We live on the edge of a wooded valley. At night the deer come out of the valley, through my yard and to the farmer's field next to our acreage. We have lived here for 13 years now and have had the 'privilege' of dealing with the deer. Like Cole, we also hunt and will eat deer meat but the hunting season is only on for a few weeks in the fall and there are too many deer here for us to eat anyways. Around the large garden at the end of our lane we put up an eight foot fence and it works 100%. We used stucco wire for the bottom 5 feet and then a single strand of wire each foot above that. Now I can grow raspberries, strawberries, peas, carrots, beets, lettuce, etc etc. In the yard closer to the house I had to do something else since an eight foot fence wasn't an option. When googling possible solutions I came across this fact...deer do not like the smell of the protein that is in eggs. One of the large wholesale nurseries somewhere in the States was using this solution with great results... Fill a 4 litre milk jug with water almost to the top and then add one beaten egg. Shake it to mix and pour into your sprayer. This solution will need to be added after each rain or heavy dew. Some recipes will ask you to add garlic, cayenne pepper, tabasco sauce, etc etc...but you don't need to go to the expense of adding them since it doesn't make it any more effective. I have also seen similar recipes call for letting the egg solution sit for a few days to rot so that the deer will be deterred by the smell of the rotten egg. Also, some recipes call for using 2-4 eggs in the same amount of water I use one in. The one egg per jug is all that is needed and works just excellent. I mix and immediately spray on as I am walking through the gardens, looking at what is blooming. If there is some left and it does sit for a few days then I spray the plants but stand upwind from the spray. Brenda

It was cold this morning and I am in the southern NH area... but I still saw a few hummers (male and female) before leaving for work. We are expecting hot weather again, soon. This weather must be as confusing to them as it is for us.

I have never understood about bring birds I don't want. I like all birds, big flocks of blackbirds can be a problem but even them I allow to eat for a time before sending them on. Which birds should I not like? Even the sparrows here travel in mixed groups of lark, chipping, song, english and others so if I want one type I will feed all.

I feed the birds, my parents have two suet baskets that sure go fast and they are constantly having to buy suet to put in them. And I tend to feeding the birds, black oil sunflowers as they do love those alot and go through them tons and tons when its so cold and snowy. We buy major birdseed and also loose peanuts, not in their shells and then buy this smaller bag for tiny birds to enjoy eating. I give out lots when we have had our winter storms some years and snow and cold talk about how fast they go through all that during that time but they need it. And don't forget the winter hummingbirds too as found out one winter storm and it was bitter cold outside for us living here on west side of canada on island and a hummingbird came along and it was being taken in and thawed and the other one put out and they rotated them my parents did. Our birdbath is frozen I noticed and so yes, they must find it themselves but the water is in creeks, streams that isn't during the summer months. I have to laugh as we have one area by the back door I use from my suite and its bent and so it really fills up with water and birds bath themselves in it. I will come out and go what is that noise and see water and wings going like crazy, even in the winter they do it too. We have small, medium, large size woodpeckers, we used to have doves but haven't seen any this year at all. We get tons of chickadees which I love and they are so friendly and they see me coming to the area I throw out the food for them and its like hurry, hurry and then I throw the peanuts and they dive and I go watch out here is the seed and I throw it in. We have other birds too and lots are pecking on the ground where parents gardener put mulches leaves and they go after berries too on the trees. Its nice to see the different birds and to watch them I love to do.