How to Protect Suet Feeders From Crows

Suet is animal fat, typically obtained from beef or mutton. It is a common bird food for backyard feeders, and putting up a suet feeder will attract birds to your garden in the winter months when other high-calorie foods are often lacking in a bird's natural environmental. However, suet will also attract birds that you might not want at your feeder, such as crows, which may deter smaller birds from visiting the feeder.

Instructions

    • 1

      Vary your suet feeding routine by moving your feeders around, feeding at different times of day and even stopping feeding for a week at a time. Crows quickly get used to a routine and this will help throw them off, at least temporarily.

    • 2

      Put out raw, unsalted peanuts, which crows love, in a different area of your yard from where your suet feeder is located. This will help draw away the crows from your feeder.

    • 3

      Enclose your suet feeder inside a wire mesh cage with holes large enough to let small birds in, but too small for crows to fly through.

    • 4

      Use a feeder made of a smooth wood-substitute product like Polywood or hard resin. Large birds like crows will find it difficult to gain a foothold on such a feeder because it will be too slippery to hold their weight.

    • 5

      Use a "suet sandwich" which consists of two slabs of fake wood (hard resin) sandwiched together, inside which you can insert suet. This can be suspended from a pole. Crows have a hard time getting a foothold on the device, or inserting their beaks into the narrow gap between the slabs, but smaller birds like woodpeckers have no problem with it.