How do you keep wild birds away from feeders?

[FattySmough]

Hello!

I free range my chickens all day and keep their feeder and waterer under the oak tree in the center of my yard. The only problem is that it attracts wild birds. SO MANY. I will look outside and see 8 to 10 birds around the feeder. I'm concerned about this because of the possibility of disease, especially avian influenza. Not to mention they cost me quite a bit of feed.

Anyways, what do you guys do to keep wild birds from constantly eating your feed? I'm curious about the setups that other people use.

 

[RubelliteRose]

We free range and have several bowls of water around the yard. The food is kept only in the run. They will wander back to the run periodically during the day to eat a few mouthfuls of food and then leave again. We've not had any wild birds try to get into the feeders while in the run.

 

[Sussex19]

I'm having the same problem; not so worried about disease because we don't have avian influenza here, but they eat a lot of feed.
What I've ended up doing is just giving them as much as they can eat a couple of times a day.
That way there isn't any left lying around.
The birds end up in the run, under the house and just about anywhere.

 

[FattySmough]

We free range and have several bowls of water around the yard. The food is kept only in the run. They will wander back to the run periodically during the day to eat a few mouthfuls of food and then leave again. We've not had any wild birds try to get into the feeders while in the run.

I never thought about keeping food in the run for free ranging birds, that's a good idea.

 

[FattySmough]

I'm having the same problem; not so worried about disease because we don't have avian influenza here, but they eat a lot of feed.
What I've ended up doing is just giving them as much as they can eat a couple of times a day.
That way there isn't any left lying around.
The birds end up in the run, under the house and just about anywhere.

It's baffling how much they eat isn't it? Avian influenza hasn't been in my area recently either, I just like to play it safe. You feed the wild birds a couple times a day to keep them from eating too much? Interesting.

 

[Sussex19]

It's baffling how much they eat isn't it? Avian influenza hasn't been in my area recently either, I just like to play it safe. You feed the wild birds a couple times a day to keep them from eating too much? Interesting.

Sorry I wasn't very clear, what I meant was I feed the chickens a couple of times a day, not the wild birds.

 

[FattySmough]

Sorry I wasn't very clear, what I meant was I feed the chickens a couple of times a day, not the wild birds.

Okay, that makes a lot more sense. I was a bit confused when I first read your message!