Put collars down for the crawlers and over the top you can put anything. I just happened to have a lot of scavenged quarter and half inch hardware cloth so have made some little covers with the stuff and some dikes. Seems to work ok. EDIT PS: It's not perfect; I still manage to feed lots of critters. This post was edited by cold_weather_is_evil on Sun, Apr 13, 14 at 16:54

I also use the socks which are used almost exclusively by goldfinches this year (last year the pine siskins were all over). There's a lot of spillover, which makes juncos and other sparrows very happy. Not to mention the mourning doves, and the turkeys. Turkeys were a big problem when one sock dangled down within reach - the turkeys discovered they could peck a hole in the sock and empty it down to the ground, where they sucked it all up. As for your original question "How much does a single bird eat in a day any way?", I don't know the answer, but I had 18 goldfinches on the socks this morning and they have been diligently working at lowering the levels. Claire

Hi Lisa, I really know nothing about bird illness. The only thing I could think of was the relatively sudden change of air temperature (it's been the same here in Massachusetts - unseasonably COLD - but I bet it's even colder where you are). I did read that sudden changes in air temperature can affect birds' energy levels (a study done in Scotland). But I don't know whether the way your bird looks could be explained by something like that. Our birds here are still pretty lively and doing the usual things. Is the bird eating or drinking? Is it losing feathers? I wish that I could be more helpful. Would the Cornell Lab of Ornithology site have information? They seem to be a good place to refer to. Best of luck, I know you care so much about the birds.

Nice....looks like a house finch.