Customer Reviews

Garden Song 102-4 Select-A-Bird Tube Feeder

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

 

 

I have nothing bad to say about this product. I have been using it for several weeks now and it is definitely my favorite. The birds love it, too! ;)

The perches are adjustable from underneath the base. Supposedly this allows you to choose which size birds you would like to accomodate. I open it all the way, and the regulars (finches, sparrows, titmice, chickadees, cardinals, woodpeckers) have no problem using it. Larger birds may be able to use it, with some difficulty. I have seen the blue jay use it, and it was quite comical. He perched, squatted and maneuvered his body sideways to get the seed. The mechanism underneath sometimes gets stuck, but it always responds with some tooling around.

-NO WASTE!!! The lowest perches are on the very bottom of the feeder, which means the birds themselves are cleaning it out. There is none of that moldy old seed left in the bottom. You could easily get away with cleaning this once every few weeks.

-Extremely reasonable price.

-Pleasant green color, sturdy plastic, easy to clean.

-Select A Seed feature allows for nijer.

Filling it is easy but I "close" the ports first (move to nijer, with the tiny opening), fill it with hulled sunflower and safflower, then "open" the ports once again. There is some spillage, of maybe 15 seeds, which I save for the next filling. If you don't close the ports first, seed easily spills out while filling.

There are no cons for this product. But I will say that it is definitely NOT squirrel-proof, so if you have a problem with the voracious squirrels (and most people do), this is not a good choice for you.

I bought 2 of these to go on the sides of an arbor; one is filled with thistle and the other with sunflower seeds. The thistle one works perfectly. The sunflower seed's perches are constantly being closed by squirrels. I have tried to hold the perches open, but so far have not found the correct solution (my next try will be duct tape). Chickadees don't seem to mind the closed feeder and are able to perch without them.

Still, the feeders are inexpensive, look nice, and are easy to fill. If there was a locking mechanism on the perch I would have given this 5 stars.

Works well, seems to be made well, holds a lot of seed, and the birds are all over them. I bought 2 and the birds ignored them for two days when I hung them next to my other feeders. Then they decided to accept the new feeders, and all is well.
IMPORTANT UPDATE:
It's been a year and I need to point out two problems.
With these feeders you have the ability to adjust the distance of the perches from the feeder by twisting the bottom of the feeder. I've noticed that every time a bird takes off after feeding, the perches close a little bit. After a day or so, I would find the perches completely closed and would have to twist the bottom to open them again.I fixed this by cutting a medium sized plastic tie-wrap so the "head" remains, plus about 3/8" of the tie-wrap. Find the clear plastic between each lower perch. You'll notice that there are two layers of clear plastic that slide over each other when you twist the body. I opened the perches to the desired spot, then drilled a hole just large enough to allow you to insert the short stiff tie wrap tightly into the hole, the "head" of the tie-wrap will keep it from going in all the way, like the head of a screw. Position the tie wrap so that it is parallel with the ground, that way the stiffest part of the tie will keep the body from twisting. I did not want to use a screw or nail because of rust. This worked great, problem solved.

Problem 2: I guess this one is mostly my fault, just want to warn people. I went on vacation and left the feeders out. Imagine my horror when I returned a week later to 2 dead birds, one on each feeder, each with their head stuck in one of the lower holes. Here I am trying to feed the birds, and I accidentally trap and kill two of them! This from a guy had taken an injured baby bird to the local shelter to try and save him about a month before. Geeesh.
So now I take them down if I am not going to be there to fill them.
DO NOT LEAVE THESE FEEDERS OUT WITH NO FOOD IN THEM!!!

I think the perches need to be extended completely for the little birds to be most comfortable, but other than that, it is working well. I especially like how the perches are staggered, so more than one bird can feed simultaneously.

The problem with this feeder is that the adjustable perches keep moving when the birds land on them. Then the birds have a hard time landing when they are pushed in, I drilled a hole in the bottom base and put a screw in to keep the perches from moving.

For the money, this is a great bird feeder. It has a sleek look and it has plenty of spots for birds to perch. It sways quite a bit in the wind and the birds are able to knock seed out of it, but otherwise, we are still pleased with the purchase.

I just got it today and immediately hung it up. I love how you can adjust the perches to whatever size. it holds quite a bit of seed and even though its plastic i feel like its pretty sturdy. The only thing i didnt like is that tap of the bird feeder just slides up and down. its not really secure. But its been working out so far today. The sparrows and finches LOVE it!! it drops very little seed and the fact that the birds just took to it so fast is amazing! Love it and i would definitely purchase this again.

This feeder for some reason seems to attract more birds than my other 2 feeders hanging at the same location. Great price too!! Easy to fill.

I like these feeders because they look good for platic feeders, the birds like them, they're easy to clean with a hose sprayer and they're plenty durable for the price. After 18 months or so when they start to look too worn you can throw them out without guilt that you didn't get your moneys worth. They do hold up to being chewed on by the squirrels but if they fall any distance, pieces will break and fall off. They work fine (if not better) without the port covers but the perches will become too loose after a couple of re-attachments.

This feeder is not made well, it's not easy to clean and the birds don't like it