CJ Wildlife Cage for Ground Bird Feeder - Bird Table for the Garden - Large Mesh Guardian Cage - Powder-Coated Metal Green - Hinged Top - 6cm x 6.5cm Mesh - 5-Year Guarantee

Good quality, well made and effective. I was very pleased. Easily assembled. On first setting up I used the ground pegs to keep it in place but the visiting Badgers were determined to get at the contents that hadn't been eaten and made short shrift of the pegs leaving deep holes. Needless to say I haven't bothered using the pegs since :)

● Answer to money down the drain : I love putting bird food out and watching them guzzle it down happily. I've just checked through my amazon orders, in the last year alone, I have spent over £110 on bird food just on amazon alone. Coz sometimes I get small packs from the local store (comparatively very expensive) when I have forgotten to place the order on amazon. And on top of the bought bird food, I also cook something called milk rice (Sri Lankan) to put out for birds. It's basically rice cooked with coconut milk and then I add some cheap coconut oil for extra energy. Birds absolutely love it. And I loved watching them eat. Pigeons are smart. For the last 2 years or so pigeons have attacked the top 2 feeders as they've figured out how to balance themselves once they land on it. And I didn't mind it as pigeons are hungry birds. But it became a problem when they pulled out all the mealworm suet to the ground within hours after filling and all the food getting soaked in the rain, getting stuck together, going bad and not being consumed. This ground cover was the answer for me. ● More rain friendly to hang on wall : The first week I left this on the ground with the top 2 feeders shown in pic standing on ground. Big mistake coz rain water splashed dirt on the feeders and the bird feed at the bottom was all wet and stuck together and started to go bad with pus growing on the bird food. True, that this type of feeder is not suitable for ground feeding but still the rain splashed back dirt all over so even a ground tray would get dirt splashed all over. On top of that, a pigeon was inside the ground cover. Think it's a slightly smaller pigeon as the others couldn't squeeze through. Hanging on the wall, that pigeon has not yet dared to try squeeze in. It is hung on garden fence to cover/enclose 2 large bird feeders (see pic). ● Allows good ventilation to feeders and fence (compared to boxing in with small access holes or covering with big baffles) : The bird feeders are located at an unused corner in our garden next to the bin area and it tends to get extra green stuff on the fence. I normally pressure wash the fence twice a year but this year (since Autumn last year) it was not washed, therefore as you can see, the green stuff is quite bad right now. So as it is clearly the problematic corner of the fence, I wanted something that will allow good ventilation. This ground cover allows that. ● Easy installation : very easy to put together. No need for any tools. Just snap clips on mesh wires to connect pieces together. ● Strengthened connections since hanging turned to side : I just wrapped some garden wire close to where each plastic clip goes to tie the sides together (see pics). This makes sure that the structure gets some extra strength and stays in shape without collapsing just in case the plastic clips either snap off or break. Everything is hung on 2 strong chains with the help of 'S' hooks coz I had them in hand. It took less than 2 minutes to get it all up. But if wanted, the ground cover could also be easily hung onto wall hooks easily. Strengthening the connections allows me to also hang a large seed feeder at the bottom of the ground cover (see pic). ● Easy access : The lil access door makes taking the feeders in and out for cleaning and refilling much easier. ● Less noticeable : The green colour doesn't attract too much attention (a good thing imo). ● Expandable if willing to spend : I would have loved to experiment with a few of these ground covers. That is to connect several of these clickable pieces together to create one whole big cover that would cover an area of the fence wall. It would be like a feature in it's own right featuring a small bird area in the garden. Instead of bird cages, only small bird accessible feeding areas sounds good to me. But these are not cheap. ● Allows Small birds to feed in peace : Before the pigeons used to chase the small wild birds away and pig out. Now I notice a lot more small wild birds (more species too) hanging around due to having the ground cover as a protection to feed in peace.

I purchased this cage as anytime I tried to feed my little birds, the squirrels and larger birds would eat most of the food leaving nothing for the smaller birds. I purchased a separate feeding station for my squirrels and have set that up away from this feeding station for the small birds. I have three cats, two of which are superb hunters so I've actually fixed this cage to my house wall, a good height up that my cats will struggle to gain any traction that would assist them in catching the birds. I cut some clear perspex to size and covered the sides and roof of the cage to protect the food inside from the rain. I then put in a floor base and levelled it off. That has been protected with a good quality wood stain. It was then erected on the wall. I didn't have any birds for a few days and then realised that the birds may fly into the perspex and if stunned and fell to the ground then they'd stand no chance against my the cats so I then covered the sides, roof and bottom of the front with some fake ivy. Literally as soon as I done that my little birds started using the cage. They must feel safe in it as some of the birds are in there for several minutes at a time. I'm delighted with this end product. If I had a tiny gripe, it would be that the door to the cage was more secure as its only held on with clips. If they fail me then I'll use cable ties as hinges for the top. I have deducted one star for that reason. ***It's been 3 months since this was erected to my house wall. It's great for the birds however it is still not squirrel proof. The holes are large enough for juvenile squirrels to get through with ease. I have since had to put Chicken wire over the front of the cage however, not on the door. On the door, I have used flower oasis wire to make the holes smaller. I have watched the squirrels try to push the wire to the side so they can still squeeze through. As such I have reinforced the oasis wires. The squirrels get stroppy when their nuts run out and they can't get into this cage so they chew on my bird houses to let me know they're hungry. 😁***

We bought this as the magpies, rooks and squirrels were making easy pickings of just about every hanging suet feeder we have purchased, even those that are meant to be big bird proof! Pros: Really easy to assemble and very sturdy. We have ours mounted on a big table that hubbie has made out of a section of tree trunk as trespassing mallards kept sticking their beaks in when it was on the ground. The small birds were inside in no time at all, including woodpeckers and even a blackbird has been brave enough to go in. It's lovely to watch them all feeding while the greedy pigeons and rooks just get frustrated from the outside! Cons: Within a couple of days a smaller magpie got in and ate everything and now a greedy squirrel has discovered the delights within and is basically scoffing everything we put out, so not impressed. The lower holes definitely need to be smaller as they are obviously still big enough for the unwelcome visitors.

Doesn’t do the simple job of deterring squirrels due to the cavernous bottom holes almost as if whoever sells it has never been to a U.K. garden. Avoid like the plague unless you enjoy watching great fat squirrels ransacking your bird food.

Easy to construct, keeps the big birds out. Smaller birds took a few days to get used to it.

This review is for the large mesh version of this guard: unfortunately it doesn't keep the pigeons out completely as they can easily reach in & grab any food that is with 3" of the edge. In hindsight I wish I had bought the small mesh version but it looks like this has disappeared from Amazon. It looks like I'll have to return it as it doesn't do what I need.

Love this item mostly because it top opens to add food, where my dome one which looked nicer didn't and as I have to tether them down to stop the rooks and jackdaws it was a pain hammering it back into the ground 3 times a day. Well made. The birds used it straight away Inc the blackbirds. Very happy.

Elstern schlüpfen einfach durch den Käfig! Echt schade...