Kitchen Garden Forum

We seem to have reached an impasse in this household on striking a balance in a smallishn garden between feeding the birds and growing crops which are being totally ruined by wood pigeons and squirrels.
My husband is a huge fan of feeding the smaller birds but unfortunately this can,t be selective and all the bigger beasts and the squirrels get in on the act. The squirrels have now learnt how to upturn the bird feeder containers so that all the contents tip out onto the lawn to make feeding easier. The wood pigeons stripped the leaves off amy kohl rabi in the 30 minutes my back was turned to do another chore.

We,ve now had to take all the bird feeders down for the summer.It seems the male bird feeder in this house and the female veggie grower can no longer find a compromise which works as netting doesn,t seem to keep the birds away. I guess they,ve just got used to having a 24 hour cafe!

Is there a solution to this age old problem?

I can't really think of an answer for you Primrose but, my Mum is having a similar problem with pigeons and squirrels in her garden.
They both are doing so much damage to plants and bulbs and also keeping the smaller birds away, she has stopped putting food out for now, to see if they clear off.....but I suppose as soon as she starts feeding again, they will return.

As a last resort, there is always room on my allotment for you....

I've had to net the veg in the raised bed to protect it from the pigeons. But I still keep a bird table and a couple of hanging feeders for the smaller birds.

We don't feed the birds from about mid-Apil to mid-October, depending on the weather, for the very reasons outlined above. There is a wood pigeon nest in the trees directly opposite the vegetable garden but so far they have left the larger brassicas alone (the small ones are netted). But we still have trouble from house sparrows: we have at least five sparrow nests in the garden and the young are now spread all over the garden.
I like your coloured windmill idea, Elmigo!

On the 'lottie, I was using feeders in the winters but I only saw jackdaws using them. I think they were deliberately rocking it excessively to get the seeds onto the ground.
I will get a caged type to try to prioritise the smaller birds.

The best feeders I've found are the pop bottle ones ,I buy the end bits from amazon usually three for £5 ish put a couple of holes in the bottom of an empty pop bottle and fit the hanging bar fill from the other end then screw the feeder on its a great way to salvage pop bottles