Thanks so much for the response, kimmsr. I know so little about the make up of droppings that I have no idea how safe or dangerous they may be. I do know that they eat right in to the paint on my deck, so at the very least, I want to contain the damage. It's a wood deck with slots, so hosing things down just washes the mess onto my neighbor's space. I don't think that's a good idea, especially since I don't (yet) know how dangerous the poop is. I'm still thinking the best way to go is to put a bunch of potted plants underneath and let them catch the droppings and break them down as fertilizer. Unfortunately, one of the Ceanothus bushes I planted that's right underneath isn't doing very well. I'm wondering if the acid or something else in the droppings is causing problems. I'm really in need of someone with expert knowledge of the properties of bird droppings. I'm not sure if I've come to the right place or not. I'd be grateful for any help people here can provide. Thanks again!

I have found 9-pound bags of a mix of mostly millet with some sunflower seed and, I think, safflower seed, at a dollar-type store here called Big Lots. $7 per bag. Birds gobble it up in winter, but in the winter they'll eat anything; in the spring they are picky, kicking out the milo for the pigeons and doves, so I stop feeding them and concentrate on hummingbirds and, this year, suet for Ladderback and Downy woodpeckers. Also I have nyger thistle feeders (both metal mesh feeder and sock feeder) out for our sweet, tiny lesser goldfinches. To complete my first post in this forum, I spotted and got pictures of a male Northern Cardinal this morning, a rare sighting for our area (Albuquerque). A similar male bird (the same one??) was reported a few miles further north back in February. I also photographed a rare Vermillion Flycatcher in April. Maybe more birds are moving into my state -- and I'll have figure out how to feed them if they visit my apartment complex :)

I was given one for Christmas that is a green, caged feeder and it has been wonderful. No squirrel damage, they gave up on it soon after it was put up because they couldn't reach any food, the tube is that far inside the cage. I believe the feeder is called "Accent Selective." The only caution I would say is that house sparrows were able to get to the food with this feeder until I attached wires with weights on the bottoms to the top of the feeder, all around the feeder, so that they hung down to below the feeder. This solved that problem.

Toomuchglass, you could use screen or hardware cloth (or a coombination of both) as the bottom of the birdfeeders. Or you could cover them with thin planking or tin. We have ours in the open, but we use planking over the top which also helps protect the birds as they are eating from the predatory birds. Hope this helps. Alice