[vaborn@comcast.net]

Are bird feeders on posts allowed? We plan to buy early next year and move when I retire in mid-summer. I have 2 bird feeders and will not plan to bring them if they are prohibited. Thanks!

[Bogie Shooter]

We gave up after a few months as the feeders attracted rats, raccoons, squirrels and other critters.

[villagetinker]

There are several in our neighborhood, most are in the gardens among plants and trees. If you go to the VCDD website, you can look up the specific restrictions based on the area where you plan to buy.
Village Community Development Districts
On the TOP menu you can select YOUR DISTRICT and get additional info.

[LuvtheVillages]

They are allowed in your back yard. But keep in mind that the seed attracts rats, snakes, and other animals. And seed goes bad quickly in our damp heat. Think carefully before you put it up. It is easy to observe birds and wildlife in our many beautiful natural locations and golf courses.

[John_W]

We've been buying Safflower Seeds from the Wild Bird Shop in the Crossroads Shopping Ctr near Best Buy for about six months. We use to use the black oil seeds, the cheap big bags at Walmart, but that stuff makes a mess, so we gave up for a couple of years. Then we discovered the Wild Bird Center.

We haven't had any problems with rats or mice. I've kept a D-Con mouse bait in the bottom of my grill for years, that's where I use to see mice once in a great while, in the grill. The Safflower Seeds is good because squirrels and black birds don't like it, and it doesn't really make a mess. We get Cardinals, Mockingbirds and little birds I call Parakeets but I think they are Finchs. We also put out grapes on the ground and the Mockingbirds and Cardinals like them as well. We also have a bird bath which they use regularly. We have a CYV and we have three feeders on a single pole very near the back of the yard. Right next to a hedge and then our 7' privacy wall. The birds love to live in the hedge, we also have a Holly tree that's about 20' high and they like to sit in that as well.

[graciegirl]

Listen to Bogie Shooter. Always listen to Bogie Shooter. He is rarely wrong.

[Jdmiata]

Have had one in the back of my house for ten years now. Plenty of birds , squirrels , rabbits and even a few ducks . Nice to watch them feed. Never any trouble.

[perrjojo]

Bird feeders are allowed and I love feeding the birds. I have chosen not to feed the birds here because as previously stated...they attract too many critters.

[Madelaine Amee]

We have a bird feeder hanging in a tree. We get many different kinds of birds. This year, for the very first time, we had a Painted Bunting, I could not believe it, they are extremely rare in our area, it came just two mornings and has not been back, but what a thrill to see one. We get squirrels, bunnies, ducks - we have a duck that comes to the back door and quacks, it must have been a domestic duck at one time. We get all the wild birds and the Sandhills and the Egrets.

It is a lot of work, my patio has to be swept every morning and I regularly clean up the bird seed on the ground. For me it is well worth the extra time it takes because we get so much pleasure from watching the birds.

We also have a feral cat living in the area somewhere, it is a really big ginger tom, so no rodents.

[Carl in Tampa]

Originally Posted by Bogie Shooter

We gave up after a few months as the feeders attracted rats, raccoons, squirrels and other critters.

I have been a contrarian on this issue in the past, and I continue to support the bird feeders.

I have had two bird feeders for 20 years, with doors that close if squirrels or other "critters" get on them.

I am about 200 feet from a large lake and a very large marsh which undoubtedly supports rats, snakes and other unwelcome varmints. I haven't seen rats in my back yard since I quit growing tomatoes there about 15 years ago. Without rats, there are seldom snakes.

Squirrels are in my back yard every day of the year, but not on my bird feeders. The reason is because I put 5 inch PVC pipe around the stands, from the ground to the bottom of the feeder. The squirrels cannot get a grip on this pipe. I took a photo, but am unable to upload it.

A couple of really enterprising squirrels used to drop onto the top of my bird feeders from overhead tree branches. I trimmed the branches. They then would leap from my swimming pool enclosure screen onto the top of the feeders. I moved the feeders a foot farther away and that problem was solved.

The most frequent visitors to my feeders are Cardinals, which come in great numbers, Blue Jays, Scrub Jays, and a dependable, recognizable red headed Woodpecker. There are sometimes English Sparrows. There are occasional Mourning Doves, but they are often frightened off by the neighborhood hawk.

An added attraction, unaffected by the bird feeders, is the flock of Ibis that wander the neighborhood poking their slender beaks into the ground looking for insects.

I love nature.

[aninjamom]

I and my husband also love feeding the birds, and we also put up a house and are entertaining bluebirds. I'm thrilled, I've never had them in my yard before. They recently fledged their second brood, and hang around for the birdbath and mealworms. Yes, we also get the rabbits and a duck stopping in. The squirrels and grackles have given up, as we use squirrel-proof feeders and safflower that we also got from the Wild Bird Center. I love the variety of wildlife here. No, nature isn't neat, it's much more interesting than that!

[John_W]

Besides the Cardinals, Mockingbirds and Finchs, we also get doves late in the evening. Usually very light colored, not quite white, but an off white. We get another bird regularly and I don't know what it is, there is 4 of them living in our hedge. They are bigger than the mockingbirds and cardinals, but smaller than a dove and are brownish color.

[doran]

Wild Bird Center sells quality seed and feeders, did all I could to keep it up, but the palm rats liked it more than my neighbors did. Oh well. The Cardinals are still here anyway.

[vaborn@comcast.net]

Thank you to everyone who responded. I will bring my feeders and make a decision as to location in the back yard when we arrive! Looking forward to meeting new people and embracing my new lifestyle next summer.

[Miles42]

saw some rats in neighbors palm trees and yard