Droll Yankee BTG Green Big Top Wild Bird Feeder

I love the Droll Yankees company because of the superior construction of their products and their no questions asked guarantees. Unfortunately this feeder has lots of problems. I sold it at my store in the hopes that only small birds could fly under the baffle and larger birds wouldn't be able to use it. (We have an extraordinary number of white-winged doves in our area who turn into real feeder hogs.) It did work for that reason. The small birds could fly in under the baffle and feed and the doves never figured it out. They just hung on top and pooped all over the baffle and so it needed to be cleaned constantly. That aside, the really big problems with this feeder were that the small birds, although they could fly under the baffle and eat, would sit in the seed area and also poop while they ate. NOT GOOD for birds' health so it required lots of going through the seed to get poop out. On top of that, the seed shifts around as the birds eat, so the thing was always lopsided...Read more

I used this feeder for more than a dozen years before moving to an area where I could no longer use it. It never gave me a problem, except that in our Pacific Northwest climate you do have to clean it every couple of months or so to keep the seeds from clogging at the distribution point in the bowl. At that point here in the Seattle area, the seeds can get damp and cling together and rot. This is where the seeds flow down to the individual ports where birds must perch on the outside, and below the bowl, in order to feed. In my area, the only birds able to do that are the various finches, pine siskens and chickadees. House sparrows couldn't do it and that is one of the advantages of the feeder. The other advantage is that squirrels are unable to get the seeds. To avoid the problem of birds flying up into the seed hopper that another reviewer had is to simply lower the dome - it's adjustable up and down. I was able to lower it far enough so that birds couldn't fly into the seed...Read more

I have five types of feeders in my yard. This is the least popular, both the the birds and with me. Designed to accommodate both perching and clinging birds, it's uncomfortable for both. Perching birds -- those that figure out how to do it -- get into the bowl, "bathe" in the seeds, and leave behind unwelcome calling cards. Clinging birds have trouble getting purchase on the holes provided. They'll grab a seed or two and head off for a "restaurant" with better service. I like many Droll Yankee products, but how this one made it to market baffles me.