Home Made Deer Feeders

Our Garden: Gardening with wildlife

Sharing your garden with skunks, snakes and opossums? Then you are one lucky gardener, even if you don't think so.

Gary Bogue, pets and wildlife columnist for Bay Area News Group-East Bay, was the guest speaker Wednesday at Our Garden, talking about gardening with wildlife -- the emphasis being on "with."

Many people's first reaction when they discover wildlife in their garden is to attack, Bogue says. They want it out, they want it gone, they want it dead. But most creatures can provide benefits to the garden and the gardener, so an attitude of live and let live is required, Bogue says. And in the instances when the animal is intent upon destroying your garden, Bogue isn't opposed to using tactics that will deter and discourage.

Here are some of his thoughts:

Skunks -- A lot of people freak out when they see a skunk, but these animals are quiet mellow and won't bother you if you don't bother them. Keep a respectful distance, don't go charging up to it and let it do you a favor by dining on the snails and slugs that are the real troublemakers in the garden. You should worry, though, if you see one sniffing around your deck. Don't let it get under there, Bogue says, because it most likely is looking for a place to raise a family. "There's no problem with that," Bogue says, "but the smell level gets pretty bad."

Opossums -- This fairly harmless marsupial is not native to California and was brought into the area from the East Coast in around 1918. They eat slugs and snails, but won't touch your garden vegetables.

Birds, lizards and snakes -- These are three types of creatures you should welcome into your garden because they eat bugs. Place mounds of rocks around your garden for lizards to sun themselves and seek shelter. Let snakes have their space, and use bird feeders to attract a number of winged creatures. Bogue recommends taking the seed feeders in when plants begin growing in the garden, forcing the birds to feast on aphids and other insects. Hummingbird feeders should remain up, Bogue says, to attract the to the garden where they'll also eat tiny flies and other insects.

Garden spiders -- If you can stand them, Bogue says, let them build their webs to catch flying insects.

Deer -- They're on the top of many unwelcome lists. The only way to keep deer out of your garden if they really want in is to build a 9-foot fence, Bogue says. It's much easier to control them in wet years when they have plenty of food to eat that grows outside of your garden. But you can try a homemade repellent of one egg in a gallon of water, sprayed on plants. The spray leaves a slight sulfur smell that the deer will be able to detect. And if it doesn't work, Bogue says, all it has cost you is one egg, not the big bucks you can spend on commercial products.

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Inexpensive compared to some of the deer feeders on the market. Hanging the Deer Feeder Bucket Once you have done this you will not want to prepare your 5 gallon bucket for hanging. Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: springfield Posts: 885 iTrader: 0 / 0% perhaps the easiest, quickest, and cheapest method of a feeder is a tube of black downspouting/ run-off pipe. These deer feeders are easy to make and there is no doubt that the deer use them. Corn feeders are often used for hunting, but they can also be a great way for you and your family to watch for wildlife. Now as far as the battery operated spin feeder on the bottom goes. Homemade Deer Feeders – Easy to make yourself. These include wooden stands, tree stumps, and hay feeders that are usually used with cattle or small animals like sheep. Although the feeder itself is a cheap proposition, feed is not.

Fill the can with corn and the deer will learn to kick the stump to dislodge the corn. We first used plastic barrels but the squirrels chewed holes into them. Wildlife that has become dependant on feeders will be less able to fend for themselves under normal circumstances. You can achieve the same thing by making an inexpensive deer feeder from an empty five gallon bucket. We eventually moved on to using automatic deer feeders. Find More Posts by joerugz 12-24-2007, 11:46 AM # 13 Fish On Senior Member Join Date: Sep 2004 Posts: 483 iTrader: 0 / 0% First off I wanted to say sorry it took so long to reply back but I wanted to get some pictures of the feeders we built.

Stabilize your homemade deer feeder by tying or fastening it to a tree or post so that it cannot fall or be knocked over. Sig by robrjohnson 01-09-2009, 09:36 AM # 4 jonl9 Jonl9 Joined: Dec 2008, #12072 Location: Eastern North Carolina Gender: Male Posts: 37 06 Prerunner, Xtra cab, towing package 2006 Access Cab Automatic V-6 I too have a home made deer feeder, though we usually refer to it as our landscaping. You can get a better result, if you paint the PVC pipe or the dowel rod in some natural colors like brown or green. You are signed in to your Facebook account.

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