While out and about over the weekend looking at ground feeders..
the only ones i came across were quite small and really only
for the smaller birds...

I get a lot of slarlings coming into the garden from time to time as
with the jackdaw ...but with these on the two tables the smaller
birds Tits sparrows etc they dont stand a chance..

So any ideas on making my own larger ground feeder..ive got plenty of
chipboard and pine but i know that once this gets wet as it will do the food will rot..
Does any body know if you can buy in the mesh that it used ..

Many thanks..

I bought a bird table with a roof then surrounded the open sides with plastics-covered mesh of a size large enough for sparrows, chaffinches etc, but too small for pigeons and jackdaws. I also have an open feeder which the larger birds can use, plus the usual hanging feeders with nuts, seed etc. I also hang fat balls in the bushes where larger birds can't get at them - they prove very popular with robins etc. The wrens and dunnocks like to peck around under the tables.

I only put out food during the very cold weather, but these work very well

That sounds a really good idea, simple and effective. Did it do the job with the squirrels too or were they small enough to fit in?

I don't know if this would work but perhaps you could get a feeder with a small hole as in antrance for the smaller birds. It might make it more difficult to attract them though.

The mesh size is too small for squirrels to get through. We had two squirrels who went for the fat balls in the bush in the front garden, but I shot them both and we've had none since.

This post was last modified: 11-10-2007 07:14 AM by wild canon.

Did you use TimberWolf's prize winning recipe to dispose of them ?

Kingfisher

I would think that you can buy a smaller mesh. But beware I have 2"x2" weldmesh on the rabbits & when the squirries were babies ( we had 6 at one time this so called summer) they could get through it. We always laugh at the end of the summer when they have grown & they can't get through it .............

It's easy to forget about the babies, you must have been very unlucky to have six in your garden at the same time though! A smaller mesh would be more effective at keeping them out, but also limits the amount of birds that can access it too.

You don't need to have the feeder actually on the ground. Put it on a pole with a squirrel baffle on it, then the 5cm mesh will do fine.