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Chickadee ONLY feeder (1 Viewer)

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Guzano

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Hi this is my first post in this Forum !!!

In my ever lasting battle against house sparrows, i ended up in this forum !!!
After searching for the ultimate Chickadee feeder. I bought this cool looking feeder http://s152.photobucket.com/albums/s189/moosehead_photo/?action=view&current=Picture-5.jpg

The only problem is that only one out of my four chickadees wants to use this feeder !!! So the search continues !!! Does any one know of any Chickadee/No Sparrow Feeder ??

Thanks !!!!
 
Hi Guzano and welcome to the forum!

LOL, thats a great question you've posted there.

Between House Sparrows and House Finch, my poor Chickadees are really having a time of it tryin to get something from the feeders.
I try to walk out there and stand for a little bit, this scares the 2 House types away and gives the Chickadees a relaxing time to eat. They are very brave and sweet and I'm always meaning to try and hand feed them.

As far as feeders go I can't be of much help but if your Dees eat thistle seed get an Upside Down Thistle feeder. I believe only the Goldfinch and Chickadees will be able to use it.
 
Thanks for the reply !!!

I do have an upside down feeder. My chickadees have a go at it when all other food sources have run out !!! But if only they would use the feeder which i posted the picture !!! 1 1/8 openings so the sparrows can't get in !!!:C
 
Hello there and a warm welcome to you from those of us on staff here at BirdForum :t:

It's not so much the feeder as what you are feeding the birds that can discourage the House Sparrow.

House Sparrows do not like the better seeds i.e. sunflower hearts. If you are using a mixed seed which contains millet, you are always going to have the House Sparrow around. The plus here is that I don't know of any other bird that doesn't love the sunflower hearts but the Sparrow sure doesn't.
 
My chickadees love the peanut log that I get from wildbrid unlimited...and like someone else said, I usually stand out there to keep the others away and they'll come in.
 
Hi and welcome!
In my experience, the only House Sparrow proof feeders that are good for chickadees, are metal suet feeders or the tubular peanut feeders. House Sparrows don't eat safflower seed so you could try feeding that although it's expensive and I don't know how the chickadees like it.
I have one squirrel proof feeder that the House Sparrows never go on although I don't know why not. I'll post a picture later.
 
Up here( Canada,Quebec). Sparrows will eat anything !!! Sunflower seeds, safflower, suet, peanuts, mixed blend !!How would sunflower hearts be different??? And they get used to any type of feeder i put out(except the specialised cardinal feeder) !!!

And they chase every one !!! Squirrels, Stralings, Cardinals, Downys, Warblers and even my lone kinglet!! The only ones that are not affraid are the Chickadees !!! but 20 against 4 :C

thanks for your replies !!!
 
All I can tell you is that at my feeders at the office as well as home were over run with sparrows. An old birding member of my local audubon told me to switch over to the sunflower hearts and within a day every sparrow had moved on from both locations.
 
That's interesting, because I have feeders just for sunflower seeds, and the sparrows will eat them...although that seems to be their last resort, when the other feeders are too busy.
 
Find the fine sunflower hearts for your thistle feeder--the chickadees will get more out of it than thistle; that is, if you can find fine sunflower hearts.

I had a lot of House Sparrows in the city eating sunflower hearts, but as jm32206 it seemed to be a last resort. Also they were city birds, and I imagine that more often than not, anything goes as far as food and they were probably happy just to get something other than bleached-enriched white bread into their little bodies. But they never crowded out the chickadees.
Here in the country, I have never had issues with House Sparrows and I never thought about it being because I use the sunflower hearts. Interesting, KC. Also there is generally plenty to eat almost all year round for the sparrows.

I would try the fine sunflowers in the thistle feeder. or you could stop feeding for a while. Sometimes they will go away in search of another food source. And the chickadees are usually the ones who come back first, so no worries losing them.
 
Wow I've never heard or seen "fine sunflower seeds".

I'm not sure of the poster but my problem is with House Finch being aggressive to other small birds such as Goldfinch, Chickadees etc.

I've tried everything including taking down feeders for long periods of time just using certain types of seeds (no mixes) but nothing has worked as it seems they like every seed there is around. They even eat peanuts! Any suggestions?

Getting back to the original posters question do you think one of those Globe type feeders would help? I've never had one.

birdpotter, where do you find "fine sunflower seeds"? Thank You!
 
The house sparrows in my yard empty my medium sized Wild Birds Unlimited seed tube in a day. It is filled with nothing but black oil sunflower. The only other birds I've ever seen on it is 1 goldfinch and two house finches. There are also at least 1 or 2 sparrows on my suet feeder at all times. I've never seen anything else on that feeder except for the occasional starling.

If I switched to sunflower hearts, would that make a difference from the black oil sunflower seed?
 
There seems to be a bit of confusion here. The recommendation was for "fine sunflower hearts". Hearts = unshelled chips of sunflower. Some of the behavour described seems odd. I've never seen a House Sparrow hang upside down on a feeder or even attempt to get on the metal tubular peanut feeders.
My observation is that House Sparrows like a perch or platform to eat from. Interesting!
 
Whoops, I see in my post I did say fine sunflower 'seeds', sorry about that. I meant hearts. Which you can get at wild bird seed stores.

I agree with snowyowl about the behavior of the House Sparrows. I have only seen them as platform feeders.


What about putting a feeder that you know they love on the other side of the house for them (the sparrows)? Make it really appealing so they can't resist to move to a different part of the yard.

Well, good luck, with whatever you find that works!
 
The house sparrows by me hang upside down on my suet feeder all the time.

Now upside down on the thistle feeder - that kind of scares me. Was hoping that would be my answer for the poor goldfinches.
 
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