Bird Feeding

[pop pop]

Started feeding birds 2 weeks ago. Been having problems with Black Birds eating all the feed and the songbirds not getting any. I was feeding a mixture of Classic Pennington Wild Bird Feed, Black Oil Sunflower Seeds, and Suet. I just put out the Sunflower Seed and the Black Birds and starlings don't like them, so they are leaving the feeders alone. You would not believe how many songbirds we have. My wife and I are loving it. Purple Finches, Titmouse, Black Capped Chickadees, Woodpeckers, Blue Jays, Cardinals, and a few more, are visiting regularly.

[crc4]

I've been feeding sunflower seeds and cracked corn for five decades. Those two seeds will do everything you want and the cracked corn is far cheaper than a seed mix.

Blackbirds will eat sunflower seeds. Maybe your starlings haven't needed to so far, but they will. They prefer cracked corn, but if that's not available they'll go for your sunflower seeds.

[bersaguy]

I only feed the song birds in the cold weather as most of the black birds and starlings have flown further south but not going to feed any seed eating birds until I get my Rodent problem under control. This is the first time in my life of feeding birds that I have had a rodent issue. I thought I might catch a few in traps and solve my problem but after catching 8 and still having issues I have a professional exterminating service coming to the house today to see what needs to be done to eradicate the problem. They have got to smart for the traps and will set them off without getting caught and eat the bait off it. I have tried Decon tablets in the holes they hide in but they just push them out of the holes and onto the floor and won't eat them. The man coming out today guarantees his work and says he will get rid of them so I guess we will see. He offers a money back guarantee if he can't rid me of the problem.

[peejman]

We've had bird feeders my whole life, I really enjoy watching them. I feed sunflower and suet. In the last last few years I've slowed down how much seed I put out when natural food is plentiful so the birds contribute more to the cycle. For example, my feeders have been empty for about a month now.  When it dries up or gets cold, I'll pick back up feeding.  It only takes a day or two for the birds to discover I've refilled the feeders. 

[pop pop]

I quit feeding in April and have not fed until a couple weeks ago. Just wanted to see what we would get at our 2 feeders. I will say I was pleasantly surprised at the numbers of birds feeding lately. We have gone through 20 lbs of sunflower seeds in the past 2 to 3 weeks.

[Jeb48]

Before moving South we fed the birds year around. Nothing but Black Oil sunflower seeds and suet. Seems like most else we tried they threw on the ground anyway.  When we moved to TN we were warned in the NE the bears liked bird feeders so we never started.

[bersaguy]

The Professional guy put these little boxes of poison that the mouse has to go in to get the poison. I looked at one of the boxes and the holes for the mice will not work on my mice cause they are to big. I don't have normal house mice. I have field Mice that look like small rats. He gave me 10 sticky mats to put around and when one of the big ones get stuck they have figured out how to get off the darn things. I was talking to my neighbor about my problem and he said he can help and he went home and came back with some tablets about the size of table spoon and about 2 inches thick. He told me to put them where I put the Decon tablets and I did and two days later I found two dead critters and in a week I had found 11 dead critters and quit seeing anymore. I offered to pay my neighbor for the stuff but he refused and said they sell it at CO-OP by the pail. Tommy and Moe ( daughter) was having a similar issue so I gave him about 8 pellets and in about 4 days they began finding dead critters. Tommy went and bought a bucket of the stuff so we now have plenty and no critters.

[Grayfox54]

What's the brand name of these tablets? Winter is coming and I often have a problem with rats looking for warm places to live. 

[peejman]

Just use old fashioned mouse/rat spring traps baited with peanut butter. I've caught lots of mice and several rats with them.  Walmart and any hardware store has them. There's several versions and manufacturers, but they all make the critters dead.  They're cheap, easy, and effective. 

Glue traps catch other things you might not want to catch.  Poison tends to flow upwards and kill the good critters that eat the rodents. 

 

[crc4]

Poisons poison more than just mice and rats. I won't use them. 

[bersaguy]

18 hours ago, Grayfox54 said:

What's the brand name of these tablets? Winter is coming and I often have a problem with rats looking for warm places to live. 

Tomcat Bait Chunks and they sell it at CO-OP stores. It says it works outdoors also. My neighbor uses it in his chicken house and storage building where he stores his animal foods.

[Jeb48]

I have used the bait chunks by putting them in pieces of PVC pipe small enough only the mice can get in. Most were coming up empty every day so I put my trail cam out to watch and a raccoon was upending them and eating the chunks many per night for several nights, didn't seem to affect him. I then drilled a hole threw them and spiked them to the ground to stop the raccoon and they seem to stay then but also didn't see to attract any takers. I use sticky traps primarily in my shop and camper work well.  I did have two large rats chewing wiring in my van and would chew off the leads to my battery charger. Finally caught one in an industrial strength sticky trap that I had in a tunnel made with 2 cement blocks and a piece of wood on top, weighted down so I didn't catch a skunk or something else I didn't want to catch. The other I caught in a rat mice spring trap. I bated the sticky trap with some mixed nuts and the spring trap with cheese.

[RED333]

Google "bucket mouse trap" I use them for my place, works great.

[bersaguy]

I thought I had got rid of all my issues but I had a sticky trap get dragged across my kitchen floor last night and what ever it was got loose from it by going between chair legs at my table. I will put a few tablets out today for a snack for the critter and hope it comes back.

[crc4]

2 hours ago, bersaguy said:

I thought I had got rid of all my issues but I had a sticky trap get dragged across my kitchen floor last night and what ever it was got loose from it by going between chair legs at my table. I will put a few tablets out today for a snack for the critter and hope it comes back.

Just hope it doesn't go behind the cabinets, in the walls, or under the floors and dies. You'll know it if it happens.

[bersaguy]

1 hour ago, crc4 said:

Just hope it doesn't go behind the cabinets, in the walls, or under the floors and dies. You'll know it if it happens.

They are already in the walls but so far all that I have found dead are in the middle of a floor and going under the floor won't happen as the house is built on concrete slab.

[Jeb48]

6 hours ago, bersaguy said:

I thought I had got rid of all my issues but I had a sticky trap get dragged across my kitchen floor last night and what ever it was got loose from it by going between chair legs at my table. I will put a few tablets out today for a snack for the critter and hope it comes back.

I double side tape my sticky traps to a piece of cardboard that is big enough when the mouse is stuck it can't reach the floor to move around or get leverage to get free.