No/No Bronze Five Tier Bird Feeder BZ500333

We have one of these already, and I just ordered a second one. They are great for feeding birds with sunflower seeds, However, we set our old one up this Summer with shelled corn to feed squirrels. The corn will weep out the discharge holes in the bottom tray and makes for economical feeding for squirrels and keeps them out of the other bird feeders. The squirrels just eat the heart out of the kernel and spit it out on the ground, and deer and turkeys eat what the squirrels leave. Nothing goes to waste and there is no huge pile of sunflower seed hulls.I used to chase the squirrels off the bird feeders. But, after raising up some squirrel babies, and getting attached to them... and then having predators get all of them... life is harsh in the wild... I now feed the squirrels. Much more pleasant around here now that squirrels are my buddies.A comment about the newest NONO feeder 8-13-2015. it has vertical cylinders on the flat discs inside that the original did not have. Consequently, the feed builds up between that cylinder thing and the wire mesh on the outside. I have to take it down from time to time to hose it out with high pressure and get rid of the moldy trapped built up feed. The old design never needed that kind of attention.02-16-2016 Update: Okay... on those tubes I hate in the new style baffles. I bought a really long needle nose pliers and twisted those tubes out... from the top fill opening... so now most of the feed funnels down without accumulating and sitting rotting on the baffles.04/16-2016 Update: Okay I am back to hating squirrels again. Those little acrobats from hell finally chewed through the chain-mail fabric mesh so they can guzzle food faster.05/31/2016 Update: So, the acrobats from hell finally chewed through the wire ties that hold the narrow parts of the wire mesh cones together. The wire ties wrap around a metal ring which holds the whole feeder together at the narrow parts. The product photo shows a perching ring in that place. The squirrels are all about world domination and chewing wire parts into submission and funneling food into their maws.

I've had so many feeders through the years and learned the weaknesses of them all. Once my husband and I even made a feeder ourselves because we needed something large that would hold up better than all the crappy plastic stuff in the stores. What is great about this feeder? Just about everything. It holds a lot, so I don't have to refill that often. It contains NO plastic, which makes it very, very, very good. It collapses for storage. It can be cleaned in the dishwasher, which helps prevent disease among the bird population. The birds love it and seem to be able to get to most of the seed, so you don't have a bunch clumping up in hard to reach places. I also like the bronze color, because it doesn't stick out like a sore thumb on the front of my condo. It's a little tricky to fill though. You really need 2 people because of how it collapses: 1 to hold up the feeder and another to pour. The tube down the center helps push the seed to the sides so the birds can eat it. It also seems to be squirrel-proof, so far. I've seen squirrels hang upside down on it to get seed that's in the tray, but they haven't got it open yet. The overhang also helps protect the seed from rain. I used a high-end blend of no-waste seed in it that doesn't contain millet, and it holds the seed well. I like it that there's never anything to clean up underneath. The squirrels, doves and chipmunks help with that too. If my opinion changes about its durability, washability, or squirrel-proof-ness, I'll update this review. But so far, I am loving this feeder. What a great product!!

Overall I really like this feeder - the all metal construction makes it pretty easy to keep clean (can soak it and bleach it with no problem) and it holds A LOT of sunflower seeds.That said, I do have a couple of problems with it. Firstly it is a little hard to fill. Because it's made of a chain-mail-type material, you can't rest it on the ground/a table while you fill it, and because of the way the handle it placed you can't leave it hanging while the lid is off. So you have to kind of hold the feeder up by gripping the top while you fill it. I've gotten pretty good at this but it's a bit annoying.Secondly the holes are pretty big. It works well with black oil sunflower but safflower seeds go right through the second the feeder gets a shake from a squirrel or a bluejay.It's not squirrel-proof but my squirrels don't spend too much time on it (that might be because it's acorn season at the moment). House sparrows and finches *really* love it, but it also attracts chickadees, cardinals, nuthatches, and the occasional goldfinch, titmouse, or woodpecker.

Oh boy, do the house finches love this feeder! It took them a few days to really get going; eyeing it warily until the bolder titmice and nuthatches showed them there was nothing to fear. After a couple weeks, there are often 10 birds on it at a time. It's a pain in the neck to fill, but well worth it. It's a very clever design, especially for such a large feeder. I would not recommend if squirrels can get to it, however. I think they would chew through the mesh in no time. The birds and I are really enjoying this feeder. One more note: I was looking for a large-capacity feeder without ports because house finch eye disease (conjunctivitis) is common here in S.Ca, and it spreads in part by contact with a port that has been touched by an infected bird. I took down all my feeders for a couple months to disperse the finches from my yard. Now they're back and are disease-free. I am likely to avoid all port-type feeders from now on, just as a precaution. Okay, one more note: you may need to play with the sunflower seed size. If the seeds you have are too large, try TMF. I've only gotten one 20lb bag so far, but the seeds are smallish, and there's very little "junk" mixed in.