Woodpeckers are emptying my feeder..!! (1 Viewer)

[orbitrob]

my woodpeckers have the nasty habit of emptying my birdfeeders... probably looking for bugs of some sort... especially the bigger Hairy & Ladderbacks... they just 'rake' the seed from the feeder with their long bills, & can empty several pounds of seed from my feeder in minutes..!!... I can't keep my feeders filled, & other birds have no food.

Yes, I have several suet stations... the peckers go to that after they've emptied my feeders. I have tried the tube-feeders; which do work... but, we love the rose-breasted grosbeak... [got 7 pair] & they won't go to the tube feeders.

Chipmunks love it... all the food ends up on the ground..!!... I've been going thru over 5# of seed a day, & feeders are still empty half the time..!!... any suggestions are most welcome.... Rob

 

[Buz]

my woodpeckers have the nasty habit of emptying my birdfeeders... probably looking for bugs of some sort... especially the bigger Hairy & Ladderbacks... they just 'rake' the seed from the feeder with their long bills, & can empty several pounds of seed from my feeder in minutes..!!... I can't keep my feeders filled, & other birds have no food.

Yes, I have several suet stations... the peckers go to that after they've emptied my feeders. I have tried the tube-feeders; which do work... but, we love the rose-breasted grosbeak... [got 7 pair] & they won't go to the tube feeders.

Chipmunks love it... all the food ends up on the ground..!!... I've been going thru over 5# of seed a day, & feeders are still empty half the time..!!... any suggestions are most welcome.... Rob

Have you tried changing your food to something woodpeckers don't like as much?

 

[rjlp]

Use safflower seed. The Grobeaks love it, and woodpeckers (or grackles) won't touch it.

 

[orbitrob]

safflower is a good idea... but at 4-10x the price of sunnys, it could be expensive... we went thru 600# of black-oil seed last year... with the price bump on sunflower seed, even that is quite a few bucks.