Can bird feeders be too close together
You can have a group of different types of hanging bird feeders near one another, but a one foot separation is needed to prevent injury or damage.
Feeders can be too close together if its the hanging kind, suspended off a bird feeding station or off a tree branch. Blame it on the wind as bird feeders end up bumping one another, while feeding birds can be crushed. Too close together bird feeders can also make it easier for larger, more nuisance birds to use them.
Birds like their space so to site bird feeders to close is only going to cause a loud fight around the feeders every morning, so space them out.
You can use a large number of bird feeders if you can be sure the bird food in them is going to be used up before it expires - but there is such a thing as too close together.
Number of feeders in use at any one time is usually around the FOUR mark, so a bird feeding station with multiple feeders would normally use a cross-section bracket formation.
One bird feeder is hung on an individual bracket which can result in a one foot distance.
I therefore recommend taking your cue from this information as to know how far apart bird feeders should be - I say one foot or more is your target.
Bird feeders can be so close together that it can result in them bumping against one another in wind - resulting in damage or a recurring, annoying noise out in the garden.
More importantly, to site hanging bird feeders too close together can see birds as they feed, be hit or trapped between the feeders.
Trick to using the top three bird feeders in a more manageable way is with a specialty 3-in-1 bird feeder - in which it includes a peanut, seed and suet feeder.
Feeders can be too close
Believe it or not, hanging bird feeders can be too close together, in that they can knock against one another in the littlest of winds.
Rather than positioning bird feeders near each other then, you'd need the space them out to prevent them clashing against each other in the wind - or if it may caused by birds as they feed off them.
Take a cue by manufacturer's of wild bird feeding stations; if you've paid any attention you will notice how far apart the bird feeders normally hang, and its rarely that close.
It could be up to a foot apart but each bird feeder is located on the end of an individual bracket - so its positioned as far as it can go, but within reason.
Distance is measured from hanging bird feeder to the centre pole, while also avoiding any potential knocks with adjoining feeders on the next bracket over.
If you are freely hanging up bird feeders on a tree branch or a specialty bird feeder bracket - then follow the simple rule of 12 inches apart, or more.
Injury to wild birds likely
What benefits is there to having bird feeders that hang a foot apart, other than the risk of them knocking against each other through wind or otherwise.
Well, of course the risk to injuring small garden birds who use bird feeders is a very likely scenario to play out before your eyes.
However, that risk is reduced to an impossible occurrence if properly separating hanging bird feeders - used to hang up on a bracket or branch only.
As bird feeders rock in wind, you could indeed see a bird become hit in the rear, while unavoidably being squashed between two bird feeders that may knock up against one another.
If the bird feeders are too close together, that is certainly something that can happen. But it is an uncommon occurrence I grant you.
When wild birds use lighter, more flimsy made in plastic tube seed feeders, its on this you could see trouble, whereas an all metal suet fat ball feeder, or similarly any heavy-duty bird feeders are still seen to sway in the wind, but less so.
Deter larger, nuisance birds
You don't want to attract large garden birds to use your hanging bird feeders if you can help it, so keep those bird feeders far apart then.
While a pigeon is too dopey to use a feeder intended for small birds, it can indeed use a nearby feeder as a perch as it leans over to a nearby feeder.
If the two feeders were up to a foot apart, then the pigeon stands no chance of reaching it, thus is discouraged from trying again.
To deter larger birds, a safe arrangement of hanging bird feeders would be far apart as you can, but not where other objects or even an additional tree branch can be used as a sort of land bridge.
Setup up the bird feeders as far apart on the bird feeding station or brackets of any kind, but not in a way that offers a nearby perch.
In the meantime, a pigeon or even a crow or jackdew can perch on top of a bird feeder, while finding it incredibly difficult to actually use it.
Too close obstructs views
I think its fair to say you only setup a grouping of bird feeders hanging off a tree branch or the feeding station, as to benefit you right?
Well, that's perfectly fine as many people would agree that is the whole point.
So what good is it then if you site the bird feeders too close together as to remove gaps that closes off feeding birds on the other side, where you cannot view them from a far.
Group bird feeders to close together and this is actually what will happen. Space out the bird feeders a foot apart would create a better, more suitable bird feeding platform for you to observe at a safe distance.
Reason for that is you could have up to four bird feeders hanging off the feeding station, to only then see all wild birds feeding on the opposite side, out of your view.
Space out bird feeders, one only on each bird feeding station bracket, while avoiding doubling up for space saving or going overboard on feeders.
You can have too many bird feeders in one area, but so to can too many feeders lead to complete waste of bird food that doesn't always gets eaten up in time.
To summarise
Feeders should not be clustered together as it risks damaging the more agile feeders in use on the bird feeding station or hanging off a tree branch.
What can go wrong is if positioning bird feeders to close together can risk birds getting hit by a feeder hanging up only a few inches apart.
Play it safe then by only hanging bird feeders a foot or more apart.
No need to guest it though as manufacturers of feeding stations tend to use four brackets, up to a foot or more apart. If following a rule of a foot or more divide, you shouldn't have any trouble.
Its the wind you see, even in the littlest of winds, hanging bird feeders swing - so if they are too close together they are going to continuously bump against one another.
Injury to garden birds is a possibility, but they will never know about it until it happens, so keep feeding birds in a safe way be siting feeders far apart.
And while too close together bird feeders can make it easier for larger, more nuisance birds to feed, a tight group of feeders can make it harder for you to watch feeding birds.
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