Show Us Your Feeders, Vol. #13

d'oh! Time to take the feeders in at night.

Whoops, I meant a black bear!!!!!!. Sorry.
South Prairie is almost a suburb of the Seattle-Tacoma area. We are a little southeast of that metropolitan area and have a fantastic view of Mt. Rainier, which is probably about 25 miles away, but only as the crow flies. We are between the "big" towns of Orting and Buckley and our town mostly consists of a mini-mart and a post office.
I am on the right computer now to show the picture:

My feeders looked like that, PNWMountainGirl. No bears that I know of in this specific area, so I guess if it happens again then I know we must have one around (in which case, OMG b/c the woods behind my house isn't bear territory).

The feeders were empty, so it wasn't like they weighed a lot. Plus I've had WAY more feeders on the poles with no problems. And we get wind storms every winter, and again never a problem. Which is another reason I don't suspect the wind.

Unless it was one of those "perfect" set of circumstances for the wind. I'd rather that than a bear!

As you can see, the feeders fell in all different directions, indicating that the only kind of wind that could have done that was a whirlwind. With the snow we, of course had evidence in the tracks.

Evie, I hope that it is just a raccoon family that climbed up and bent the pole with their weight. Bears are scary!

The raccoons in my area destroy metal feeders and drag them all over the place....I guess that they are incredibly strong. And determined. When they strike, I have to put the feeders inside at night until they move on to somebody's else's yard.

I hear the music from the movie (The Great Outdoor's) right now, the part where the raccoon's tear up everything.lol Glad they removed the bear though PNWMountainGirl.

I've had a flurry of activity this morning after several days of no birds. My yard is swarmed with Titmice but they are hard to photograph!

Those titmice; I do believe they have a personality of their own. They make me smile (who said no one or thing can 'make' you feel certain way). These little birds make my heart sings.

I feel the same way about them Lily. They have so much personality and their always in motion it seems. Mine brought their fledges around but kept them safe in the front yard tree while the parents took turns going back and forth to the feeders in the backyard to get them food. I absolutely love them!

I have titmice envy!

Dellrose asked me to post the suet log I made so here it is, this is a temporary one until I find the log I,m looking for. I would like to have a 3ft log piece about 5 or 6 inches around. I seen one that someone had made (on the net) and gave it a try. The Downy's use it regularly and sometimes the Finches check it out.

That's a cool idea there Burd_Fotos.

Thanks for posting it Burd...I have been meaning to try one since the ones you buy are so pricey. I am glad to see it is working out so well for you!!

O I want to try a suet log now too. Thanks Burd.

I used a 1 1/4 inch bore bit, and made the depth of the holes about the same, yeah it gets a little messy packing in the suet but it washes off with soap and warm water.

For my logs, I like to make my own suet, that way I can make it a bit softer to plug in the holes. Last year I actually made a sheet pan full, then cut it into little chunks that I could then chill outside and just shove in the logs. Worked pretty good.

Now if I can just keep the starlings and house sparrows from it.

Similarly, I made one of these smaller "bark butter" feeders last year. Never saw anyone use it though, I think my wood was too smooth and I had no support.

http://indianapolis.wbu.com/download/34992?type=jpg

Thanks Burd. I'm making a batch of Helen's suet and I have that bit so I'm hoping to get it done this weekend with a log from the woodpile. Have I mentioned that I'm on a mission to find dehydrated insects to add to the suet. I bought a suet with dehydrated crickets in it and the birds luv it! I understand you can buy dehydrated insects as fish food at pet stores? Anyone put this in their suet before?

Haven't heard of the insect idea before, but the next time ill fill in the log I,m going to add some black oil sunflower seed's, the suet is called nutty delite or something, got it from Maynards.

I've bought insect suet before but have never made it myself.

Here's my log feeder from last year....looking a little tattered but the birds still love it. I need to go through the log pile and pick out a new one. I am experimenting with the suet recipes from the Sialis website. I am using the Bluebird Banquet and like it so far....it is easy to make and I can jam it into the wire suet cages and the log pretty easily. The bluebirds will hang off of the log to eat it but so far, have not ventured onto their meal worm dish. I guess I wasn't supposed to change the menu......

Nice! I'm using one of the recipes from Sialis too, but added a few extra goodies.

I got a home made log feeder as a gift last year and it was made out of really soft wood. One day the squirrels got to it and chewed the holes to bits! Good thing i had my trusty cedar one baffled.

That is a nice one!

Mrs. Ed...what do you add to your suet mix? I haven't deviated from the recipes so far. The squirrels do not enlarge the holes in mine but they pull the bark off....and clean out the food pretty quickly. I guess I will have to find a better location and get a baffle!

Dahlia....I've seen dehydrated insects at the local pet and feed store where I get my bird mix. It never occurred to me to use them in the suet mix. I tried dehydrated meal worms with the bluebirds a couple of years ago and they wouldn't eat them but maybe if they are mixed in with and saturated with suet, they are more appealing.

My goal is find a suet combination that the squirrels don't love!! Any ideas....?

The suet I bought with the crickets has meal worms in it but maybe the birds are dropping rather than eating them? I too wish there was a solution for tree rats. I have my open feeder on a feeder pole that is away from the fence and metal so Damien the Spawn of Satan Tree Rat (my mortal enemy) is reduced to eating the droppings. He has tried to 'fly' from the fence and trees but can't make it. I plan to put my suet log on that too.

Dahlia.....most of my feeders are on poles in my puppy's yard. Patrolling for squirrels keeps her occupied and it is somewhat of a deterrent. And the birds do not bat an eye if she is outside....and she is not interested in them so it works out just fine. The squirrels around here are very active until it gets really cold and then I don't see them as much.

Puppy patrols are the best! I WISH Damien was less active in the winter. At least he can't dig anything up cuz it's frozen although he tries to dig in the containers every once in awhile. I was really hoping Peppy and Peppermint the skunks would eat him as part of the natural order of things but alas they moved away at the end of the summer.

I just added peanuts, raisins and black oil sunflower seeds to the mix.

Here's the one I used from sialis.

Marvel Meal (Bluebird Journal of NABS, Vol.21, No.1)

* 1 cup peanut butter
* 1 cup vegetable shortening
* melted beef suet or bacon drippings
* 4 cups yellow cornmeal
* 1 cup white flour

Mix ingredients together to form a soft, doughy mix. Can be offered in suet bags or rolled into balls and offered in an open dish.

I like that recipe, Mrs. Ed....I haven't used veg. shortening; good idea. Who is liking this mix the most in your yard?

gah. the house sparrows and the starlings, LOL!

Otherwise, the downies really like it. haven't seen the red-bellied woodpecker at it yet, but she just got here a couple weeks ago and seems really interested in the sunflower seeds on the platform feeder.

Squirrels and rats and varmints.
The latest Birds and Bloom show a modified version of what I learned
to do for a pole type feeder. Someone pictured a 2 ft section of a stove vent which was
attached to the bottom of the upper main feeder, The addition to it keeps
the pole you have and when a beastie tries to crawl up the pole
the animal gets stuck under the feeder and the pipe is too big and
smooth to let it hug, jump or straddle it. (These are for something a tad
smaller than a bear-- don't want to see that happen here)

Have to try that recipe Mrs. Ed -- sounds like something for breakfast--
Grandma told ma that when she was a kid she walked up hill both ways
in T-H-I-S deep of snow to school and ate lard sandwiches and she lived
for 98 youthful years. Your recipe sounds better. OK maybe for birdies too.

ha.
yah.
I tell you, sometimes when you make it with all that butter and n uts, it looks and smells pretty darn good.

TONS of recipes on SIALIS though, so you can easily explore what works best for you. Most of the time I just wing it.

Have to go there, (Sialis) Thanks Mrs. Ed
in fact just made 8 blocks of suet this morning--
I get a 1 commercial block and melt it along with drippings and fat
and add raisins, apples and orange and more bird seed, some
cornflower and a few crackers and cook it up and freeze it to make 8--
So far the commercial suet really helps to stiffen everything
and holds in these storms and makes the bought'n products
last longer. Never tried shortening-- dang have me a mess of that-
I actually got pretty good at making meat pies and now they are
really bad for me-- maybe I should feed those to the birds.

Dirt do you add dried or fresh fruit?

fresh or dried? Today, fresh, (I ate half the fruit doing it)-they are being used right away. I frigerate and freeze till I use it.
Have used dried previous- old stuff ma or friends didn't use-- its like the raisins they tend to puff up
or whatever you call it that - rehydrate sortof - and dice it up pretty fine-- blue jays and woodpeckers
tend to pull it out leaving the little stuff for the others-- I think there is enough stuff in there that
suits most birds here. Today I had cornflower from tortilla making and sometimes corn meal-- like
Mrs. Ed -- wing it. Never a true recipe -- will look.

this mornings cooking (I save (was given) the plastic bins the commercial stuff was in
for a mold)

I just remembered I added peanut butter and cut corn from a cob that I previously froze-
see if they like that-- do have a pail of dried corn that I will tack up later in winter.

This message was edited Nov 20, 2009 2:02 PM

Dirt....I save the plastic molds from suet also. I am finding that the recipe that I am currently using is on the dry side and I can just mash it into the cage feeders. My puppy stands at my elbow when I am mixing it up....she likes the smell of it esp. as it has PB in it!

Mrs. Ed....I have noticed that the red-bellies prefer the nut mix in the feeders to the suet. The flickers do also. My biggest problem with the suet right now are the blue jays. The sit on the feeder and won't let anybody else have any. Or, they conversely, wriggle into the dome feeder that I have adjusted for the little birds and pig out. The large platform feeder seems to be their least favorite. Go figure!

Thanks Dirt. DRAT! I have been recycling my storebought suet plastic bins. Great idea for reuse. Right now the bluejays still prefer the corn and black sunflower seeds in the open feeder. I think when it's colder though things may change. The chickadees are chasing the nuthatches away from the suet this year. They have always shared before but not this year. I wonder if that's because we had an early hard freeze in October so the berries on the shrubs did a shrivel drop thing rather than staying on the bushes? I have already been scolded too because I opened the gardenshed door and got rained on by sunflower seeds. Obviously a young bird who doesn't know that stashing seed between the logs in the shed is a dumb idea when clutzy dahlianut is always bumbling around in the shed (oops).

dahlianut, you can use muffin tins too, then put a few of them in the cage at a time.

Thanks Mrs Ed. I will do just that. Set back on the dehydrated insects cuz not at Wallmart where I thought would be the best deal but I'm still on a mission.