How can l keep the crows away from bird feed?

stop animal cruelty

l put some bird feed out for the birds last week but l'v noticed the crows are coming in & taking over!

1min the sparrows, finches etc are feeding away, then the crows come, its like they bully them away l make noise to scare them away, then the small birds come back, but in no time the crows are back again!

l hate scaring them off cause it scares the others off too....any solutions?

l have no where else to put the feed so moving it somewhere else it out...

Cork boy 55

Whats your bird feeder table like?
What type of food do you put out?

swifts need our help!

Type of food maybe. I never get them in my garden yet they are happy to eat left over food thrown out over a 3 foot fence

Cork boy 55

swifts need our help! wrote: »

Type of food maybe. I never get them in my garden yet they are happy to eat left over food thrown out over a 3 foot fence

Ya crows won't enter my garden either even though the local semi-urban area is filled with them They are often on trees and roofs around the house but will not land in my garden which is pretty big.

every other type of bird about comes.

If i where to throw food out in the front garden or on the garage roof they come down often within minutes,

Maybe they are afraid of restricted spaces or something in the garden scares them? I said it the neighbors and they said the same the crows don't land in their gardens either.

AngryHippie

OpenYourEyes

One method is to hang your feeder off a very long bit of rope/string - the crows will land on it and it'll shake back and forth alot so they'll fly off, eventually they wont bother with it! The smaller birds weigh so little that it wont affect them!

stop animal cruelty

l have one of those feeders you hang off a branch of a tree, just the regular nuts you'd buy in a hardware store.

l live near farms so their always around! lv been banging & clapping my hands like mad when they go near it, seem to go away for a while but keep coming back

might try the rope idea!

swifts need our help!

A photo would be good. I cant imagine Rooks or Jackdaws haning on a nut feeder. Their beaks are too big to get in the holes

Mark

stop animal cruelty

will do...

swifts need our help!

Is it definitely Rooks and or Jackdaws and not Starlings?

Amalgam

Move the feeders closer to your home, beyond the Crows comfort zone, preferably a kitchen window, if your house is orientated that way. Higher chance of human activity, to put them off.

I stopped putting out suet balls and just specialised, ground feed for Thrushes, Blackbirds, Dunnocks, Robins, Wren etc.. and sunflower hearts in a feeder that doesn't facilitate a crow landing on it, for Finches, Tits and similar.

I don't think it was just the suet balls, it was the fact I was hanging them from nice sturdy branches, which the Crows and Starlings really appreciated..

whyulittle

swifts need our help! wrote: »

A photo would be good. I cant imagine Rooks or Jackdaws haning on a nut feeder. Their beaks are too big to get in the holes

Mark

I get Jackdaws on my peanut and fat ball feeders. As you say though they can get so little out of the feeder, I normally just leave them at it.

stop animal cruelty

l know what a starling looks like :L defo jackdaw, lm nearly sure lv seen rooks around too

mitosis

Crows are birds too. Is it just "pretty" birds you want to feed? Just make the feeder apertures smaller.

stop animal cruelty

theres a carrion crow hanging around also

stop animal cruelty

No its not "pretty" birds l want to feed, l want to feed the small ones, sparrows & finches etc. The crows often drop bits of bones & rubbish around our house they feed out of rubbish bins, cow dung so theres no shortage of food for them. l put out the bird food because of the frost cause the other birds cant pick at the ground for food.

l don't have a thing against crows, lv looked after 3 or 4 injured ones before, but they are bullying away the smaller birds.

stop animal cruelty

swifts need our help! wrote: »

A photo would be good. I cant imagine Rooks or Jackdaws haning on a nut feeder. Their beaks are too big to get in the holes

Mark

Tryed to upload a photo a few times today, won't go up sorry.

Theres a big stray cat around now so looks like l'll have to take it down

swifts need our help!

Are you sure you have a Carrion crow?

Maybe your image is too big to upload. Email it to me and I'll upload it.
enquiriesATsaveourswifts.co.uk

Mark

Eyepatch

One or two grey crows land in my garden, but as soon as I appear behind the window, they are off! I have just the hanging feeders which attract small birds plus starlings. I have blackbirds, thrushes, magpies and pigeons, which feed on the ground, picking up the scraps that fall from the feeders. They also feed from the cat dish which I leave out in the morning.

Half-cocked

The other day I counted 7 Herring Gulls, 1 lesser Black-backed Gull and 5 Black-headed Gulls in my garden eating food I left out. It was a wonderful sight. All birds are welcome, regardless of size. The smaller birds get their share too.

Leopold.

Move the feeders closer to your house, and buy the crows some cheap biscuits(tesco digestives 40c).

Leave out some biscuits for the Jackdaws and rooks and they will be happy, they deserve some food too.

Maudi

Leopold. wrote: »

Move the feeders closer to your house, and buy the crows some cheap biscuits(tesco digestives 40c).

Leave out some biscuits for the Jackdaws and rooks and they will be happy, they deserve some food too.

i feed the birds too...BUT im not racist?i feed em all...crows/rooks/greycrows the lot. the simple solution for the small guys is throw food under benches.pots etc.where the bigs wont go.

tiny timy

>Snip<


Mod Post:
Posts suggesting the killing of a bird to free up space at a feeder are not welcome.

solas111

I had the same trouble for a while. The crows and magpies learned to pick peanuts out of the feeder, which was hanging from the branch of a tree.

What I did was to hang a cage that is shaped a little like a fez hat from the branch and hang the feeder inside of it. The small birds will enter the cage but the crows cannot. Had to do the same thing with a feeding table. I used a cage that you can get for covering a ground feeder and hung it over the table which is hanging on a branch. Not only the small birds but also thrushes and blackbirds will feed happily inside of the cage and the added bonus is that the cats cannot get them. If you Google “wild bird food” you should get to a company which sells the cages and other wildlife items online.

The crows got pissed off and flew away with a barrage of bad language back to eating the dinner leftovers that my mother leaves out on a bird table next door.

Half-cocked

I saw garden in Baldoyle with a huge cage made from 2 inch mesh with half a dozen feeders hanging inside it. Seems a bit extreme but effective.

belinda502

Solas111,

Is it possible to get a cage small enough to put inside a standard bird table? I am having the same problem. The jackdaws are there 24/7. I go out and shout at them when I'm in the kitchen to go away and as soon as they do the small birds appear. Five minutes later the jackdaws appear again and the small birds immediately vanish. The bird table is right up against the kitchen window but the jackdaws are completely brazen. I don't mind them having their time to eat but they are there ALL THE TIME and the small birds are put out. They remind me of the feral rich.

I love rooks (my favourite birds) but they stay out the front and i feed them kitchen scraps, bread, cheese and meat and that but the jackdaws are bloody everywhere and seem to be multiplying in numbers each year.

Any solution appreciated. I can't unfortunately hang the feeders near the ground as i have a cat who really likes hunting.

Thanks,

Birdnuts

belinda502 wrote: »

Solas111,

Is it possible to get a cage small enough to put inside a standard bird table? I am having the same problem. The jackdaws are there 24/7. I go out and shout at them when I'm in the kitchen to go away and as soon as they do the small birds appear. Five minutes later the jackdaws appear again and the small birds immediately vanish. The bird table is right up against the kitchen window but the jackdaws are completely brazen. I don't mind them having their time to eat but they are there ALL THE TIME and the small birds are put out. They remind me of the feral rich.

I love rooks (my favourite birds) but they stay out the front and i feed them kitchen scraps, bread, cheese and meat and that but the jackdaws are bloody everywhere and seem to be multiplying in numbers each year.

Any solution appreciated. I can't unfortunately hang the feeders near the ground as i have a cat who really likes hunting.

Thanks,

Something like this

http://www.dunneanddineen.ie/images/timber/037.jpg

Ulmus

Use a piece of large-gauge mesh wire, or tack on thin strips of wood or bamboo to block the larger birds from the bird table.
Or this: http://www.reallywildbirdfood.co.uk/seed-feeders-and-trays/cages-and-feeder-guardians/bird-table-guardian-8-31-P469/

Gran Hermano

Try out these
http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_i_0_8?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=squirrel%20proof%20bird%20feeder&sprefix=squirrel%2Caps%2C532

Bird feeder encased in a mesh cage keeps most birds starling sized and larger out as well.

iora_rua

Gran Hermano wrote: »

Try out these
http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_i_0_8?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=squirrel%20proof%20bird%20feeder&sprefix=squirrel%2Caps%2C532

Bird feeder encased in a mesh cage keeps most birds starling sized and larger out as well.

The good quality squirrel proof feeders as suggested by Gran Hermano are an excellent idea, whether or not you have squirrels. I have these seed and nut feeders - and I found the secret to deterring the crows and magpies from messing with them, was to attach them to a support (tree branch, bird table etc) with a double length of strong elastic! I got a few feet of BLACK elastic, about a good inch or so wide - get the widest you can in a drapery shop, and in black it doesn't look too weird Then if a large bird starts swinging on the feeder, it won't like the instability and being bounced around. Also, as already suggested, get some 'lettuce' wire - I think it's the next size up from chicken wire - then cut it into a few smaller rolls, say about 12 to 18 inches in depth and place around the base of your bird table and wherever you hang feeders. Make sure the open ends are attached to the adjacent roll and then only the smaller birds, plus blackbirds can get at any food on the ground. I've set mine up in a square shape around those ground feeding cages, which are then overhung with the bird feeders. Took a bit of experimenting to get all this working, but this arrangement also offers protection from cats. Took mine a few days to decide that they just couldn't easily nab a stuffed chaffinch any more! The elastic has lasted through two rough winters, but now needs replacing. Remember to move the feeding area around every few months to prevent bugs and germs developing, and be wary of feeding too near the house in case mice and rats are nibbling any 'leftovers'. On that happy note .....