The black birds getting into my feral kitties food

The birds are getting into all the food and I set out front and back for all the strays and ferals we have around here..How can I discourage this???

maybe this needs to be moved elsewhere.....but I will bump it up...I would like to know what I could do to discourage these birds...

Have you tried setting a dummy cat in the area where the food is set down although the only problem with that is that it might put the ferals off from coming close enough to see it is not a real cat. Or hammer sticks into the ground and tie string to them as though putting a net above the food so long as they are high enough for the cats to walk under them without frightening them off. If you don't want to string twine between a lot of sticks how about just tying bits of cloth or something which would flap in the breeze. Something to think about, if I think of anything else I will come back on it

Try some of those spinning sunflowers.

That's a great idea!!! I am off to the general dollar store..I know they have them there for a $1 each...

Don't be surprised if the spinning sunflowers frighten away the cats. I use owl decoys and set them up in the trees around my feeders. Works great, and doesn't startle the cats. Let me stick this in the feral forum for ya, maybe others will have better ideas.

hissy, where do you buy your decoys at??

You can get them at Walmart- or at a sporting goods store- here in our town, you can get them just about everywhere. But they are very effective. Not really on the subject, but this morning, I was on the tractor and I watched a black bird nail a chipmunk out by the creek. It was sad, but also fascinating to watch.

I can see how it would be fascinating even though it very sad for the squirrel as well....Thanks,I looked for some of those spining daisies and haven't found any yet, but I am gonna check into those owl decors well.....

A cat decoy won't work! I have a very life-like looking cat statue sitting next to where I feed my ferals. I looked out one day to find a cardinal sitting on the cat's head while it worked on a piece of cat chow!

lotsocats

Kathy, I don't know what your set-up is there, but are you using bowls? This won't stop the birds eating the cat food, but it might cut the problem down quite a bit.... depending upon how many bowls you're putting out, take one or two of those cheap plastic laundry baskets, cut a hole in them large enough for the cats to get into, and put them upside down over the bowls.

We solved the problem by putting the cats' feeder up in the woods, and putting out bird feeders (great cat TV for the inside kitties!), and scattering birdfood on the lawn. Now the birds eat the bird food, and the cats eat the cat food.

That's a great idea Laurie...I would have never thought of that..I have big bowls that usually use for cooking purposes, but I am sacrificing them to my ferals... I have some old baskets and am going to try this out.....thanks!

Did it help at all? Did you find an owl statue?

....just been wondering how it's going....