Initially it can be tough to reach the branch you intend to hang a bird feeder off high up in a tree, but it only needs to be done once then its a breeze thereafter.
If you want to hang a bird feeder from a high branch of a tree, you’ll need a ladder to get there. In addition, a bird feeder might be hooked to a branch higher up using a 20 foot clothesline or swimming pool pole – or better even mount a pulley system to access the bird feeder whenever.
You are reading: Bird Feeders On A Tree Branch
Bird feeders, which can be hung from a tree’s branches, are an essential amenity for popular backyard birds that frequent particular trees.
Reasons to hang a bird feeder high up in a tree is of course to keep bears out of bird feeders, since it remains concealed yet can be maintained out of sight of other wildlife.
On the issue of bears, you can use one of my tactics to tie a length of rope between two trees in order to keep bears other nuisance animals well off your bird feeders.
The higher a bird feeder is hung, the more birds it will attract to your yard, in my opinion, so long as it is still within reach and visible.
I will recommend a solution to hanging bird feeders up in a tree where you can access it when you need it – whether it to clean out or replace the bird feeder food.
My alternatives using a clothesline pole or a pool pole would have to be utilized repeatedly, and I’ll acknowledge that there are risks involved.
Instead, you can throw a length of rope over the limb you wish to utilize, then draw the bird feeder up and down with the rope before securing it to an accessible branch – all while removing the knot for whenever you require bird feeder access.
If you want to hang bird feeders higher up in a tree and keep them within eyeshot of the same limb, a pulley system is your best bet.
Pulley systems come on a wheel where wire can threaded through, then similarly to anchoring rope connected to a lower tree branch – the pulley system can’t jam or can it create wear and strain on the tree branch in use.
You can hang a bird feeder in a tree if it remains visible yet accessible to all birds. Make sure the bird feeders are properly hung if you follow any of my other advice.
Ladder is all you need
To hang a bird feeder from a tree, all you need is a ladder and the ability to climb it, or the ability to have a family member do it for you.
And remember this, the ladder will only need to be used once when following guidelines I give below – rather from using it every time your clean or change food.
Hanging a bird feeder from a tree limb requires nothing more than a ladder, but we recognize that this may be impractical for many of you.
I’m not suggesting you run out and buy a 20-foot ladder just so you can hang bird feeders from the roof, but it’s not unreasonable to ask a neighbor or family member to lend you a hand every once in a while.
In the future, a ladder will be beneficial for installing a pulley system or for making a one-time swing over a thick, mature branch using a length of rope or, better yet, steel wire.
It will be tough to use a ladder on a tree with numerous branches, so the most physically capable member of the family should make the ascent. Alternatively, you may send a little child up the tree just once to install a pulley or drape some rope over a branch.
The suggestion of a ladder is obvious, but it may be necessary in the long run, even if only to set up the bird feeder higher up the tree once.
Reach high with clothesline pole
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Do you use a long clothesline that stretches across your yard to dry your clothes? Well the clothesline pole – which may be up to 10 feet tall – can be the solution for hanging bird feeders high in a tree.
Poles used for clotheslines typically include a fold at the top to ensure the line can be passed through without constantly coming unwound.
Now picture hooping this clothesline pole thread securely over a tree, and then connecting a bird feeder onto its hanger or chain used to hang, thus raising each bird feeders to a higher branch.
Putting a bird feeder on the end of this clothesline pole is, in my opinion, not a good idea, as the feeder could easily become dislodged and fall to the ground.
A bird feeder full of food on the ground can be hauled up and over a tree branch with the help of a special hanger or hook you create.
The bird feeder must be hoisted and hooked over a branch, the length of which must be short in order to allow the feeder to be lowered over the end, and the clothesline pole must be able to be withdrawn from the tree after the feeder has been attached.
While this isn’t the optimal method, it should give you a good notion of what’s required if you’re having trouble achieving such a great height.
Borrow swimming pool pole
The pole from your pool can serve the same purpose as the clothesline pole you’d use to hang a bird feeder from a tree.
We can’t use a hoop or hook this time because there isn’t one on the end of a pool pole; instead, you’ll need to fashion one yourself.
The bird feeder can be hung from the hook in either a vertical or horizontal orientation without fear of it toppling off the pool pole.
That being said, if you utilize what amounts to a plastic hook to keep your pool pole in place, you can simply remove it from its mounting and adhere it to the end of your pole for the time being.
It is possible to temporarily secure the hook by using duck tape or a rope.
I realize not everyone has access to a swimming pool, but an inexpensive pole would be a good alternative.
However, I wouldn’t advise you to run out and buy anything just yet, as I have better alternatives for you to come than using a 10 or 15 foot clothesline or swimming pole pool.
Anchor rope over branch
In my opinion, a 20-foot stretch of sturdy rope is the simplest and most effective means of suspending a bird feeder in a tree.
Plastic-coated clothesline and hard-wearing steel wire (of a thickness that won’t allow it to cut through the tree branch) are also viable options.
Anchoring the rope over a suitable tree branch allows you to suspend the feeder at any height above the ground.
You’d only need to climb to the top of that tree branch once (whether it’s 10 or 15 or 20 feet high).
Free-climb it, use a ladder, or hoop over the rope with a pole from a clothesline or a swimming pool to prevent it from falling back over the branch.
What you get now is a length of rope that is 20 feet in total, 10 feet of which go up to the bird feeder on the branch and another 10 feet of which swing back down to the ground.
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The rope’s (or wire’s) slack length serves to raise and lower the bird feeder, which is permanently attached to its terminus.
The bird feeder will eventually fall if left dangling, so to prevent this, attach it to a lower branch or swing it around the tree trunk.
When it’s time to clean or replenish the bird feeders‘ food supply, you just untie the knot above the branch or trunk and lower them to the ground.
Access with pulley system
You may acquire a pulley system that can be used to reach a bird feeder in the canopy of a tree for less than twenty dollars, and you can use it over and over again.
What is this pulley system, then? It consists of a sturdy metal wheel mounted on a bracket that permits steel wire to be fed through it. A simple tug on the wire while the wheel is spinning will cause it to reverse direction, making it impossible to divide by 4.
This pulley method functions similarly to anchoring a rope over a branch and using it to hoist the bird feeder into place, where it may be secured with a knot.
The first step is to figure out how to securely attach this pulley block to a high branch.
For the pulley system to work, you’ll need unobstructed access to a sturdy tree branch from which to hang it, or a way to secure it using at least one meter of clothesline. In addition, when you’re in the elevated position, you should run the wire through the spokes of the wheel.
You can use your overlapping hands and up to 20 feet of wire to raise the bird feeder to the desired height, and then you’ll have to painstakingly undo the wire knot to lower it back to the ground.
Plastic pulley systems with rope are similarly durable, but their more complex mechanism makes them more prone to jamming.
My plan involves passing a length of wire over the metal pulley wheel just once.
Conclusion
I realize I’m not being very helpful by suggesting that you use a ladder; but, a ladder sometimes be necessary, and it can be annoying to have to regularly remove it from its storage location in order to clean or replace the bird feeder’s food.
A ladder might not be able to be hoisted up in and amid the tree’s many branches under those circumstances.
Therefore, I propose that you attach a hook to the end of a clothesline pole, or use a basic hoop, to hoist bird feeders off the ground, and slide them over a visible and easily-reachable branch of a tree.
Like a clothesline pole, a pool pole may be utilized, but a hook would need to be attached at the end of it.
The following step requires physical access to the tree in order to hang the bird feeder.
If you only need to do it once, you can use a ladder, or better yet, have a young person climb a tree and swing a rope over the branch.
The result would be a length of rope, anywhere from ten to twenty feet long, dangling from the tree limb in two directions.
What you do now is use one end to raise the bird feeder to the ideal height in the tree, and then tie the feeder to the other end. This rope will be used to secure the bird feeder to a lower-hanging branch or the tree trunk.
Instead, you should hang or secure a pulley block system under a limb so that you may raise the bird feeder into place and lower it back to the ground with caution.
Install the metal pulley system using a tall ladder or a one-time tree climb, then hang the feeder by threading the wire through the pulley wheel.
Source: https://petstutorial.com
Category: Birds
