is also a ground feeder Guardian

I would ring and ask if it will allow a blackbird in before ordering one.

The other thing is that a blackbird might be too frightened to go into a Guardian anyway.

I scare off the pigeons when the numbers get up to 5 or more. I also find that blackbirds feed earlier than pigeons, so if you put out food just before it gets light the blackbirds should get a look in. They like fruit so I put out raisins and grapes when I have some.

Hi - the blackbirds in my garden are more than happy to go inside a mesh guardian which I put over a ground feeding table. A few raisins in there will soon tempt them! Starlings and small birds also use it.

In addition to the above excellent suggestions maybe you could try scattering appropriate food under hedges or shrubs if you have them. Blackbirds would probably forage under them but large pigeons may not be quite so keen.

TJ

Hi AlisonG

  any fruit such as apples Pears Raisins etc will be eaten by blackbirds and thrushes and most seed eating birds wont touch them.

This time of year most people have leftovers of fruit going off. Cut it up and throw it out.

     Hope thgis helps   Ray

Hi AlisonG. I have a bird table with a low roof. This seems to allow the smaller birds to get to the food, including Blackbirds, but the larger birds can't seem to land on the table. Just a thought.

Only just joined, so apologies for the late reply. The only thing I have found which works is to buy a gabion cage (the steel mesh cages you normally fill with decorative stones) which are easy to assemble. Now, the one I bought was 30cm square with 75mm holes. This size hole is perfect for starlings, sparrows and dunnocks, but too small for blackbirds. So my advice would be to buy a gabion cage with larger holes (which I found impossible, but I didn’t spend long looking)  or do as I did, which was use steel wire cutters to make some holes larger (remembering to file down any sharp edges from the breaks etc) Then I tied some mesh around the bottom holes to deter pigeons from sticking their heads through to get at the food inside. To deter rats I filled a large planter with sloped sides, filled it with soil and put the cage on top, securing it to the soil with metal tent pegs. A lot of time and effort agreed, but I think it is worth it because I can feed blackbirds and other small birds without worrying about pigeons. I will try and upload a photo or two if that is straightforward. Hope this helps?! Best, Mark. 

I cut two slightly larger holes opposite each other which are admittedly difficult to see, but they are there and you could cut one on each side if you wanted. I also made the roof hinged but this isn’t absolutely necessary as the bird food can simply be poured through the holes at the top. 

Nice set up Mark and good that it works. Welcome, by the way, enjoy. The original post was 14 years ago, so probably no answer will follow but your information may help others 

Ah catlady, I’m absolutely devastated…. just seen a pigeon in there this morning! God they’re hard to keep out, but I will keep on trying. And yeah I noticed the thread was a long time ago, but as you say, if others see this it might give them food for thought (no pun intended!)