5 replies to this topic

[mhelsel]

I've had my feeder up for about a month and a half now. It is over the grass in my yard so I vacuum up the remaining seed once to twice weekly. (Yes, my neighbors think I'm crazed outside vacuuming my lawn) The past few weeks we have had a LOT of rain and I'm not sure if that has anything to do with it, but the grass underneath the feeder is dying now and the ground is real soft underneath it. Also, now there is almost a slight odor to the dirt when I vacuum the seed. I have never slacked with picking up the seed so I can't understand why/how this is happening.

Any help or suggestions would be greatly appreciated because if I can't fix this I'm going to have to take my feeder down.. Unfortunately, there is no location in my yard where I could put the feeder without it being over the grass. I don't want the birds picking at seeds from an area like this because I would think it's not healthy for them.

Thank you in advance!

[dklucius]

the sunflower seeds especially the black oil sunflowers are toxic to lots of plants and grasses. it is not unusual for plant die off below the feeders where the shells and seeds get scattered

[JimBob]

the sunflower seeds especially the black oil sunflowers are toxic to lots of plants and grasses. it is not unusual for plant die off below the feeders where the shells and seeds get scattered

That's why I have no grass under my feeder!!!

[cwj2323]

Yep, same here. The area we throw seed onto the ground hardly ever grows anything, but it doesn't bother us. We like birds more than lawn.

Oh about it being unhealthy. From what I understand it is the bird poop in a small concentrated area. I had this concern because it is not like you can clean your lawn with bleach. I learned if you can go out and rake the area, the bird poop has a better chance of drying and once the poop is dried the less chance of disease spreading.

So if you will allow an area to die off or keep it mowed down really low, it would be easier to keep clean.

[mhelsel]

Thank you very much! I will try raking

[JeffR]

I have pidgeons that clean up the mess. You are a welcome to them!