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Tufted Titmouse poking its beak in seed feeder, hanging up in snowy conditions

Do you keep bird feeders up all year

When you pull down a bird feeder in your yard, birds cannot feed and therefore must go without, thus there's no reason to take down bird feeders.

Bird feeders are kept up all year to feed what will be wild birds visiting your yard every day of the year, unless they're migratory birds, without fail. Birds can come to rely on a bird feeder in the same location since they were young, thus to take bird feeders down will see birds struggle to feed without warning.

Where a bird feeder will benefit you most throughout the year is in the wet or cold weather, as the feeder must be used to avoid the bird food rotting if its out of the feeder.

Bird feeders are useful for feeding birds in wet weather as wild birds continue to forage in rain, just as they do come in blistering snow to survive.

How to attract birds to a bird feeder in winter would be use of bird feeders, as the ground covered in snow will continue to blanket any bird feed you put down.

Keep bird feeders up to be sure all birds are guaranteed a meal 365 days of the year.

Similarly, come summertime birds need to feed in any drought that may fall upon them, thus a bird feeder can be in the sun as it maintains bird feed for a little longer - before that is showing any signs of rot, and therefore bacteria.

You can feed birds without use of a bird feeder as some species are incompatible or are only ground eating birds - so then won't go without if feed is shut away in a feeder only.

Feeders will store the bird feed for longer in better condition, as exposed food on the ground can quickly germinate.

Do keep bird feeders up all year while continuing to switch to seasonal bird food, while cleaning and maintaining the bird feeder with any chance you get.

Feeders stay up all year

What is so fantastic about bird feeders is that they can be put up in the backyard and forgotten about for the rest of the year.

In between changing the bird food once or twice a week, depending on the time of year that is - and so to cleaning bird feeders once or twice weekly - bird feeders can be kept outside all year.

Feeders are rugged, tough and highly durable so they can take what's going to be thrown at them... including rain, snow, frost and ice.

Bird feeders can get wet or be covered in a blanket of snow for weeks on end with no signs of damage; thus bird feed can get ice or frost damage with this being more of a concern than the feeders themselves.

Whilst none of this is enough to rapidly damage a bird feeder, unfortunately that happens in due course with signs of wear and tear visible in months or over a years time.

Feeders can show signs of visible rust if metal and will absolutely fade if made in plastic.

Conditions such as these are all expected in due course, with an option to keep feeders maintained to wipe off any muck or residue - while simply replacing an old tacky bird feeder, which won't cost an arm and leg.

Birds don't stop eating

You see wild birds that frequent your bird feeders in the yard don't stop foraging for food; its a matter of life and death for birds so to pull down bird feeders out of the blue can be damaging.

Birds remember where bird feeders are so can come to reply on them to feed. If feeders instantly disappear, these same wild birds must go elsewhere to feed on near by grounds or forage in a new area.

It really doesn't make any sense to remove bird feeders at all, so unless its migratory birds that disappear for months on end - continue to feed birds in your yard every single day.

Effects of removing bird feeders to what... avoid bad weather? if there's a pest issue? or you can't be bothered at the moment? Well, to take bird feeders down can see these once reliable visitors disappear, to never seen again.

For many it can be challenging to attract birds to a new bird feeder - let alone a long time hanging single or group of bird feeders - and so bird feeders really can't continue to disappear from their current position once in a while.

Birds won't take it as they forage for food most of the day, thus have no time than to feed to keep up their energy, and of course stay alive.

Hummingbird feeder taken down

Having said all that, now I am going to tell you bird feeders cannot be up all year round, as certain types of feeders stop being used come August, or September at the latest.

Hummingbirds are migrating birds come August or late into September, so a hummingbird feeder left hanging up after the last sign of a hummingbird has left would serve no purpose other than to rot away.

Don't pull down regular bird feeders for suet, seed mixes, nuts or other all year bird food, though you'd have to take down the hummingbird feeder once all hummers have left.

Clean the feeder then bring it indoors to store away, then come March you can fill it with sweet nectar again to be ready for returning hummingbirds.

Similarly, Orioles are migrating birds so for a rarer Oriole bird feeder hanging up, you'd need to pull this down once all Orioles have disappeared.

For Orioles this would be July or a little later into August, and that is only if these birds migrate out of your State, well remaining in others.

Summary

Believe it or not manufacturer's design their bird feeders to be used outdoors 365 days of they year, with little to no compromise on the bird feeder structure.

Bird feeders are made for outdoors all through the year, with the exception of Oriole or Hummingbird feeders that must be pulled down as they are migrating birds, thus feeders are not needed until the following year.

Come the end or beginning of the year you can continue to feed birds in the winter, with any snow cover - with vibrant colors in contrast to the white snow.

In spring bird feeders can continue to get hit with harsh conditions, with any spell of wet weather coursing no issues for feeders, while maintaining the bird feed in a condition that keeps bird feed for longer.

Bird feeders stay up all year because most common backyard birds are residents all year, thus must continue to rely on bird feeders for their daily intake of nutritious food.

Never take down a bird feeder as you'd then stop feeding birds in the process. You can feed birds on the ground, but not all birds are ground eaters so will go without.

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