Frequently asked questions

A tube feeder with a removable base, filled with black oil sunflower seed and hung on a baffled pole. It suits the widest range of small birds and it is the easiest to keep clean. Our beginner picks are here.

Black oil sunflower. Project FeederWatch calls it the preferred food of a wide variety of birds, and because it is a single ingredient, nothing you pay for gets thrown on the ground. The full comparison is here.

One. Get a single feeder working — birds visiting, seed staying dry, squirrels handled — before adding a second. Three feeders in week one usually means three neglected feeders by December.

It depends on your traffic, your feeder and your seed, so instead of a made-up figure we publish the arithmetic: refills per month × feeder capacity × price per pound. Work yours out here.

About five to six feet. That clears the four-to-five foot standing jump Duncraft publishes for squirrels, and it keeps the feeder refillable without a ladder.

About ten feet. Project FeederWatch calls that a good compromise between giving birds escape cover from hawks and keeping squirrels from jumping across. All the distances are here.

Within about three feet of the glass, or more than thirty feet away. The middle distance is where a startled bird builds up enough speed for a collision to be fatal. The American Bird Conservancy puts US glass-collision deaths at more than a billion birds a year.

A pole, a deck-rail bracket, a wall-mounted arm or a window feeder — and a yard with no overhanging branch is actually easier to defend from squirrels. Every option compared.

Yes, with a window feeder or a small rail-mounted tube plus a tray to catch hulls. Use a shell-free seed so nothing lands on the balcony below. The apartment guide is here.

No. Some are genuinely squirrel-resistant, which is a different and honest claim. Placement does more of the work than the mechanism does. The full argument is here.

A pole with a baffle, sited away from fences, walls, roofs and overhanging branches. It costs less than most feeders and it protects every feeder you ever hang on it.

The top of the baffle should sit at least four and a half feet from the ground, per published retailer guidance. Mounted lower than that, it is decoration. Baffles compared.

Usually, not always. Most squirrels prefer sunflower and move on if safflower is the only thing on offer — but a hungry squirrel with no alternative will eat it. The honest version.

No. Grease transfers onto feathers, and feathers that cannot insulate are dangerous to a bird in cold weather. Use a baffle instead.

Every week or two, and more often in heavy use or wet weather. Project FeederWatch recommends disinfecting by soaking cleaned parts for ten minutes in one part bleach to nine parts water. Step by step.

Any time. Early autumn is the easiest start, because natural food is still plentiful while you get the placement and the seed right. The fall calendar.

Days to a few weeks, depending mostly on whether anyone nearby already feeds. Leave it in one place for at least two weeks — every move restarts the clock.

In order of likelihood: it is too new, the seed is stale, natural food is abundant, a hawk is hunting the yard, the feeder is dirty, or the placement is wrong. Work through the diagnostic.

Spilled seed does; the feeder itself is out of reach. Fit a catch tray, put out less at a time, and keep the ground underneath clear. More here.

Yes, if you keep them clean — the hygiene bar is higher in the heat. Switch plain suet for a no-melt dough, because soft fat can coat a bird's feathers. Summer feeding.

No, and we say so on every commercial page. We compile the manufacturers' published specifications, do the arithmetic they leave out, and cite all of it. Here is exactly what that involves.

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