Building a Bird Feeder Resistant to Grackles

A bird feeder can be an amazing way to bring nature right into your yard. Unfortunately, grackles like to ruin the party with their mean, territorial ways. Grackles will chase other birds away from your bird feeder as well as waste seed by throwing the seed they don’t like on the ground. Grackle-proofing a birdhouse is a pretty easy and painless process that just about any do-it-yourselfer can do.

Step 1 - Measure your bird feeder

Measure the width, length, sides and top of your bird feeder and add about two inches to each measurement before cutting your chicken wire to those dimensions.

Step 2 - Attach the top chicken wire

Center the top piece of your chicken wire structure over the roof of your bird feeder, pulling the hanger through the chicken wire.

Step 3 - Attach the sides

Use your pliers and wire ties to attach the sides of the outer chicken wire shell to the top piece of chicken wire. Wire the side panels to each other in addition to the piece of roof chicken wire.

Step 4 - Attach a squirrel deterrent

If you live in a place populated by squirrels you know that they can deter birds from using your bird feeder as well. Run a lip of chicken wire along the bottom of the bird feeder, one that will be large enough to let in small birds but too small for squirrels and grackles to fit through.

Step 5 - Add additional holes as desired

You can cut small holes in the chicken wire to allow small birds more spots to gain access to the bird feeder. Make sure to bend the newly cut chicken wire up and over itself as the points could possibly hurt the birds.

Special tube feeder instructions

For tube feeders you’ll use the same principle, measure the tube and add about 3 inches to its diameter. Attach this to the rest of your chicken wire structure on the outside of your bird feeder. If you make it a bit longer than the tube you can bend the chicken wire in at the end, making the hole small enough for birds you like but not large enough for larger birds. Make sure no sharp edges are exposed, if they are bend them back over onto the chicken wire so as to not risk harming the feeding birds.

Tips

• Using safflower seeds in your bird feeder for a couple of weeks may discourage the grackles from using your feeder.
• Hang your feeders on short perches, grackles are fairly large compared to song birds and the shorter the available standing room, the less likely you are to get a large bird.
• Grackle-proofing your bird feeder may very well make the grackles angry. They’ve been known to try to destroy bird feeders they can’t use or guard them to make sure nothing else can use them either.