Show Us Your Feeders, Vol. #13

I like that natural feeder. :-)

Mrs. Ed...I love what you've done with that sunflower..I will try that with the big ones out of my view! Very cool!

Sorry about your feeder Nanny...

Thanks Rose. I put this one away from any other sunflowers. That way any spring volunteers I know will be that variety to transplant. I also did this last year. The chickadees loved it.

Mrs. Ed, good picture of your natural feeder. I planted quite a few Sunflower seeds, Some labeled as to variety, some not, and quite a few volunteers. Only have one largish one, but the Goldfinches like all of them.

I too am sorry about your broken feeder Nanny. Luckily I don't have to contend with raccoons or squirrels. Just thieving Housesparrows.

Mrs. Ed, I do wish chickadees would discover my yard again. I had a pair living here for several years and really enjoyed seeing and hearing them. I think a Sharp-Shinned hawk killed them or at least scared them so badly they left several years ago. I did see one a couple of years ago but it didn't stay around.

Donna

Well keep trying Donna! I usually only have two at a time. When i go to my Mom's in the country she has about a dozen. It's crazy!

Everyone loves the last 2 feeders I bought....LOL!!

LOL, good one Rose!!!

Rose, that squirrel is too cute for words! LOL My neighbors and furbabies don't like them very well. But I do enjoy watching their antics. When it comes to problem- solving. I think they have earned their Phd, or at least "Master" degree. lol.

editted for typos.

This message was edited Oct 16, 2009 7:20 PM

OMYGOSH....HA!!!! Too funny rose!

Glad you guys enjoyed that shot! We rarely have squirrels so they are actually a treat for us to watch them. This one is as fat as a hog and very talented as well!! LOL! I would say that this feeder is not squirrel proof!!

I love the squirrel shots. They are incredibly ingenious.
I thought I would throw in my idea here. The sun and the rain takes quit a toll on my 'suet' so I took a gourd I had and put it to good use. It works well to protect the bird food.
I plan on taking the other half of the gourd and hanging it below the feeder to catch the stuff that falls off on the deck. My dog eats it up and he is getting chubby!
Helen
PS I make my own 'suet'. The birds love it and eat a ton of it. I would be happy to share the recipe if anyone is interested.

Cute idea helenchild!

Great idea Helen!

Please go ahead and share your suet recipe with us. We appreciate the information.

7-8cups of plain corn meal - not the self rising kind
1cup crunchy peanut butter
2cups shortening

Its a bear to mix with a hand mixer so I had to get big standing mixer to make big batches. The only bird I haven't seen eat it are the hummingbirds. I hope this works for you guys too.

Helen

Hi Helen, What do you pour your suet into to set?

It doesn't need to set. It is the consistency of sticky cookie dough. I make 3-4 batches at once and store it in the cupboard in a large plastic container. It lasts as long as you want. I have kept it for months anyway. :-)
Helen

Helen, no refridgeration is needed? Thank you for the recipe.

Hi all. I have a wire cage for suet. Helen would that work if I just plop your suet in? Also all I have a question about molds. I like to make something special for my birds for Christmas. This year I would like make a snowman from a mold that I have but the mold is very thin (1 inch) I'm thinking that maybe it won't be thick enough to stay together once the birds start landing on it. Has anyone else made a birdseed form with gelatin in a thin mold? Thanks.

No refrigeration needed Lily_love.
Dahlianut - I plop the suet in my wire cage. It stays in there for the most part. Some will drop down when the birds start pecking at it and as I said my little dogs love it. But if the dogs don't get to it then the birds will get it off the ground or deck.
I will say that if it is hot weather, say over 85 and the feeder is in the sun the suet will get soft and kind of ooz. During those times I add more corn meal to make it stiffer. One of the reason for the cover was to protect it from direct sunlight and the rain too.
The woodpeckers love it. Eastern blue birds too. Just to mention a few. :-)
Helen

LOL I have no worries about seeing those high temps this winter ^_^ Thanks. I will just plop away.

dahlianut,
You might need to keep it from freezing. And keep the snow off.
You might try using less corn meal to keep it softer.
Helen

PS everyone. I need to give the Atlanta Audubon Society the credit for the suet recipe. I got it out of their publication years ago.

Oops I'm in froze world and snowful for at least 4 months. LOL Helen you might have discovered a great suet for the time of the dark and the cold. I'm going for it. I shall report my bird ratings ^_^

Thanks. I look forward to hearing how the stuff works for your birds.
Helen

Helen, thank you for sharing the recipe and tips with us fellow gardeners/birds watchers. I'm delighted to learn that it even attracts Eastern Blue birds.

You are welcome Lily_love. My pleasure.
Helen

My good news, A pair of chickadees have finally found my yard, and I hope are going to stay. Have seen them for a couple of days now. Have several feeders up and must get more in place.

Donna

Yay Chickadees!

House Finch and Gold Finch found my coconut feeder.

Mrs. Ed,
I like your coconut feeder! And the birds do to!
Helen

Yah they do! I'm going to make some more for suet. Guess I better find a recipe for all that coconut!

rutholive now that they have found you they will continue to visit I'm sure. They have a cute habit of stashing seed so don't be surprised to find little stashes in your trees and shrubs. I even found one in the unchinked wall of the garden shed.

Helen...thanks for the suet recipe...I will try it!

Mrs. Ed...love that little feeder! Did you make it?

Yah Rose, I made it. That's why it looks so uneven! Ha! I cut it with a jig saw. I'll have to figure out how to cut it on the table saw or miter saw instead. Just can't figure out how to do it safely.

Helenchild that's a good simple suet recipe, I will have to try that. And I like what you did with the gourd.
Mrs-Ed, that little feeder, can feed more then one bird, at a time. You'll also see Sisken and Chickadees going to it.

This one I got this Summer.

Great pic burn! Thanks for sharing.

I forgot to take a picture, but somehow my pole was knocked over.

I had it secured with one of these:
http://www.backyardbird.com/dyupa.html

The screw was still in the ground but lifted, and the was bent with the pole laying on the ground. So when I get it back out of the ground, the screw part is at an angle instead of straight.

The really odd thing was that the feeders looked pretty much fine. No teeth marks, no bends, punctures, scratches, etc. It is like it just fell over.

We have strong gusts of wind so my husband thought that was the cause, but I can't see how that could bend metal. No bears in the area that we know of, and even if there were, wouldn't there be a mess where the feeders were? Same with deer (if they go after them at all)?

Ideas??

I don't know evie but I have a thick metal trellis and the wind first bent it then broke it.

Well thats no fun Evie... I had an iron shepherds hook bend at an almost right angle because I had some heavy plants hanging on it. As the plants grew they got heavier... and the whole thing went over one night during a rain.
Could rain and water weight have effected your pole?
Helen

I am not on the right computer to send pictures, but I awoke one morning to find all three of my feeders on the ground with, yes, bent metal. There was also snow on the ground so we were able to see the bear prints very easily. It was a big brown bear which we had never seen around here before, but did see several times afterwards until they were trapped and taken away by the Dept of Wildlife.

PNW - a grizzly bear? I think of brown bears as grizzlies. But even if it was a black bear!!! Yikes. Your neighborhood is a bit scary.
Helen
PS. where is SouthPrairie? I lived in B'ham, Olympia and Yakima - for many years. 1972-92.