Somebody stole the bell! OT

"Joy" wrote in message
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"jmcquown" wrote in message
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"Joy" wrote in message
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A couple of days ago I posted about my backyard buffet which attracts
critters for the benefit of my indoor cats. One of the items I put out
is a bell-shaped cake of birdseed, which has a stick running down the
middle, with a hole so one can hang it. I don't have a good place to
hang it, so I just set it on the patio. This morning I could see the
stick coming out of the top of what remained of the bell - a chunk a
little bigger than a cell phone. At lunchtime I was surprised to see
that the bell was gone - stick and all! I wonder who ran - or flew -
off with it. I suppose it could have been the squirrel that's been
hanging around lately. I don't know if the jay could have lifted it.
This is the third bell I've put out, and the first time that's happened.

--
Joy

It's probably raccoons. I tried to hang a bird feeder (three times) and
each time raccoons tore them all down. One night I heard a racket on the
patio and opened the curtain to find four raccoons staring back at me and
another waddling across the back yard to join them. I keep finding my
bird bath knocked over, too.

Jill

I don't think we have raccoons around here, although my daughter, who
lives 40 miles from me, gets them. Anyway, I've never seen one here, and
I've lived here for 42 years.

Joy
Just a guess on my part. Squirrels are just as capable of dragging off a
seed bell. And they can be very greedy!

Jill

Christina Websell wrote in rec.pets.cats.anecdotes:


"Joy" wrote in message
...
A couple of days ago I posted about my backyard buffet which
attracts critters for the benefit of my indoor cats. One of the
items I put out is a bell-shaped cake of birdseed, which has a
stick running down the middle, with a hole so one can hang it. I
don't have a good place to hang it, so I just set it on the patio.
This morning I could see the stick coming out of the top of what
remained of the bell - a chunk a little bigger than a cell phone.
At lunchtime I was surprised to see that the bell was gone - stick
and all! I wonder who ran - or flew - off with it. I suppose it
could have been the squirrel that's been hanging around lately. I
don't know if the jay could have lifted it. This is the third bell
I've put out, and the first time that's happened.

My money is on the squirrel. I had similar problems with squirrels,
they were eating a fat ball a day from the birdfeeder during the
winter, caught in the act. I had to stop putting them out, it got
too expensive.

I have a metal shepards crook shaped hanger for the bird feeder. We
save up the fat from making chicken and use that to grease the poll so
the squirrels can't climb it.

Our outdoor TV can be hilarious as a fat squirrel makes a running jump,
slibes down and 'plumpfs' on the ground then licks it's hands and
belly, then tries again (grin).

--

"jmcquown" wrote in message
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"Joy" wrote in message
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"jmcquown" wrote in message
...

My daughter and her husband have a bird feeder hanging above their
balcony. They keep the seed on the balcony too. Although they do get
raccoons, they've never shown any interest in the birdseed. Squirrels,
on the other hand, have. When the bag of birdseed was destroyed, they
started keeping it in a plastic bucket with a tight-fitting lid. The
squirrels chewed a hole in the middle of the lid.

Joy
When I lived in Tennessee my apartment had a built-in storage shed off the
patio. I stored bird seed in there but something was getting at it.
Turned out to be squirrels which (like mice and rats) can flatten
themselves to fit under the door. So I got a plastic bin to store the
seed in. And, as with your daughter, the squirrels chewed through the
plastic bin!

Jill

They are obviously both smart and determined, and they have strong jaws.
;-)

Joy

"cshenk" wrote in message
...
Christina Websell wrote in rec.pets.cats.anecdotes:


"Joy" wrote in message
...
A couple of days ago I posted about my backyard buffet which
attracts critters for the benefit of my indoor cats. One of the
items I put out is a bell-shaped cake of birdseed, which has a
stick running down the middle, with a hole so one can hang it. I
don't have a good place to hang it, so I just set it on the patio.
This morning I could see the stick coming out of the top of what
remained of the bell - a chunk a little bigger than a cell phone.
At lunchtime I was surprised to see that the bell was gone - stick
and all! I wonder who ran - or flew - off with it. I suppose it
could have been the squirrel that's been hanging around lately. I
don't know if the jay could have lifted it. This is the third bell
I've put out, and the first time that's happened.

My money is on the squirrel. I had similar problems with squirrels,
they were eating a fat ball a day from the birdfeeder during the
winter, caught in the act. I had to stop putting them out, it got
too expensive.

I have a metal shepards crook shaped hanger for the bird feeder. We
save up the fat from making chicken and use that to grease the poll so
the squirrels can't climb it.

Our outdoor TV can be hilarious as a fat squirrel makes a running jump,
slibes down and 'plumpfs' on the ground then licks it's hands and
belly, then tries again (grin).

--

LOL!

Today I got another surprise. A little mouse has been appearing now and
then, to nibble at the seed bell and then run off with a seed or two. Today
he actually ran off with an unshelled peanut! I was surprised he could even
get hold of it. I think the scrub jay who was there collecting peanuts was
a bit surprised too.

Joy