A Gardeners Forum Forums Members History Forum Life 2005 bird area ideas?

P.S. Thanks for all the parrot info (toxic stuff) on your website. I am a PREACHER when it comes to this stuff (candles, cleaning stuff, teflon, etc., etc., etc..)

All the birds are DNA'd. So the safe wood page names indicate males and females by the nature of the name there.

If we start getting some regular outdoor visitors, maybe they'll get a name too, for a season at least.

I may make a feeder like this certain outfit that makes them from birch tree trunk wood we and other people give them. I'll see if I can get the picture on here. I like the way the makers split saw limbs to trim the front and back edges of roofs on feeders and bird houses.

hey! thanks for all the ideas to add to my little birdie area! here's a few of my own- as far as the squirrels i have found one trick that they have not figured out yet (and we are going on almost a year). i had a suet feeder hung out and they chewed through the string to get it to fall down to eat it. i hung it on a small chain and watched them- they pulled up the chain to the branch and then ate the suet! so i got a 2 liter soda bottle- cut the bottom out and hung it on the chain so the suet was below that. they haven't bothered it since. they can't hang from the brahc cause the feeder is too low and they can't reach past the 2 liter bottle- it's just to big for them! and i made my own bird bath this spring! i took the big size tomatoe cage, turned it upside down so the small part was on top. took off the long wires that you poke into the ground and placed the bottom saucer of a planter in there with water and a rock for the smallish birdies. i planted sweet peas in the bottom and over the summer they will fill in beneath the bath. they birdies have finally found my bath and we have lots of fun watching them splash! my 2 kids especailly love to wathc them. they get SO excited to see a bird in "our water!" . here's a pic....

Hey, that is a NEAT idea! I have some saucers just like that in my bird gardens, too, with rocks in them! But, I hadn't thought about the tomato cage idea to get them up off the ground. I have several big concrete bird baths, and they are such a pain to keep clean everyday. They are so heavy to lift off and clean with bleach, but I do it about every 3 days. I just clean them with water and a brush between the bleach cleanings. But, the saucers are SO easy to keep clean!
Thank you!!! Just so happens I have 3 tomato cages I haven't used yet! This idea ROCKS!

Cindy

Very neat idea & I'm sure my kids would love it, too! And, we have lots of birds in our yard already.

If you measure how big the bottom two rings are also, you can take a little handsaw or if you're compatant to use an electrical circular saw....

You measure out where the vertical lines are and you can put notches in there and bend and slide in 2 more saucers on down too!

Weezie

hey that would be cool to have a multi-tiered "bathhouse" too! LOL i am still waiting for my sweet peas to grow beyond 6 inches though..... maybe next year i'll try a different vine..... and yup- this was my fav project so far- especially cause it was cheap! LOL and when i found out which saucer fit i bought a couple just to have around in case it cracks after a while from the sun and it's very very easy to wash since it's so light.

If you put out seed, suet, and have some water the birds will come, no doubt about it. Good luck.

I made one of those tomato cage birdbaths a few years ago and also grew vines on the cage.
Unfortunately I had some very determined squirrels who constantly knocked the dish out of the cage and toppled the whole set-up several times before I took it down.

I hope you have much better luck with yours!
They really are a neat set-up.

my squirrels haven't found it yet. *knock on wood* can i ask which vines you planted??? my sweet peas have sort of hit a lull.

I know I grew some nasturtiums under the cage, and I'm pretty sure I grew some morning glories up the cage. Any vine will do... I'm pretty fond of scarlet runner beans and purple hyacinth beans, though they do tend to grow higher than the tomato cages, but I'm sure you can prune them back if they get out of hand.