My squirrel baffle made out of a plastic Halloween pumpkin covers my feeder pretty good. The birdseed gets a little wet when it rains, but the only time that's a problem is when the birdseed has a filler that makes everything else stick to it. This is my first year with it so I don't know if it will cover snow.

That's clever, using a Halloween pumpkin cover. :)

Thanks:)

Well, right now it looks like this...

Because I use it for a trellis support for my pole beans.

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The "chimney" is my rain gauge.

It can look like this in winter...

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tj

here is my station

We live SE of Seattle. When we started feeding birds all our feeders where open to the weather including a platform feeder with a wire bottom for drainage. We had lots of birds. My bride asked if I could make her a hexagon or octagon feeder. I said; "Certainly my dear."

I decided I would build a large covered feeder so the birds could come in out of the rain and/or snow mimicking your thoughts. It had a half hexagon hopper on each end for different types of seed and a platform between them. A roof covered the whole thing.

We had about a third of the birds we did before. You could not see them well and it was too dark to take pictures. We used it for a couple of years and it didn't get any better.

My bride never like it. She showed me a hex feeder picture in a magazine like the one she wanted in the first place. She asked if I would build one like it and get rid of the covered one. I agreed because of the lack of birds using it. I had also come to the reality that the birds have been doing just fine without an umbrella for eons. All you have to do is keep the seeds dry in the hoppers so they won't mold if it gets wet.

The seed on a platform, or the ground, is just like the natural seed the birds eat in the rain and snow. We only put out enough for them to eat in a day to keep it from rotting. When it snows, we tamp it down and put more seed on top. As it melts, the birds will find the seed from before. It is too cold for rot or mold to be a problem.

The new open feeder took less than a couple of weeks for the birds to get back too and surpass the numbers we had before the covered feeder.

We have our hummingbird feeders under the eves near windows for two reasons. We can see them thru the windows and the feeders stay a little warmer for the Anna's when the temperature gets below freezing.

Next time it rains, look at the birds. They go about their business like they do when it's dry. They must to survive. If you ever see a wet bird, it is ether sick and/or hasn't maintained it's feathers or it just took a bath.

Your open feeders will be fine.

Enjoy your birds, Bob