The Tube Feeder

The Large Hole Tube Feeder

The Large hole tube feeder should be an integral component of any bird feeding station. The single greatest advantage of this feeder style is its durability. Many are constructed of hard plastic (usually a polycarbonate) and metal. Companies such as Droll Yankee, Aspects, and Bird Quest are so confident of their product that a life time warranty is standard for many of their feeders.

This is the single most important benefit you should look for, especially given the damage squirrels and other mammals do to feeders. A product with a lifetime warranty means you’ll purchase you feeder once and only once.

If price is an issue for you, then a product with a life time warranty may be out of reach. The good news is that there are cheap versions of this feeder style.

These cheaper feeders do the same thing as a more expensive model, but you’ll likely have to replace it after a season or two. Depending on the size and function (squirrel proof tubes, for instance, are quite pricey), a lifetime warranty product may range in price from $25.00 to $130.00. Contrastingly, a product with no warranty can run as little as $10.00

Tube feeders will host anywhere from two to a dozen or more small and medium sized song birds (larger birds will struggle with the perch and prefer a hopper feed to a tube feeder).

Aspects 145 Vari-crafts The American goldfinch, the tufted titmouse, the English sparrow, the chickadee, and a host of other birds will eat from the feeder. Cardinals will visit the feeder as well, but they prefer hopper feeders or eating from the ground.

You will need to clean this feeder on occasion. Not doing so may run off your birds. Would you eat from a moldy plate? Look for a feeder constructed in a way that you can run a brush down into it with as few obstacles as possible. This simplifies the cleaning process.

There are several companies now making state-of-the-art feeders including Vari-crafts, Droll Yankees and Aspects.

Bird Quest Spiral Sunflower Seed Feeder Bird Quest manufacturers an interesting model. Rather than using the traditional perch, the their product boasts a metal rod than winds around the outside of the feeder.

This ingenious innovation permits greater access to the feeder by more birds. Also, a simple twist and the bottom cap of this model pops off making cleaning a breeze.

Look for Droll Yankee and Aspects to also apply this technology in 2007. It's important because with a removable bottom, it is much easier to clean your feeder.

There are specialty tubes on the market as well. For instance, Perky Pet and a few other companies manufacture a triple tube feeder where 3 tubes are attached together. The advantage to this is that you can fill each tube with a distinct bird seed blend.

The Perky Pet product has the unique feature of allowing you to dispense large seeds like black oil sunflower OR thistle (a very small seed that Goldfinches eat).

However, unless you have no choice, it is not optimal to offer thistle right next to an offering of black oil sunflower. The smaller thistle eating birds tend to be easily dominated and though the bigger birds don't eat thistle, just the their close proximity can diminish the activity of your thistle component.

There are also some very high quality squirrel control tube feeders on the market. Click here for more information about the squirrel control tube feeder.

I hope you found this article about the tube feeder useful. Click here for more great information about the various bird feeders.

Click here for more great information about attracting wild birds.