I have no idea how many bags we go through in a year's time, but every month we go to Tractor Supply to stock up on 3 or 4 forty pound bags and sometimes we have to make a run to Lowes to pick up more inbetween. Right now we are going through seed like crazy as the hundreds of redwinged blackbirds are here stripping the feeders.

Wow--good for you guys! I thought I went through a lot of bird seed, but I know it's not 800 lbs. for the winter. I don't feed all year round anymore because of the bears.

I hang two large feeders filled with black oil seed, and I have three suet feeders hanging as well. I like to use real suet whenever possible, but when I can't get it I make do with purchased suet/seed cakes. I make up a mix of cracked corn, peanut hearts, and various other seeds for the ground feeders. I'm very popular with the doves and juncos!

What kind of food do you provide?

we've been averaging about 40 lbs a week...but then we have 9 doves, couple of cardinals, assorted smaller birds. however about a dozen squirrels, one rabbit, and a muskrat (it just joined the family) oh couple of chimpmonks, and yes, an urban deer! (only see the tracks...) I'm hoping to get a feeder built with a cover this summer...I feel so bad for the critters this winter with all the horrible temps of 0....

I feel bad for them too in this extreme cold. I love the squirrels too but want the birds to get their share. I have at least ten squirrels and three pair of cardinals, plus many woodpecker varieties and juncos, and doves.

The deer used to raid my bird feeder every night until this year. I put the feeder on a martin house pole raisng it about 8 ft high. That stopped the night raiders and interestingly enough, the squirrels do not try to climb that pole whereas the shinnied up a lower pole.

With stoppage of the leakage, I still going through about 15 lb a week. I fill one half of the feeder with black sunflower seeds and the other with a wild bird mix. I am going through more wild bird mix than sunflower seed. The mouring doves are the worst. They have big appetites and they sweep out significent amounts to the ground. The ground feeding juncos clean up most of the fallen seed, but I was surprised at how many juncos will visit the high feeder. Other birds vivting the feeder are one pair of cardinals, an occasional blue jay, red bellied wood pecker, a flock of gold finches, house finches, and an occasional english sparrow. Two weeks ago, a flock of 5 turkeys wandered through.

Jemdandy, are you certain deer were the culprits? We have so many deer on our property--too tame for their own good--that I refer to it almost like living in a petting zoo. Yet I've never known a deer to raid the bird feeders, at night or otherwise. Bears? Yes. Raccoons? Definitely!

I think my male cardinal has taken a mistress. :-) We've always seen them in pairs, but this year I have a male and two females. Watching them and the other ground feeders yesterday, I counted 24 doves. When startled, they make quite a noise all lifting off at once.

I think we must feed every bird and squirrel in our town. As for what we put out for the animals, mainly we use the black oil seed in the feeders, wild bird seed is scattered on the ground for the ground feeding birds, suet cakes are in the cages, water in 5 watering containers, and then we have 2 homemade feeders to hold the homemade food which consists of fruits, peanut butter, and other ingredients. Peanuts and bread are also put out on the ground for the crows, bluejays and squirrels.Counting both the front and back yard feeders, there are 7 feeders plus the three for homemade food.

The deer definitely get into feeders. They stand on their hind legs and shake the seed out. Had five In the front yard last night. We watch them from kitchen window. Birds are busy, lots of juncos right now, cardinals, jays, robins eating the dried crabapples ., squirrels too.

I must have very polite deer. LOL

We live in the woods and go through about 20 pounds of bird food and 3-4 suet cakes per week. The deer eat from our feeders, too, but we try to minimize that by providing corn for them; we go through about 40# of corn weekly. When the weather is as cold as it has been this winter - usually between 0 and 20 degrees F with brutal windchills - I don't mind if the squirrels help themselves.

I have no idea how much we go through. I don't know how heavy the bags are at Costco, but we go through about a bag every 1-2 weeks in the winter. We have a house feeder and two hanging dishes,plus two suet feeders in the back.

Here is a link that might be useful: some birds in my backyard on YouTube

Oh yes, deer did raid my bird feeder on a regular schedule. I observed them many times. They arrived between midnight and 2 am. Their first choice was to use their tongue to lick out all the sunflower seed and then proceed to the other side that held a wildbird mix of wheat,millet, etc. At that time, my feeder was about 5 ft above the ground, a nice head high for adult deer. Also, it was nice height for me to refill the feeder.

Raising the feeder around 9 ft high stopped the deer but made a nusiance to refill because the feeder has to be lowered, or drag out a step ladder.

So far, the elevated feeder has worked well. The squirrels, opposums, and racoons have left it alone too. The change to steel tubing may be part of the reason squirrels leave it alone. However, I did see one the more clever, problem solving squirrel casing it out and the only route he considered was from above on a tree limb. The distance was too great and limb too small. Also, he's the smart squirrel and doesn't like to get trapped. He seems to conisder the return path. At present, if he should manage to get on the feeder, the only way off is down to the ground and that height is now too much. When the feeder was only 5 ft high, the squirrels were much more daring and would take a plunge directly to the ground for an emergency escape.