Greedy pigeons

goldfinch said:

Can anyone give me some advice on how to keep greedy pigeons off my bird feeders?

During the long winter, I was happy to put out food for all the birds, given that the ground was often covered in snow .The pyracantha had all it's berries stripped off by a pair of lovely big song thrushes, shame they went away when they were done.

 Now that the breeding season is in full swing, I'd like to put out live mealworms for the new chicks. The problem is that the dried mealworms (and all the other loose food) gets gobbled up by a pair of very fat pigeons that hog the open-top feeder and eat anything put in there. I have hanging feeders, suet balls and a water tray, but some of the smaller birds like the robin and sparrow don't use them and I fear the pigeons are scaring away all but the blackbirds (who seem to fear nothing).

I've read about perspex domes, would those work? Any other recommendations?

You're far from alone, we have squirrels and blackbirds as well as wood pigeons on our feeders.

We've accepted this will happen, but have placed guards over some of the other feeders to try and keep them out!

Here's the photos of the cages made from (Wickes DIY) hanging baskets.

Two 14 inch hanging baskets for the tall feeder with x2 cable ties holding it together - only at the top, so it's easy to open it at the bottom, slide it up and off to top-up the feeder. Don't pinch the ties too tight or it'll be difficult to release the cage from the feeder hoop (best to attach the ties with feeder hoop in place).

Two 12 inch baskets and parts of the supplied chains to suspend around the tray-feeder. Again, just two cable ties to hold the cage together as a hinge.

Removable links used to support the base of the tray-feeder so that the lower cage doesn't drop down.