Feeding birds with local cats around

tanith

Anyone got any suggestions how to keep 3 big fat wood pigeons off my bird feeder they are big bullies and frighten off the robins, tits and wrens, I open up the door waving a t-towel at them but they soon come back.. my neighbours must think I am demented...:rotfl:I try to sneak out when they are not around and hope the others can quickly grab enough while the pigeons are elsewhere..

Sagz_2

Feeding birds with local cats around
Sorry nothing useful to say.....

I have dislexia, I had to read that title 3 times before I got it right - I thought you wanted to feed the birds to the local cats :eek:

Lotus-eater

grossbeak wrote: »

Bread soaked in lard is much better, and better still if you add leftover seeds, nuts, fruit, porridge oats and peanut butter. Birds need much more fat than we do.

I'm coming round to your house! That's better food than I get!

grossbeak

The bigger birds like wood pigeons can be dissuaded by putting the feeder inside a larger cage with gaps only big enough for the smaller birds. I had a plague of crows that cleaned out the lard cakes I made before the smaller birds had a chance. I fixed that by putting the lard cake in a holder underneath the feeding platform so the crows couldn't reach it. They never come around now. However, I do have a large flock of starlings and sparrows that grew up on my lard cake:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mz1ZqetQHVk

Davesnave

The rind fat from pork chops hung from a suitable branch drops nothing and a surprisingly large number of birds will have a go at it, even if it means some of the non-hoverers, hovering!

Tamsin_Temrin

Thanks for all the suggestions - I shall see what I can get to feed the birds. Some interesting suggestions.

Dizzie77

My birds are currently feasting on stale bread soaked in gravy - they love it!!
(so does the dog if it drops on the floor!!!)

I am just using up some gravy granules that I bought and didn't like.....I didn't buy it specifically for them!!

Jake'sGran

grossbeak wrote: »

An economic bird feeder can be made from a twiggy branch jammed in the ground like a tree. If it's placed away from cat hiding places most birds should spot a cat coming even if they are on the ground. By the way, don't just feed them bread, it offers little nutrition to birds. Bread soaked in lard is much better, and better still if you add leftover seeds, nuts, fruit, porridge oats and peanut butter. Birds need much more fat than we do.

I mix seeded bread with sunflower oil and currants and suet too. Once you start feeding birds you have to carry on so now they have fat balls in a container, wild bird seed in a solid hanging feeder with a hole either side and nuts but these did freeze last week. We have made their part of the garden like an aviary. It's surrounded by evergreen shrubs and I've noticed they like the hanging feeders to be close to an escape route. It's great to watch the robins chasing much bigger birds away but most of all I love the blackbirds. Although I am not a cat lover there is a feral black one who just strolls through but does not threaten the birds. Someone is feeding him fortunately as he does look a poorly cat.

Newbird

Norbertsmum wrote: »

Feeding birds with local cats around
Sorry nothing useful to say.....

I have dislexia, I had to read that title 3 times before I got it right - I thought you wanted to feed the birds to the local cats :eek:

Norbertsmum ...lol

knithryn

I use one of the metal pole thingys.
Admittedly there is some dropping of food, but with so many cats around and winter so hard on the birds I've stopped worrying.
My mother has been putting out cooked potatoes for blackbirds and thrushes which appear to love them...
I use lard on bread, seeds, raisins, cheese, etc plus the huge number of mealworm crumble mixes I got reduced during the summer.

To reduce the 'droppage' I keep a tinfoil tray beside the cooker, and the scraps go into that plus melted lard. The whole tray gets put out on the feeder. The birds are quite happy to eat from it.
I have two trays so one is inside getting filled while the other is outside getting emptied!