Community Chat

[NickNack]

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@KingstonsMom wrote:

@NickNack 

You're very welcome!

Another reason you may want to discontinue feeding the birds is that one poster (I forget which one) who responded to my 'Kington Surgery' thread mentioned that her dog was in the hospital for a week after eating "tainted bird poop".

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@KingstonsMom   I read that post and thought about Ava possibly doing that.

[KingstonsMom]

@Mz iMac 

Not if you have blue jays as frequent visitors!

The ones that visit our feeding platform, scatter the seeds all over the place while searching for their favorite seeds, LOL!

[NickNack]

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@MalteseMomma wrote:

@NickNack 

Won't the birds eat it all up in the blink of an eye?

Mine would...............

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@MalteseMomma   I do have birds who eat off the ground, but the little ones stay at the feeders.  I have a huge hopper feeder, an extra large tube feeder and a cylinder feeder in my back yard.

[occasionalrain]

Once you begin to feed birds, it's inhuman to stop in the winter. The birds establish food sources in the fall and expend energy getting to their know food sources. When that source is gone some will die trying to locate another source. Often, they will continue flying about in the same area confused.

I suggest you go out with your dog and train him to "leave it" .

[KingstonsMom]

@occasionalrain 

She still has a feeder in her front yard that she's leaving up, so it's not a stretch for the birds to 'smell' their food close by.

[NickNack]

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@occasionalrain wrote:

Once you begin to feed birds, it's inhuman to stop in the winter. The birds establish food sources in the fall and expend energy getting to their know food sources. When that source is gone some will die trying to locate another source. Often, they will continue flying about in the same area confused.

I suggest you go out with your dog and train him to "leave it" .

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@occasionalrain   I have a large feeder in the front yard and also a cylinder feeder in the front yard.

[Mom2Dogs]

If the seed fell into your lawn (grassy area) I would think you could use a shop vac and get up what seed you can, and I'd also rake reallly well.

We quit feeding the birds several years ago - they made a huge mess in the yard and I and a lot of odd weeds sprouting...I don't think our dog ever ate the seed, but that would have been enough for me to quit feeding them as well.

Our neighbor has a feeder in the front yard and it does cause some problems...lots of birds flying around and we have had a few birds fly into the garage...I am terrified of birds....yes I know they won't hurt me but the fear is real....we usually have the garage door down but on occasion its open for several hours....and along with the birds come squirrels.

[KingstonsMom]

I have to admit that I'm curious about so many 'rake them up' replies, how do you rake them when they're so small they go right between the tines of the rake?

The one time I tried that they did anyway, so I ended up with the reversing the leaf blower method.

[Kachina624]

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@SilleeMee wrote:

Shopvacs are made for that kind of thing.

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@NickNack.  I think this is the best idea.  Do you know anyone who has one?

[NickNack]

@Kachina624   I don't know if I know anyone or not.  I'll have to ask.  My yard guy might.