Birdfeeders: Should I continue putting out birdseed through the Spring and Summer or can I forgo it 'til next Winter?

theyll be fine. if guilt hits you, just feed them every now and then :)

It depends on how many birds you want hanging around in close view. Theoretically, the seed stored in a container may get weevils, (nasty) and the birds now do have a large choice of the menu du jour.

There is also the mouse, vole, squirrel and chipmunk issues. I have stopped feeding the birds entirely after an expensive invasion of the duct system of my car. After two years, empty sunflower seed husks are still falling out of the heating/cooling system when I have the fan blowing.

We keep the feeder full year round. Same for the squirrel feeder. The feeder attracts birds & they’re great to watch while we’re sitting out back. I say keep it full for them.

I keep our feeders going all year. Likewise we keep the suet cages full by making our own cakes from old bacon grease and bird seed. I’ve even managed to hand tame a chickadee. I know that is not environmentally correct so don’t bother telling me so. It sure is cool to have him land on my hand, grab a sunflower seed and eat it in a nearby branch.
It’s cheap entertainment.

@Lupin will you tame my canary?

You can feed them all year long… most birds will find multiple source of food and yours will not be the only one they will take advantage of (so don’t worry about issues of dependence, etc.). Be sure that you make the “feeders” (boxes, pine cones, etc.) diverse and also install a birdhouse. That way, birds will have multiple reasons to come by and visit.

@Lupin Oh, how cool!

I’ve also hand fed a tufted titmouse, and a pine siskin.
The best time to train them is in the dead of winter. The picture in my avatar was taken this Jan. It took about 10 days to get them to land reliably when I went out there. The chickadees are the best. Mendon Ponds park has a spot where you can hand feed chickadees. That gave me the idea to try it at my home.

Feeders aren’t necessary for the birds. They can be cool to have around, but the birds will find enough food in nature. In fact, if they become dependent on your feeder and you move, there can be a die-off of the dependent birds.

I don’t keep a feeder around. Mainly due to avian diseases that are spread through bird feeders. Normally, if a sick bird is in the area, it will eventually die, cold and alone. This sounds sad, but consider that same sick bird using a feeder. The closeness of the group dramatically increases the chance of them sharing saliva or blood, which may get on the food, or when they peck at each other to compete for the food in the feeder. Now you have a dozen birds dying cold and together.

If you really want to attract birds to your yard, give them a nice habitat. Check your local nursery for plants that attract certain types of birds and space them throughout your yard. If you must supplement with seed, spread it around on the ground, so they have to forage for it. It is more natural for them, and it reduces the chance of close contact and contagion.

@gailcalled putting chili powder in your bird seed keeps the rodents out of it as they can’t stand the smell. The birds can’t taste it, and the vitamin A does a lot of good for their plumage.

I usually keep my feeders full until the insect population has reached a level where the birds can eat them instead. Parent birds will feed their young these insects and not have as much call for seed.

@evelyns_pet_zebra great time!

We have two feeders, we know that one is dependent on us, we adopted it from the neighbor’s house. It looks like she had a damaged wing, at some point and it never healed properly. We keep two feeders out, year round. It’s something that relaxes my husband and my son feels like he is helping take care of something.

he did want a snake, glad that feeling passed! (my son wanted a snake, not my husband!)

@evelyns_pet_zebra : I have 20 acres of woods, trees and old fields. I let the thistles, milk weed, wild blackberries, elderberries etc grow everywhere that is not lawn. The robins get the worms, woodpeckers poke at the insects and larvae under the tree bark; the carpenter bees live in the cedar flashing over my garage doors; the flickers eat the carpenter bees; we all co-exist pretty well, although my cedar house may simply collapse one day.

I do put out a wren box and sugar syrup for the humming birds; as for the rest, it is every man bird for himself. Cowbirds invade my phoebe’s nest; nature red in tooth and claw, I guess.

@gailcalled Clear out the spare bedroom, I’m on my way over. You live in the sort of place I’ve dreamed of my whole life.

@evelyns_pet_zebra: With pleasure, if you do windows. The winters are a challenge but once spring peeks out of the latest snow flurry, it is paradise. The only issue is the tick infestation, but vigilance will take care of that. (And one does have to recognize the various kinds of poison ivy – ground creeper, tree climber or bush.)

I bought a 3000 sq.foot house and the 20 acres for *85k in 1986. My snow plowing, lawn mowing and brushhogging bills are interesting, but I no longer want to travel to Greece.

And I subscribe to Mark Twain’s adage: “Beware of all enterprises that require new clothes.”

I feed all year. The winter has it’s obvious reasoning but I also like to supplement when they’re laying and raising young. At one point last year, I had six nests going (of five different species) at the same time in my yard, and several of them raised multiple clutches. I love when the babies leave the nest for the first time…...they wobble about and perch on anything and everything while they’re learning their chops. My cats sit in the windows and quiver with wishful thinking.

Last year’s Jessamine vine that housed the oh-so-aggressive mockingbird (who no doubt lined her nest with the hairs that she pulled from my head) is no longer present, but the star jasmine around the front door has a purple finch nest this year – she seems somewhat more amenable to my presence.