Feeder gone missing!

[citychick]

Would it be unheard of for a bird to steal a feeder...?!

I put suet pellets in a mesh peanut feeder (which hangs on a bracket screwed to the fence) and this afternoon it was almost empty, my husband came home to work and it was in the middle of the garden laying on the grass! He picked it up and put it back, when i came home 3 hours later.. its COMPLETELY vanished, no where to be seen in the garden at all! Could/would a bird take this?!

[Pete Collins]

More likely a squirrel, I'd have thought. Do you get them in your garden?

[annies1]

Either a squirrel or a rat, we had rats last year and they would run up the vertical slippery metal pole no bother!

[citychick]

Never seen squirrels in the garden. There are no gaps that a feeder would fit through for a rat to take!?

[werdnal]

I'd say squirrel too. We've lost a peanut feeder this year - completely vanished. I also saw a squirrel unhook another peanut feeder, open the top and empty it all over the ground. We have wired our feeders to the hangers now, a pain when you have to refill them, but stops them disappearing.

A magpie may be capable of carrying one away too. Have you looked into neighbour's gardens, as a magpie would likely just drop it somewhere nearby and try to get to contents out.

[citychick]

What ever it is its v clever! We do have a magpie visit quite regularly, but something has unhooked it!!!

[Cowgirl]

In my first days of bird feeding I put up a peanut bag. It vanished overnight. I found a bit of near a hole in the ground the next day. A rat had obviously nibbled the plastic hanger & dragged the whole thing back to its lair! Bet it was rubbing its little paws in glee at the unexpected bounty . After that, it was metal feeders all the way!

[k4t3]

Have had the same problem lately, the fatball feeder has been in the middle of the lawn, 10m away from the tree it had been hung in..this has happened several times, come home from work to find feeder on the lawn.

This morning, I watched the magpies attacking it and saw how they did it!

Although I had had more macabre thoughts of birds getting caught up in the wire feeder and dragging it away (yes, I always take fatballs out of the mesh, but the feeder is wire), so in a way this was a relief

[Elean0r]

Squirrels unhook ours, even the heavy ceramic ones, then they try to run off with them.

The only way we've been able to stop them is by putting a length of garden wire from the feeder and round the hook.

[greenace233]

Hi , my neighbour had the same thing, I found the empty feeder in my garden. i came in one evening to find my bird table with out a table. it was close by thankfully. debbie