Customer Reviews

Duncraft 18202 Safe Haven Wild Bird Feeder With Metal Seed Tray

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

The roof leaked during a light rain and all the seed was ruined. The design seems guaranteed to leak. I sealed mine with acquarium sealer, but I don't know if that will work. Gray squirrels can't get in, but red squirrels sure can, so it is only squirrel-proof if grays are the only ones in your yard. It is very heavy and needs serious support to hold it up.

The Duncraft 18202 Safe Haven Wild Bird Feeder With Metal Seed Tray has several problems making it a waste of money. First, a design flaw makes it impossible to clean so when it rains the seeds congeal together and there is no way to get the old seed out. Second, another design flaw makes the thing apt to fall down to the ground (the rope is still connected to the top of the feeder but the top of the feeder and rest of the feeder won't stay together.

I bought a Perky Pet Triple Tube Feeder With 2 In 1 Ports 6# Capacity and used it for a while, and I found that the squirrels destroyed it!

That feeder was made entirely of plastic. The ports/perches are plastic. These ports/perches are way too easy for the squirrels to pop out of the plastic tubes holding the feed. When that happens, the feed spills out on the ground. You can pop the ports back in (if you can find them) but all that feed is wasted (and bird feed is expensive).

Also, the squirrels chew away the little cups (in the ports) that hold the feed in the tubes, so even more feed winds up on the ground.

After I got sick of putting feed in way too often, I bought the Duncraft 18202 and I am very happy with it. The differences are that the Duncraft is mostly metal, including the ports/perches, and it has a metal cage around it that keeps the squirrels from getting at the feed and the interior parts. I find that with it, I have to add feed a lot less often. That means I'm spending way less on feed, so the extra cost of the Duncraft feeder over the Perky Pet will easily pay for itself.

We've had many feeders but this is the only one that wasn't destroyed by squirrels and raccoons within a year. Ours is mounted on a pole and has been in 'service' a good 5 years. It is finally time to buy a new one and this is the only one we will consider for our 3 tube variety. We have a single tube with wire cage for nyger seed. Duncraft makes good feeders.

If you want to virtually eliminate bird seed theft from squirrels, this feeder is for you. Squirrels will continue to try to get seed but they are completly stymied except for spillage into the bottom tray sent there by birds. The squirrls still provide entertainment with their efforts to defeat the feeder's defenses but are unable to reach seed in the central tubes because of the wire mesh surrounding the feeder.

Best feeder I've found in my fifteen (15) year experience of bird feeding!

W.L. Pulsipher
Ocala, Florida
"The Horse Capital of the World®"

I purchased the Duncraft Safe Haven bird feeder a couple of months ago and I have been very pleased with it. I had earlier purchased a plastic squirrel hood and a long pole from which to hang it from a tree branch. This combination has worked extremely well. The birds love it, with the small ones going inside and the larger birds hanging from the cage and leaning forward to reach the seeds. Now and then a squirrel manages to make the acrobatic set of moves to get themselves onto the cage, but the fully metal construction seems to be sturdy enough to survive the experience, and about the only seeds the squirrel can get are those that the birds had dropped into the bottom tray. Not much of a reward for their work, and they eventually admit defeat and drop off. It is big enough to only need to be filled about once a week, which is much more practical than the smaller feeders which seem to need almost daily attention.

I have the 18303 which is bigger and has 9 ports and lists for $139. It holds more seeds, 7 pounds. You have to latch top, otherwise it will allow bottom to fall. You can hear click. It keeps the Pigeons/Doves off the feeder. All the small birds, sparrows and finches use the feeder, but they could not use my droll Yankee because the bigger birds would intimidate them, and the pigeons would sleep on the feed tray.
Yes Blue Jays, and European Starlings use feeder and so Red Squirrels which hang upside down, a fabulous Squirrel camera picture!!
So overall I am very happy I get lots of Finches feeding from Feeder and it is durable metal. Cardinals feed all the time. Only birds that cannot feed are the Dove/Pigeons.

We saw this birdfeeder at a garden store for $150! I knew we could get it cheaper.
Great capacity, but not 100% squirrel proof. Small ones can stick their heads thru the wire mesh.