crows at bird feeder

kildare lad

I'm new to feeding birds out my back garden. Im having a problem with crows tho. I got a stand that holds two bird feeders ,a feeding tray and a watering tray. But a lot of the time i look out the back, crows are placed on the top of the stand, or standing in the tray eating or else they've somehow moved the tray around so they can feed out of the feeder.

The feed i used is a mixed one containing, sunflower seeds, nuts etc.. should i change my feed.I do still get songbirds coming to the feeder after i scare them away tho. Is this normal when you're feeding birds regarding crows???Is there any tips on helping get rid of the crows or make things harder for them to feed. Thanks

dogmatix

I doubt changing your feed will make a difference.

I had a similar problem a few years back in my previous accommodation. It got to the point that the crows where grabbing the feeder handles and lifting the feeder up over the hook to drop it on the ground where they had easier access to the contents. Very clever of them but very annoying for me. I ended up having to cut open tennis balls and fit them over the end of the feeder arms to stop them doing this. I also had to remove the flat tray from the feeding station for the same reason. They would still try to rattle and swing the feeder to let seeds fall onto the ground. I could never completely get rid of them.

I found that the smaller birds would feed first then the crows would appear and later the smaller birds would return again.

This the yoke I had in my garden at the time: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Gardman-Feeding-Station-Kit/dp/B002O6Y3I8

Discovered this just now while googling: https://ww2.rspb.org.uk/community/wildlife/f/13609/t/74293.aspx - might be a useful solution.

Rosahane

dogmatix wrote: »

I doubt changing your feed will make a difference.

I had a similar problem a few years back in my previous accommodation. It got to the point that the crows where grabbing the feeder handles and lifting the feeder up over the hook to drop it on the ground where they had easier access to the contents. Very clever of them but very annoying for me. I ended up having to cut open tennis balls and fit them over the end of the feeder arms to stop them doing this. I also had to remove the flat tray from the feeding station for the same reason. They would still try to rattle and swing the feeder to let seeds fall onto the ground. I could never completely get rid of them.

I found that the smaller birds would feed first then the crows would appear and later the smaller birds would return again.

This the yoke I had in my garden at the time: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Gardman-Feeding-Station-
Kit/dp/B002O6Y3I8

Discovered this just now while googling: https://ww2.rspb.org.uk/community/wildlife/f/13609/t/74293.aspx - might be a useful solution.

The hanging basket idea works. I've made a feeder for the robins and others SBJs by cable tying a round wire hanging basket to a large plastic pot plant drip tray. I works well for crows and jackdaws although the starlings eventually lost their fear of being trapped in it and will squeeze in.
I have a separate feeder for the corvids made again from again from a large plastic drip tray which, hung in a tree doesn't encourage rats by keeping the food off the ground.

TopTec

Up until a 18 months or so ago I was inundated with Magpies at my feeders. At the worst point I had 12 of them hanging off the pots and feeders throughout the day. Not often did I see smaller birds except when they dived in for a quick peck. I also had a problem with my local Sparrowhawk using the feeders as a birdy McDonald's, which seemed unfair to me. They were pouncing several times a week

I have a home made construction of a few hazel sticks bound together to make a frame to hang the various feeders from. After trying several options I solved it with chicken wire. The lightweight hexagonal stuff, cheap as chips, which I pinned and tied to the outside of the frame. This stopped the Magpie's from flying onto the frame and the Sparrowhawks dive bombing the smaller birds.

I haven't had one Magpie or one attack since.

TT

diomed

Had a problem with crows at feeders at a nursing home where I drop off seed.
It was a metal pole feeder with two arms, candelabra style.
The crows grabbed the upright steel pole and ate from the feeders, keeping the finches, sparrows, an tits away.

My solution worked but was very expensive.
TV cable trunking, one piece of trunking around the upright pole (the trunking splits to allow you insert the cables / pole).
There is adhesive on the flat side of the D trunking where you you peel off the backing tape and press it to a wall.
I got a second piece of trunking and pressed that to the first, creating a cylindrical "pole" outside the steel bird feeder pole.

The plastic pole was too wide for the crows to grasp.
They still hung around on the ground, but could not raid the feeders.

https://www.diy.com/departments/d-line-50mm-black-tv-trunking/842392_BQ.prd

gillad

Crows at Bird Feeder??

Crows are Birds...........but many see them as something terrible.

diomed

One crow can eat most of what is in a feeder and keep other birds away.

gillad

diomed wrote: »

One crow can eat most of what is in a feeder and keep other birds away.

Feed the crows too....They will eat all your food leftovers and the nursing home leftovers

bogman

Every morning lines of crows, pigeons and a few magpies wait on the ESB lines near my house to be fed bird seed at my place (as well as the usual tree sparrows, tits, finches and robins) in my opinion they need to be fed too, it was through them that I developed a love of the smaller fellows, shur 6 months ago I didn't even know what a blue tit was, our land has been sterilized, trees and hedges decimated, the number of birds has halved since the '70's.
We need to look after our wildlife, all of them...

diomed

gillad wrote: »

Feed the crows too....They will eat all your food leftovers and the nursing home leftovers

I don't run the nursing home.
I feed the pigeons at my house, dozens of them.

gillad

bogman wrote: »

We need to look after our wildlife, all of them...

Its a kind of bird racism..."Those damn crows"...I used to feel like that before too but then realised they are hungry birds too and great at getting rid of leftovers

sbsquarepants

They're quite good at getting toddlers to eat too. I throw a few scraps out when the baby is eating her dinner and tell her "look, there's Mr. Crow looking for your grub, eat up" Works a treat!:D

I have one of those tubular wire feeders hanging in mid air from a branch on a string, there's nothing for the crows or magpies to land on, only the smaller birds who can grip the wire itself can get anything from it.

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

Clair4 wrote: »

I think people compare them with the grey crows there a pest same with the magpies. Crows are fairly harmless

Grey or Hooded Crows, Magpies, Rooks, Jackdaws, Jay, Chough and Raven are all crows.


I found moving the birdtable and nut feeders closer to the house stopped an excessive number of crows using the feeding station. A few Magpies will approach the feed at times but usually the Rooks and Jackdaws stick to the trees at the further parts of the garden. Unfortunately the Jay only appears sporadically in the small wood we have.

If they get to a point where they are scoffing all the feed and monopolising the feeders, then use some of the cage type covers for the seed and nut feeders.

WildIreland

I had a similar problem with rooks, but have had great success using one of these Feeder Guardian systems from birdfood.ie -- works like a charm. The rooks still come and feed on the spillage, and hoover up feed on the bird table, but they can't empty the feeder like they used to.

These are excellent quality but not the cheapest feeders out there -- but I'm sure anyone who's a bit handy could come up with a protector to fit around a standard feeder using a frame and some chicken wire.

diomed

This morning I was at Newbawn Wild Bird Feed in Co Wexford.
I ordered one of the Crow Buster cages that the owner Simon makes.
He has one outside the feedstore door that they use to feed wild birds.
There were a few dozen chaffinches and goldfinches feeding.

He also has one on display that is about 60" x 20" x 20" set on a wooden bench about 36" high.
I ordered a half-size one, and asked for a slightly lower bench. You can hang feeders inside the cage and it is supplied with a cage size plastic tray on the floor to catch dropped food.

appledrop

I have a bird feeder attached to bracket on garden wall so nothing for crows to cling onto so it's great. We get odd magpie in garden but they can only feed on what's dropped on ground. We do get collar doves + a wood pigeon but don't mind these as they actually keep the area under bird feeder clean by eating any dropped seeds.

Steveear

It's a headache when crows visit the bird feeder. They ate all the bird seeds that I prepared. Besides destroying the order of the lawn, they scattered and even scared my beloved pets. To protect the bird feeder from crows, I found some simple ways. First is changing the location of the bird feeder, or building a fence with small halls where only small birds can gain entry, not the large ones like the crow. 

I made a bird table that I attached to the wall that the crows used more than the small birds so I just went with it and put food there for them and let the small birds feed mostly from tree feeders, it seems to work and instead of giving them expensive bird food I just picked up cheap bags of tesco dog kibble for them and once they get their fill every morning they leave and the small birds and ground feeders like wood pigeon and collard doves all feast from the seed feeders for the rest of the day without any trouble from crows.