The Bigg Bird Forum

[Hanlou]

Hello!

I've been feeding birds in my garden for a long time now, and I do like starlings but..... they do scare away the smaller birds!

I have a Droll Yankee seed feeder at the bottom of our garden and have a small bird table with fat ball feeders at the top end. I hoped that by doing this I could keep the starlings occupied at one end and keep an area for the smaller birds. However - the starlings have learnt to use the DY Feeder!

They come periodically throughout the day to our garden and when they do come they scare the sparrows and greenfinches away.

I emailed an on-line bird company (CJ Bird Foods) to ask if there were any starling proof feeders and got a lovely reply. Basically, the answer was 'not really, no' other than the The Peanut Cake Guardian . I may buy one of these but would like something a bit more flexible though I read in an old post on this forum that you could fit a normal fat ball holder in it? I don't want to be buying specific-sized peanut cakes all the time.

The other suggestion was to use only black sunflower seeds as starlings cannot de-husk these - well my seed mix is black-sunflower-seed based which didn't really seem to bother them - but I have just got some straight black sunflower seeds and have put these in the Droll Yankee feeder for the time being. This does seem to have worked to some degree.

I also invested in lots of good quality bird food earlier in the year that I would like to be able to use of course, so I'd love a 'starling protected' normal seed feeder if at all possible. I've seen The Nuttery range and wondered if any of these actually keep out starlings?

I like the The Globe one but that doesn't say it keeps starlings out.

However, on the Nuttery website it mentioned The Mini Feeder as being effective 'against' starlings. Also, on a different website I've found A Large Lantern Nuttery Feeder that also claims to keep out starlings!

Does anyone know which are the best to go for? Do any of them actually work? If so, which would be the best seed feeder to go for please?

Any help very much appreciated! Thanks!

[Dawn]

Hi Hannah

Elizabeth might be the best one to answer this, I seem to remember she had some success, but I can't remember what type she used, I'm sure she will be along soon. We had a bit of success with an upturned hanging basket, which my husband made - looked a bit Heath-Robinson but it worked

[Hanlou]

Thanks Dawn - I do like starlings - they are quite comical birds I find! But they do sort of take over and I want to encourage the smaller birds as much as possible.

[fsphil]

I've had good success with CJ's feeder guardians. The starlings can't get into it, though they'll occasionally stretch in enough to get something. It's a lot of work for them though, and they give up eventually - especially if there is an unprotected feeder nearby.

[FeedTheBirds]

Hi Hanlou,
You can buy a retro-fit CJ Guardian cage without a feeder, which will fit to your existing feeder. CJ won't tell you that they fit DY feeders, but they do. DY feeders are fully compatible with most of the CJ accessories. No need to buy a new feeder!

[Hanlou]

[Steph]

Learn to enjoy your starlings. In the winter I can get up to 40 at one time. They look magnificent in their winter plumage.

Steph

[Hanlou]

I do like them Steph but with the sparrows being in crisis too I want to give them some chance. I have 'normal' fat ball feeders (2 of them!) at the front of the garden which the starlings love of course and a bird table that I will always keep 'open' as I don't want them to go altogether. The bird table has the mixed seed with sunflower seeds etc in it.

Just the same with the wood pigeons and collared doves - I love to see the variety.

But the starlings bully all the other birds so I want to be able to provide a solution for both.

I think I've decided now anyway. The tube feeder at the bottom of the garden with only black sunflower seeds is working perfectly for only the smaller birds as the starlings can't dehusk them. I'm going to get a CJ peanut cake guardian and use this for some sort of suet treat for the smaller birds and maybe get a small starling proof mixed seed feeder at a later date - so everyone should be happy!

I wouldn't want to actively discourage the bigger birds, no - we love 'our' blackbirds and as said, the starlings are very entertaining. We just want to provide a balanced feeding arrangement that's all.

To be honest I'd been using my tube feeder for ages and the starlings only seem to have 'discovered' it recently. It hadn't really ever crossed my mind that they could use one but they certainly proved that they could!

[Neil]

Hi Hanlou

I had much the same problem but with the added problems of destructive squirrels, the starlings would mob the feeders and the squirrels would chew them to bits. I tried different feeders over a period of about 18 months and some have been better than others. For my sunflower seeds which are the most popular i have the clingers only feeder http://shopping.rspb.org.uk/mall/productpage.cfm/rspb/R0970/76549 which allows goldfinches, tits, sparrows and other clinging birds it has been a great success for me the odd starling has tried to use it, but that has been it, i hung it on chain to deter squirrels which has worked. Secondly for my seed mixture i reluctantly went for a Squirrel Buster Plus (you can set it to stop starlings too) http://www.lamp-post.co.uk/proddetail.php?prod=ME1024 reluctantly because of the price i had a shock when it arrived i didn't realise how big it was but that said it too has been a great success for me. I still have squirrels but they just take the monkey nuts i supply them and i still have flocks of starlings (up to 30 birds) they come have a quick flap at everything and very much leaving my feeders untouched. Lastly i have a couple of ordinary seed feeders one with hemp seed which i have only ever seen a chaffinch feeding on and one with nutbits whicch the odd starling may try out, so all in all i'm pretty happy. For me it was hard to fork out the amounts of money i have on feeders but overall i would say it has been worth it. I can vouch that these worked for me whether they would work for you i couldn't say

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[Hanlou]

Bringing up an old topic I know but am feeder shopping again, lol!

My feeder is so popular that I really want to get another one to spread things out a bit. I'm thinking of buying the Squirrel Beater one not just for it's possible starling-beating qualities but because of it's capacity as it holds 1.5kg.

However...... I have been wondering if the birds like the style of feeding at the bottom of it? That's the only real thing that's putting me off it at the moment. I may just buy another Droll Yankee like I already have and get a pole for it so the birds won't fight over the feeders so much.

I'm getting lots of birds now - the black sunflower seeds go down very well with everyone I'm pleased to say. I'm getting Goldfinches, Greenfinches, Chaffinches, Sparrows, Blue Tits, Coal Tits, Dunnocks and the usual starlings and collared doves too. I still have my 'normal' bird table with food for the starlings of course.

Any opinions welcome, as always!

[Scribe]

I have two 'bottom' ring feeders, one being the squirrel Buster....no problems, all the tits, greenfinch & gold finch use them happily...

[Hanlou]

[Sturkling]

[quote="Steph"]Learn to enjoy your starlings. In the winter I can get up to 40 at one time. They look magnificent in their winter plumage.
Steph[/quote]

I really enjoy Starlings too and have produced a comic strip called 'The Sturkling Diaries' which is free to view and has no ads or popups. Its basically a tale of garden birds, but I call my Starlings, 'Sturklings'.
I hope you enjoy my attempts at artwork and storytelling.

Sample on YouTube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gy-UzHuoRdQ&feature=channel

The official website:

https://sites.google.com/site/sturklingdiaries/

You'll also find the stories on Facebook and Flickr.

[RowanWolf]

A good thread. I'm now in need of one of these types of feeders as I've been mobbed by starlings.

[Stranger]

Bravo Sturkling, a very nice read / watch / listen