Platform Bird Feeders

Platform feeders will attract the widest variety of birds. You will see songbirds, ground feeders and larger birds as well. If you have squirrels in your area, this is probably not the best choice for your yard. Please check out our squirrel resistant feeders. 

Platform bird feeders are simple to use and easy for birds to find. This feeder is simply a tray that can be on legs, mounted on a pole, hung from a bracket on a fence or deck, etc. It has many advantages. It is inexpensive to buy or you can use a clay saucer, a tray, or any flat item that will hold seed. Because of it's shape, many birds can visit at a time and there is nothing to obscure your view of them. It you add to the seed such things as raisins, suet or fresh fruit, you will attract an even larger variety of birds. This is a wonderful feeder to use if you are just beginning to feed birds. Because they find their food by sight, they will find this feeder much faster than other types.

There are, however, a couple of disadvantages to platform bird feeders. First of all, they are completely exposed to the weather. Seed will get soaked in the rain, covered by snow and will blow away in wind storms. During the winter, it is a good idea to only put small quantities of seed in this feeder at a time to cut down on waste. Also, if you have squirrels, raccoons or other 4 legged visitors, they will love this easy source of food. There are however, baffles and feeder covers available to help discourage them.

Attracting Bluebirds

Getting bluebirds to visit our bird feeders is a real prize! They are strikingly blue and will spend time around a feeder that offers soft foods. Platform feeders are the easiest to use for serving peanut butter, which they adore. Mix peanut butter with coarse cornmeal, put it on a clean styrofoam meat tray and place it on a platform feeder. This method keeps the feeder relatively clean and then you can put pieces of bread, peanut pieces and seed on the same platform feeder to attract as many birds as possible. If you have bluebirds in your area, this should attract them pretty quickly.

If you are trying to attract the beautiful bluebird for the first time, start in late winter or early spring. At this time, natural food is at a minimum so the possibility of success at platform feeders is the greatest. This peanut butter mixture will also attract mockingbirds, chickadees, woodpeckers and nuthatches to the platform feeder. If you would prefer to put this soft food in suet bird feeders, simple mix cornmeal, some suet or fat scraps and a helping of peanut butter. Use enough cornmeal to make the mixture thick enough to mold into a shape to put into the suet bird feeder.

If you have been offering these favorite soft foods for a while during late winter or early spring and still no bluebirds arrive at your platform feeder, they may not be in your area. They tend to frequent areas with open land nearby, so will probably not be found in the middle of a city. Even if there is a golf course nearby, they may find your treats.