How Many Feeders and Where Should I Put Them? Put out as many feeders as you are willing and, most importantly, are able to maintain. (It is even better if you also garden for hummingbirds.) Having more feeders/plants may help lessen the competition amongst hummingbirds, especially if the feeders are hung out of sight from one another (and the gardens are well-spaced). You may want to check this by thinking like a hummingbird... You may not be able to see both feeders from inside your house, but a highly territorial hummingbird will find the perch outside that overlooks both! Experiment with feeder locations; once a hummingbird has discovered that a feeder is a reliable source of food, it will remember exactly where that feeder is. Go ahead and hang a feeder right up close to your house or even on a window. (Just be aware of the potential for window collisions on unprotected, reflective glass and with screened porches and other large screened-in structures.) Hummingbirds are rather fearless, and don't mind being observed close at hand if you don't make any sudden moves. Note: The sugar solution in feeders in full sun may spoil more rapidly than that which is in shaded feeders. Feeder and Feeding Facts ALG and GARDEN WEB. Please reference these sources if you use the above information as presented here in any form or media other than for personal, individual use.

I don't know how the squirrels get to it, but I'm going to replace it with a squirrel-proof feeder. I have one of those already and can get another one. I do not want to be feeding the squirrels or encouraging them in any way that I can avoid.

I saw a couple of goldfinches last summer on the opposite side of the yard from the feeders. They were chowing down on echinacea seeds. Never have seen a goldfinch at my 3 feeders on the other side of the garden shed. One is mixed seeds with sunflower, millet, etc. There are 2 suet cake feeders and one entirely untouched finch feeder holding nyger. No one goes for that one. A waste of money. I just have been seeing a male house finch feeding at the mixed seed feeder during this past week. Maybe he'll migrate over to the finch feeder?

I put out suet cakes to attract my little downy woodpeckers and their larger cousins the red bellied woodpeckers. In the last few days, starlings and grackles have discovered the suet cake dispensers and are eating them all up. And the little birds I enjoy which feed at my tubular mixed seed feeders are intimidated by this giants and leave until the intruders take their leave. Now that the suet feeders are empty from the starlings and grackles, they're not around. Should I just not fill the suet feeders for a few days and hope they don't come back? I miss my down woodpecker couple that feeds here daily.