Customer Reviews

Droll Yankee BTG Green Big Top Wild Bird Feeder

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I love the Droll Yankees company because of the superior construction of their products and their no questions asked guarantees. Unfortunately this feeder has lots of problems. I sold it at my store in the hopes that only small birds could fly under the baffle and larger birds wouldn't be able to use it. (We have an extraordinary number of white-winged doves in our area who turn into real feeder hogs.) It did work for that reason. The small birds could fly in under the baffle and feed and the doves never figured it out. They just hung on top and pooped all over the baffle and so it needed to be cleaned constantly. That aside, the really big problems with this feeder were that the small birds, although they could fly under the baffle and eat, would sit in the seed area and also poop while they ate. NOT GOOD for birds' health so it required lots of going through the seed to get poop out. On top of that, the seed shifts around as the birds eat, so the thing was always lopsided and lots of seed spilled out the bottom as well. Finally, it was a disaster in the wind. The bottom seed holder swings around wildly in the wind. I finally quit selling it in my store.

I used this feeder for more than a dozen years before moving to an area where I could no longer use it. It never gave me a problem, except that in our Pacific Northwest climate you do have to clean it every couple of months or so to keep the seeds from clogging at the distribution point in the bowl. At that point here in the Seattle area, the seeds can get damp and cling together and rot. This is where the seeds flow down to the individual ports where birds must perch on the outside, and below the bowl, in order to feed. In my area, the only birds able to do that are the various finches, pine siskens and chickadees. House sparrows couldn't do it and that is one of the advantages of the feeder. The other advantage is that squirrels are unable to get the seeds. To avoid the problem of birds flying up into the seed hopper that another reviewer had is to simply lower the dome - it's adjustable up and down. I was able to lower it far enough so that birds couldn't fly into the seed hopper, but they could still fly up and perch on the feed ports. Wind was never a problem for me.

It's just a great feeder and should I get to an area where I can have feeders, I will buy one of these again.

I have five types of feeders in my yard. This is the least popular, both the the birds and with me. Designed to accommodate both perching and clinging birds, it's uncomfortable for both. Perching birds -- those that figure out how to do it -- get into the bowl, "bathe" in the seeds, and leave behind unwelcome calling cards. Clinging birds have trouble getting purchase on the holes provided. They'll grab a seed or two and head off for a "restaurant" with better service. I like many Droll Yankee products, but how this one made it to market baffles me.

I'm surprised this feeder has rec'd so many negative reviews as it is by far one of my favorite feeders and I have 12 feeders on my property!

I originally bought this feeder 29 years ago and it is still in great condition and the birds in my area enjoy it. I've always filled it with safflower seed and even the Cardinals are very frequent visitors. This feeder is very easy to fill, even the kids can fill it with no problem! It is also very easy to keep clean.

They have been fine tuning this feeder for years (I replaced one that was over 25 years old)and they have got it right.

This is the most squirrel-proof feeder i have. It really works; however , drop it and it may well break. We replaced an older version that was about 30 years old and still going.

I got this style birdfeeder because the rats were getting the bird food. This works great keeping rats away, but the birds can't get the food either. I added a couple of wood sticks for the birds to perch on and the rats still can't get the food.

Buying this thing was the equivalent of throwing $60 to the birds. It is a pathetic excuse for anything that could remotely be called a bird feeder. In the two weeks we had it hanging, only one yellow finch figured out how to eat from it. I saw others trying, but they all gave up. That finch ate from it once, and then apparently decided it was either too scary or too much work, because he never came back.

There is NO place for the birds to perch as they eat. The finch sort of hung from the bottom, was nearly on his back and it looked rather uncomfortable. It was very hard for him to land in the right position and get a good grip.

Once the squirrels hit it, even though it's "squirrel proof," the thing never hung straight again. We couldn't figure out why this was so, as it seemed that a simple adjustment would fix the problem, but it didn't. It's too bad the squirrels couldn't reach the seed, because at least someone would have gotten to eat since the birds couldn't.

The only thing that works is the rain guard, which seemed to keep the seed dry after a light rain. Dry for what, though? For the moths that eventually would inhabit it because the birds couldn't get to it?

We finally took it down and threw it away, which is a crime, because we got ZERO use out of it. This makes me not trust the Droll Yankees brand as a whole. We put up a reasonable feeder made by another company and had plenty of birds within two days. If I figure out which brand it was I'll post it here.