Bird Hopper Feeders

Hopper feeders have a large center seed holder that allows seed to come out of slots in the bottom into a feed tray. These hoppers are easy to fill and clean and many also have ways for the tray to drain rain water. They usually hold large amounts of seed to avoid constant filling and attract a variety of birds.

There are many designs available, including ones that close off the seed supply when the weight of a squirrel or large bird is detected. There are clear plastic relatively inexpensive models all the way up to huge, heavy metal or wood models that may hold up to 10 pounds of seed. These can be filled with just sunflower seeds, or a wild bird seed mixture, depending on the birds you are attracting. Because these feeders are of more complicated design than other feeders, they are more expensive, but well worth the extra investment.

The only drawback of hopper feeders is that the platform is not very large. Therefore, there is limited feeding space which cannot accommodate as many birds at a time as on an open platform.