# Bird Feeder placement - ideas?



## ajssbp (Apr 22, 2020)

Hey gang,

About half my lot is pretty heavily wooded, and one of my daughters LOVEs watching the birds we have hanging around. My wife and I thought it would be fun to get a feeder or two and have her help maintain/fill them and then hopefully get even more activity for her to watch.

One of the best spots for one would be off our deck overhanging the yard. I remember when I was a kid the ground under my parent's feeder was always a hodgepodge of random stuff growing from the seeds that were dropped/spilled. Anyone have a great suggestion on how to handle this? Or maybe I need to pick a better seed mix than my parents did  ? Thanks.


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## FlowRider (Apr 7, 2019)

The seeds that the birds like to eat will grow into plants that the birds also love to feed on. I just let mine grow and go to seed.

I have a lot of birds that love my yard. They eat all the insects, too!


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## SodFace (Jul 17, 2020)

I had one mounted on my back fence on a 45° pole inwards. The grass underneath grew a couple weird plants and was mushy, smelt weird, and the dog was rolling in it. Flipped that bad boy to hang over the other side of the fence in the conservation area and am much happier. A tad harder to see birds sometimes but meh. Try it if you want... Not going to ruin anything permanently... Just be prepared to move it 

Can recommend squirrel Buster feeder...I have a larger one.


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## arrigetch peaks (Mar 27, 2019)

Bird seed bags will say "seed will not sprout". That is a lie. Birds are constantly pushing seed out of the feeders and I so, I moved my feeders inside the canopy of my Lilac tree. I pruned out a nice area for the feeders. Below there is no grass and the seed sprouts can easily be removed. The new placement allows me to check seed levels from the warmth of my home during the winter. It also give the birds a place to hide from the predatory birds while eating.


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## dicko1 (Oct 25, 2019)

Are you aware of this?
https://www.mlive.com/news/2021/07/michigan-dnr-monitoring-mysterious-songbird-illness-reported-in-neighboring-states.html

Where I am in NE Illinois, we've been asked to remove all feeders. It's believed the disease is spread when birds gather at feeder.

Its probably better to not start feeding than it is to have to remove the feeder later on.

If you're set on feeding, make sure its a squirrel proof feeder. Raccoon proof is also sometimes needed. I would also hang it up high enough that deer cant get to it too.

Dont buy cheap birdseed. Dont buy anything with Milo which the cheap seed mixes have in abundance. I'd stick with bags of just sunflower seed and just peanuts and them mix your own seed.. If you're worried about the seeds sprouting, you can sterilize the seed in your oven.

Bluejays love peanuts in the shell and as strange as it seems, cat kibble. So do crows. They're also platform feeders which are hard to make squirrel/raccoon proof.


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