The more feeders, the more fun!

OK so you love finches but find that the house sparrows are chasing them off and dominating your bird feeder?  

We have all experienced the challenge of having different birds compete for food at bird feeders and are often disappointed to find that the ones who win the battle are not the ones that you set about to attract anyways.

Well many years ago at Chin Ridge, my Mom and our staff developed our "Mother Nature's Feeding System" which is really a system of feeding birds that maximizes the variety of birds in your yard while minimizing the competition among birds at your feeders.

The system is based on setting up multiple feeding stations with different types of feeders and food at each station in order to isolate different types of birds in your backyard.

The key to this being successful, I have found, is really your feeder. I say this because some birds, i.e. house sparrows and grackles are going to eat any kind of food you put in your feeder with the exception of perhaps safflower seed (which I have found not many other birds like either). So, select your feeders carefully as they will make the difference.

In our Mother Nature's Feeding System, we advocate having 4 different feeders and zones in your yard: One for sparrows and other ground feeders, one for finches and pine siskins etc, one for chickadees and nuthatches, and one for jays and woodpeckers.

In your Sparrow zone, you want to have a lower priced bird seed mix with a high content of millet, a small amount of sunflower, some cracked corn, even a bit of wheat, for example our Mother Nature's Mountain Multi-bird Mix or our Mother Nature's Wild Bird Premium or and offer it in a platform type feeder near the ground or a hanging feeder with a large size perch. This will attract ground feeding birds like house sparrows, juncos, doves and grackles etc.

In your Finch zone, you want to have a tube feeder, ideally with very small perches and very small seed hole openings. Fill this feeder with our Mother Nature's Wild Finch Mix or with finely chopped sunflower chips or nyjer seed.

In your Chickadee and Nuthatch zone, you want to have a hopper style feeder with very small perches and maybe even a wire surround to prevent the larger birds from getting at it. The feeder needs to have large enough seed holes to feed larger sized seeds through it and you will fill it with Mother Nature's Chickadee Nuthatch Mix or Mother Nature's Songbird Mix or alternatively with pure black oil sunflower or medium sunflower chips for example.

Finally in your Jay and Woodpecker zone, you will want to have an open platform feeder - perhaps one with a roof to keep the seed as fresh as possible, but essentially you have to be able to picture a large bird like a blue jay or a flicker landing at the feeder and being easily accomodated. In that feeder, you are going to put our Mother Nature's Jay & Woodpecker Mix or a combination of medium striped sunflower and in-shell peanuts.  

Now I would be remiss if I didn't say that no matter what you do, you will have some cross feeding between feeding zones. However, having these types of feeding stations will reduce the competition and will hopefully encourage a broader variety of birds to visit your feeders.