Birds won’t use squirrel proof feeder

[BarrelOfOtters]

Any suggestions. It’s really to stop the big birds having all the food. The little birds are ignoring it and using standard feeder….and just looking annoyed when standard feeder empty.

Refill the standard feeder more often if you can. Give up all hope of ever beating big birds, let alone squirrels. Save money on “squirrel proof” (lol) contraptions.

I use a bird scarer to get rid of pigeons. www.shooo.uk Not sure if that will help?

How long have you had it? Birds take a few weeks to accept a new feeder.
We have one of these and it works well.

What sort of bird feeder and what sort of squirrel proofing? We have a "shepherd's crook" style pole with tubular feeders containing suet-based pieces and sunflower seeds. A squirrel baffle on the pole keeps squirrels and rats off, and I've never seen big birds (except for parakeets) on the feeders, although they do eat food that drops onto the ground.

It's this kind of thing. We don't have squirrels but crows swing off the bird feeders to try and open them or get in to all the food.

I love feeding the birds. I've had the same problem. Both squirrels and a horde of starlings would empty the feeder in seconds. The poor tits wouldn't get a thing.

I bought that type of feeder (but with straight sides) and it worked up to a point. But it also excluded the goldfinches that I was keen to attract. The tits seem fine with it. Is it just that they prefer the food in the other feeder which is why they're looking peeved? I feed fat pellets, sunflower seeds and mealworms (in ascending order of popularity). Maybe give them some more time to work it out.

Tits and finches seem to much prefer the feeder to be close to a natural perch (such as a tree) so they don't have to go far from their natural cover.