Night critters may destroy bird feeders when you’re not looking
Q: I have several bird feeders in my yard. Nobody or nothing bothered them — till the last two weeks. The feeders were ripped down and chewed up overnight, and I know it wasn’t birds. At night, I can smell skunks but I don’t think they can jump that high. How do I protect the feeders from an assailant? Also, why do skunks always stink?
A: Your two questions are related. Your feeders have not been assaulted till now because, until recently, the perpetrators have been hibernating, or at least not roaming far from their winter accommodations. Snow was deep enough in a number of places that it may have been difficult to get around. But with spring arriving, the rules changed, and not in your favor.
You are correct in believing skunks can’t jump. But they can vacuum along the ground picking up missed seeds and hulls. Skunks are usually very calm and gentle — until aggressive raccoons are added to the party. These bullies are under the feeders, too. Raccoons don’t play well with others, or even each other. So, they have to run off the competitors. This is the reason for the stink. Skunks don’t have any odor until they are being mugged and then, their attacker gets a big blast of repellent.
But raccoons climb, and can jump from the ground,
if the feeder is low enough. Considering a full-grown male raccoon can weight up to 40 pounds, your
feeders are no match.
That amount of weight swinging on the feeder while they are ripping and chewing is a disaster unless the feeder is an armored vehicle. Even a 15or 20-pound female will dominate that situation.
Another night feeder is opossums, but they are not aggressive like raccoons and are basically ground feeders.
If deer are in your area, they can knock down feeders but they don’t chew them up. It’s not squirrels
because they only work days.
Your options for stopping your ravenous eaters are limited.
You may be able to raise the height of the feeders and move the feeders and their poles away from anything to climb up. You could try applying an animal repellent to the feeder, but if your critter is really hungry, it’ll just holds its nose while eating. A big enough raccoon can bend or break squirrel baffles that are put around the pole to prevent them from climbing.
Your only solution may be to take down the feeders at dusk and secure them somewhere they can’t get trashed. Possibly,
a clean metal garbage can with a tight-fitting lid could work.
Q
: I have way too many indoor plants in my house and every window sill and in front of the windows are crowded. It’s been really warm recently and I would like to know if I can move some of these big plants outside and put them against the house. Can I do this?
A
: If you are looking for a way to remove them from the planet, go for it. It does not matter that we have had some really warm day temperatures that indoor plants could handle.
The nights have been
cold and the exterior of the house does not absorb enough radiant energy to radiate it back to keep them warm at night.
They are called indoor or house plants for a reason. Michigan is not a tropical paradise in the winter and parts of the spring and fall. Consider 50 degrees as the lowest they can tolerate. Even at 50 degrees, many will suffer and not recover.
Like many people with indoor plants, the plants keep getting larger and eventually outgrow your home. A better plan would be to decide which ones are taking up too much acreage.
Start cuttings from these. When you are sure that they are rooted and growing, push the mammoth parent plant outdoors. But don’t take the cuttings and then toss the plant. Sometimes, cuttings don’t succeed.
Or wait until the end of May and plant the biggies outside in a shady spot and then do not dig them up in the fall. It may be less painful for you that way.
Some of your plants can easily be started from cuttings. Decide which are the largest and can be propagated and start over with small plants. Plant hoarding can affect us all.