Won't feeding animals encourage them to visit your garden?

[SamClemensMT]

I need your opinion on this. By feeding birds and squirrels aren't you inviting them to hang around your garden. My experience has been that they are never satisfied.

 

[Kansas Terri]

I heard of one gent who put a bird bath and a roost in his garden! He WANTED them there to eat the bugs and take the bugs to their young! Many species of birds will pay for their birdseed by removing bugs!

This is not ALWAYS true: For a while I had trouble with the larger birds snatching my sweet corn when the corn first showed above the ground but they no longer do this any longer. I don't know why.

Birds rarely harm my garden, but the squirrels are not to be trusted! When it is hot out they eat the juicy tomatos. Still, the damage done by either birds or squirrels are not all that bad.

I take it you have not been as fortunate?

 

[MindyT]

I never put out food for them for this very reason. I don't want them in my yard. Why feed the addiction? I have enough squirrels in my front yard as it is!

 

[Gina145]

It will definitely encourage them to come back, so you have to decide whether they're welcome in your garden before you start feeding them.

We don't have squirrels where I live, so that's not something I have to worry about. I actually like to see birds in my garden, but I don't have time to feed them right now. Maybe one day I'll start doing it though.

 

[Mockingbird]

I only feed the birds if the weather gets so harsh they cannot easily forage. Otherwise they have plenty of things in the garden they can use to eat or nest in. I agree that the birds (and toads) are very handy for keeping the bug population down. I like the snakes to keep mice out. I think it is better to be eco balanced then just offer up hotel space. Feeders leave seeds and husks that not only start the weeds but also attract other things like ants and bugs.

In all fairness though- some of the song birds and more endangered birds can benefit from some additional care. Fruit, berries, maybe some peanut butter all help, the best thing you can do to help is make sure there is a water source, even in the winter. They have heaters to prevent the baths from freezing. Well worth the investment.

 

[claudine]

I'm sure it encourages them to visit our gardens. But isn't it a good thing? Birds and squirrels are adorable, little creatures I'd miss them terribly if they decided to stop spending time on trees in my area.
Almost every day I watch squirrels swinging on branches. It's more entertaining than TV

 

[ChanellG]

I need your opinion on this. By feeding birds and squirrels aren't you inviting them to hang around your garden. My experience has been that they are never satisfied.

It is a definite invitation - like feeding a stray cat. We now have one that thinks he lives at our house, lol. I refuse to have a bird bath, feeder, or one of those nest building scrap thingys you hang in a tree until I can properly protect my garden from birds. Last year was to be my best crop of blueberries yet and they all mysteriously started disappearing off the bush - before they were even completely ripe!

No, I will create a special garden for birds with plants of their own someday, until then they will just have to fend for themselves! (There are plenty of oak trees in my neighborhood to feed the squirrels. They are on their own!)

 

[Gina145]

Last year was to be my best crop of blueberries yet and they all mysteriously started disappearing off the bush - before they were even completely ripe!)

We have the same thing happen with our plum tree every year. The only difference being that in our case they leave half-eaten fruit on the tree.

Growing fruit is an invitation to birds and I've yet to find a way to keep them away. If you find a solution I'd love to know about it.

 

[gata montes]

We have the same thing happen with our plum tree every year. The only difference being that in our case they leave half-eaten fruit on the tree.

Growing fruit is an invitation to birds and I've yet to find a way to keep them away. If you find a solution I'd love to know about it.

I had the same problem and the only thing that I have found to work is a holographic iridescent tape called " Bird-X Irri Tape " - available from Amazon - which as it causes the birds to become disorientated and confused by the shimmer of the holographic iridescent material and also makes a noise when the wind blows that they find threatening - as well as a sound that they apparently find extremely irritating - does appear to help in keeping them away from my fruit or at least it has done for the past ten years - so long as there is a slight breeze.

 

[Gina145]

I had the same problem and the only thing that I have found to work is a holographic iridescent tape called " Bird-X Irri Tape " - available from Amazon - which as it causes the birds to become disorientated and confused by the shimmer of the holographic iridescent material and also makes a noise when the wind blows that they find threatening - as well as a sound that they apparently find extremely irritating - does appear to help in keeping them away from my fruit or at least it has done for the past ten years - so long as there is a slight breeze.

I read about that once before. My problem is that I'm in South Africa, and the postage from Amazon costs more than the products do. I once tried to see if I could find a stockist here, but was unsuccessful. Now that you've reminded me, I'll have to try again.

 

[ChanellG]

We have the same thing happen with our plum tree every year. The only difference being that in our case they leave half-eaten fruit on the tree.

Growing fruit is an invitation to birds and I've yet to find a way to keep them away. If you find a solution I'd love to know about it.

Well, I can tell you that netting won't work. My friend tried that and the birds would get under it and then wouldn't be able to get out! I plan on building a screened "greenhouse" for things I want to protect from birds and moths. In fact, anything that can self pollinate will live in it full time.

 

[Gina145]

Well, I can tell you that netting won't work. My friend tried that and the birds would get under it and then wouldn't be able to get out! I plan on building a screened "greenhouse" for things I want to protect from birds and moths. In fact, anything that can self pollinate will live in it full time.

That would work for my fruiting bonsai trees, but not for a huge tree like the plum tree in our garden. If we're still in this house next summer I might try the tape that gata montes mentioned. I just wish that the birds would share instead of taking everything for themselves.

 

[ChanellG]

That would work for my fruiting bonsai trees, but not for a huge tree like the plum tree in our garden. If we're still in this house next summer I might try the tape that gata montes mentioned. I just wish that the birds would share instead of taking everything for themselves.

You can get the same effect (supposedly) hanging reflective things around your garden (like old CDs). My mother had a bunch of things like that around her yard, not sure how effective it was. My blueberry bush is still small and in a pot, so I'll just have to move it once it sets fruit.

 

[Gina145]

You can get the same effect (supposedly) hanging reflective things around your garden (like old CDs). My mother had a bunch of things like that around her yard, not sure how effective it was. My blueberry bush is still small and in a pot, so I'll just have to move it once it sets fruit.

I've seen people use CDs here too, but I don't have any old unwanted ones lying around. And gata montes also mentioned the noise the tape makes, something that wouldn't happen with CDs.

Keeping trees small definitely has its advantages, and keeping the birds off my bonsais shouldn't be a problem. It's only the one big tree I'm really concerned about. As our plum season is already over, I'm in no rush to find a solution but I'll try to remember to look for that tape when I'm at a garden centre just in case I need it.

 

[gata montes]

I read about that once before. My problem is that I'm in South Africa, and the postage from Amazon costs more than the products do. I once tried to see if I could find a stockist here, but was unsuccessful. Now that you've reminded me, I'll have to try again.

Ah now thats a shame - unfortunately other than Amazon or Bird X themselves I don't know who else to suggest - as I don't know of any other suppliers that would ship to South Africa - but either way I do hope that you manage to get hold of some - as it really is the only thing that I can recommend as an effective bird deterrent and believe me with over 50 fruit trees and many grape vines too - I have tried everything from scarecrows, sparkly, shiny, clanky things and netting too and it wasn't until I started using the " Bird-X Irri Tape " ten years ago that I actually managed to harvest the majority of fruits that I grow.

I would however just add - that as there are now many replicas around - it is only the " Bird-X Irri Tape " that you want to be looking out for - as that is the original bird repellant tape which was first developed for use by NASA - its also generally slightly cheaper than many of the replicas too