We had a clear plastic 2-foot tall tubular bird feeder hanging in our yard for a couple of years, until a squirrel decided he liked the clear plastic better than the food.

I have built a similar hanging feeder from a section of 2" PVC pipe. The bottom is capped, the top is a threaded fitting to be opened to put in the birdseed. I drilled holes in the sides and mounted the plastic opening inserts from the old feeder into the new feeder.

One bird has figured out that the new feeder is ok. but most of the birds seem to be staying away. The PVC pipe is the usual off-white color. I am wondering if there is a better color to paint the tubing that would be more attractive to the bird population. Suggestions --------

On Sat, 12 Mar 2016 18:45:10 -0800 (PST), wrote:

We had a clear plastic 2-foot tall tubular bird feeder hanging in our yard for a couple of years, until a squirrel decided he liked the clear plastic better than the food.

I have built a similar hanging feeder from a section of 2" PVC pipe. The bottom is capped, the top is a threaded fitting to be opened to put in the birdseed. I drilled holes in the sides and mounted the plastic opening inserts from the old feeder into the new feeder.

One bird has figured out that the new feeder is ok. but most of the birds seem to be staying away. The PVC pipe is the usual off-white color. I am wondering if there is a better color to paint the tubing that would be more attractive to the bird population. Suggestions --------

Try red?

There are/were military commanders: If it moves, paint it. If it
doesn't, paint it anyway.

We went from blue signs to brown signs.

On 3/12/2016 7:45 PM, wrote:
We had a clear plastic 2-foot tall tubular bird feeder hanging in our yard
for a couple of years, until a squirrel decided he liked the clear plastic
better than the food.

I have built a similar hanging feeder from a section of 2" PVC pipe. The
bottom is capped, the top is a threaded fitting to be opened to put in the
birdseed. I drilled holes in the sides and mounted the plastic opening
inserts from the old feeder into the new feeder.

One bird has figured out that the new feeder is ok. but most of the birds
seem to be staying away. The PVC pipe is the usual off-white color. I am
wondering if there is a better color to paint the tubing that would be more
attractive to the bird population. Suggestions --------

Depends on the sorts of birds you're looking to attract.

E.g., we cater to the local hummingbird population. They aren't keen
on blues or violets (as colors). Somewhat amenable to yellows but
really drawn to the reds. So, we have planted much of the back yard with
"warm" colors and kept the "cooler" colors for the front yard.

On 3/12/2016 8:45 PM, wrote:
We had a clear plastic 2-foot tall tubular bird feeder hanging in our yard for a couple of years, until a squirrel decided he liked the clear plastic better than the food.

I have built a similar hanging feeder from a section of 2" PVC pipe. The bottom is capped, the top is a threaded fitting to be opened to put in the birdseed. I drilled holes in the sides and mounted the plastic opening inserts from the old feeder into the new feeder.

One bird has figured out that the new feeder is ok. but most of the birds seem to be staying away. The PVC pipe is the usual off-white color. I am wondering if there is a better color to paint the tubing that would be more attractive to the bird population. Suggestions --------

After reading your post, I wondered if birds actually had a preference.

This article claims the only color to stay away from is white.

http://birding.about.com/od/attracti...ract-Birds.htm

On Saturday, March 12, 2016 at 8:45:17 PM UTC-6, wrote:
We had a clear plastic 2-foot tall tubular bird feeder hanging in our yard for a couple of years, until a squirrel decided he liked the clear plastic better than the food.

I have built a similar hanging feeder from a section of 2" PVC pipe. The bottom is capped, the top is a threaded fitting to be opened to put in the birdseed. I drilled holes in the sides and mounted the plastic opening inserts from the old feeder into the new feeder.

One bird has figured out that the new feeder is ok. but most of the birds seem to be staying away. The PVC pipe is the usual off-white color. I am wondering if there is a better color to paint the tubing that would be more attractive to the bird population. Suggestions --------

We have a lot of different birds; hummingbirds, sparrows, robins, cardinals, doves, - - - . Maybe I should spray it in a camouflage pattern all different colors?????

On 3/13/2016 5:21 PM, wrote:
On Saturday, March 12, 2016 at 8:45:17 PM UTC-6, wrote:
We had a clear plastic 2-foot tall tubular bird feeder hanging in our yard for a couple of years, until a squirrel decided he liked the clear plastic better than the food.

I have built a similar hanging feeder from a section of 2" PVC pipe. The bottom is capped, the top is a threaded fitting to be opened to put in the birdseed. I drilled holes in the sides and mounted the plastic opening inserts from the old feeder into the new feeder.

One bird has figured out that the new feeder is ok. but most of the birds seem to be staying away. The PVC pipe is the usual off-white color. I am wondering if there is a better color to paint the tubing that would be more attractive to the bird population. Suggestions --------

We have a lot of different birds; hummingbirds, sparrows, robins, cardinals, doves, - - - . Maybe I should spray it in a camouflage pattern all different colors?????

If you check the link I posted, it mentions that some birds prefer a
certain color but white seems to signal danger and they clearly don't
like that.

I have some green and tan/brown spray paint, I'll try them in a random pattern to replace the almost white color that clearly is a no-no based on what the reference said.