Perky-Pet RSB00343 Red Seed Ball Wild Bird Feeder

I've had this product for several months. This little bird feeder attracts a lot of smaller birds in my back yard. Bigger birds avoid it. I have it hanging from one of the branches on my oak tree. Because it doesn't have a perch for the birds, they like to land on the top of the ball and poop. I wear garden gloves to open the top of the feeder. It's not easy to open. You really have to use your muscle to pull it open, but on the bright side squirrels can't open it either. It's very sturdy. Don't let the small size fool you.For a little feeder, it gets a lot of action!

The Perky-Pet seed ball feeder comes with a metal lid that snaps in place on the top. If the lid is on the feeder, birds can only get little bits of food that they can peck out through the holes of the mesh. I use the feeder to feed peanuts and the birds didn't seem to be able to get much out through the mesh. However, when I removed the metal lid, the birds quickly learned to hop down into the feeder to grab a peanut. If the feeder's full, they can just stand on the rim and grab a peanut.This seed ball feeder has helped me solve my problem with blackbirds eating most of the peanuts I put out to feed the small birds in the winter. When I first started feeding peanuts I was using steel mesh platform feeders. One bad thing about platform feeders is that birds will stand in them and poop while they're eating, so they get gross quickly and require very frequent cleaning. Another bad thing about them is that you have no control at all over which birds can get to the peanuts, so, when a flock of blackbirds shows up, the peanuts are gone in no time and the small birds get nothing.So, I decided I had to come up with some kind of arrangement that would allow the small birds to get peanuts but would exclude the bully birds. I bought a Perky-Pet seed ball feeder, removed and discarded its metal lid and the entire chain/wire hanger assembly that came with it, and made a new, very short hanger for it. I also bought a Birds Choice 10 inch protective dome to hang it from. I filled the the seed ball feeder with peanuts and hung the feeder underneath the dome. With the short homemade hanger, the top of the ball feeder is about an inch lower than the bottom outer edge of the dome so there's not enough headroom under the dome for large birds to comfortably sit on top of the feeder and eat. However, there's plenty of room for nuthatches, wrens, and other small birds. The small birds quickly learn to go to the top of the feeder, hop down inside it, grab a peanut, and fly away. No birds sit in the feeder and poop, so the only mess left in the bottom of the feeder is a little bit of peanut dust that's dry and easy to remove thanks to the dome keeping rain out of the feeder.The Perky-Pet seed ball feeder holds almost two pounds of peanuts if I fill it to the top, and, thanks to the modified hanger on the seed ball and the Birds Choice protective dome, none of those peanuts are eaten by bully birds. I should note that my feeders are hanging from stands that I constructed from one inch galvanized pipe and which each has a 24 inch cylindrical raccoon baffle installed on it. My feeder stands are 100% effective at keeping squirrels and raccoons from getting to the feeders. If squirrels and/or racoons can get to your feeders, then this seed ball feeder might provide a little protection from squirrels but no protection from raccoons.

I put this red ball on a extension from a tree branch in the garden. The birds love it! They are attracted to the color and many different sized birds appear to hang from the ball to get seed. Even hanging upside down, which is a funny show in nature.

The media could not be loaded.  This bird feeder design is one of my favorite in my collection. It's straightforward to use and stands out from all the other feeders. The squirrels in my yard don't like it too much, so that's a plus. This feeder is made of metal material, but the metal is not thick, so be careful not to squeeze the feeder too hard. I have caught no blue jays on it yet, but It might take time for them to adjust to the new feeder. Overall, it's a lovely product!

I have now purchased 5 of these feeders. They work great and at times I have as many as 6 finches of various species on each feeder clinging and enjoying the black oil sunflower seed. very little waste as there is not feeding perch for the larger birds or squirrels to shovel the feed out. The issue of squirrels is always a problem but I seemed to have had luck with my solution. Video and photos shown here with the feeding hanging from a tree branch is always going to invite the squirrels. If you do not have a baffle over it they will keep trying even if they fail as they are persistent. I have my on my deck on a flag pole (the type you would usually hang a decorative flag). I put hooks along the pole (you can fit at least 4 for these feeders) then crimp the hook so the birds or squirrels do not knock the feeder to the ground. At the end of the pole at the deck railing I put a large cake feeder with any type of seed cake. Even if the squirrels go up the flag pole, and they will, they will quickly get tired of hanging and getting little in return. They go back to the cake feeder and since they are pretty hard it would take days for the squirrel to eat all of it. However, since the woodpeckers, and blue jays enjoy that cake as well I have seen them dive bomb the squirrels to chase them. In the end the squirrels are intimidated by the larger bird and even the smaller birds since with 4 or 5 feeders on the pole their is always large numbers of finches, titmouse, chickadees and even cardinals flying around them. Squirrels are very at home in a tree but on this flagpole out in the open and being harassed by other large and even smaller birds in large numbers they tend to look for greener pastures. For the squirrel lovers who may read this review I do hand a large feeder in a tree about 75 feet from my deck. I put the cheapest seed I can find in there along with corn feed made for squirrels. I also collect egg corns during the fall when raking my yard and wind up with a large pale of them. During the winter I put them out in a pan near the bird bath at the bottom of the tree with the feeder. They get their feast and the birds get theirs. It is quite rewarding and a lot of fun to sit in my screen house and watch the action.ADDED THIS NOTE OCT 1,2014. I paid $8.06 for the last of the 5 feeders I have purchased from Amazon like the one reviewed here. I have purchased 3 red and 2 of the green ones. Purchased in the last 2 months paid $8.06 to $8.36 for all but one which was $9.26. They are now asking $14.47 for the green & $9.37 for the red one. The price for the red one is higher but $14.47 for the green version is crazy. They can be purchased in local stores for $10. Not sure why Amazon is doing this but it is simply wrong. Still a great feeder but not worth over $15. Once tax is added!Good for Amazon, as of October 11, 2014 price back to reasonable level. The Red version 9.08 the green down from $14 to 9.06. I will buy another before price goes back up the more I watch the birds having a feast with these feeders the more I enjoy watching.

The small birds we have here in coastal Maine, love these feeders…we have 3 of them!

Birds like it

Price a little high.

Perfect! The chickadees are regular visitors and the sparrows can’t get at the seeds.

This bird feeder has an interesting shape and it's not too large. I have mine hanging on a shepherds hook. I get Cardinals,finches and woodpeckers! Squirrels have a difficult time getting at the seed as well!👍

Pour nourrir les oiseaux