Feedback about Defender feeders

[Janet]

This forum requests feedback on CJ's products so I thought I would pass on this discussion about the metal Defender feeders from a forum about birds. Wonder whether any improvments could be made.

Person 1 - "I have the Defender metal seed feeders with six perching rings and I find they are the most awkward feeders to clean, with so many nooks and crannies when you strip them down, and fitting them back together is a major event for me!!! I do wonder if they are by there design as healthy for the birds as the easier to clean and less nooks and crannies as the cheap and cheerful plastic feeders you can buy ...... I intend to buy said cheap and cheerful feeders as they will be less of a burden to clean through the winter and at such cheap prices I shall buy several"

Person 2 - "I do so agree with you about the expensive metal feeders. "

Person 3 - "I have to agree with you about the expensive metal feeders being more difficult to clean but I get a lot of Squirrels so ours have to be Squirrel proof..... so I am having to put up with the difficulty of cleaning them."

Person 4 - "I too have to use the expensive metal feeders as I have 3 Squirrels ..... but I agree they are a nightmare to clean!!"

Person 5 - "I am quite relieved to hear that I'm not the only one having difficulty putting the ports back together on the top quality seed feeders. I thought it was just me. I always have screaming fits, swearing and crying every time I have to do this tricky job. Almost there, and oh d*** and b**** the little bolt has dropped out while I'm trying to hold all the other pieces together. I am so surprised that they have designed such a pig awful method. It does nothing to encourage good hygiene.
I'm also unable to use plastic ones because the squirrels devour them, so I've reverted to using a metal mesh feeder that I had bought ages before the Defenders. If anybody finds anything metal and easy to put together, we must tell each other."

Person 6 - "I bought a defender a month or so ago, and yes, its a swine to clean. I find Im using it less often and going back to the little cheap n cheerful one I got locally. I think I'll keep the defender as the spare rather than the other way round "

Person 1 - "It does seem as though we are all in agreeance as to the cleaning of the defender feeders, not cheap either are they. "

[storye_book]

Don't know if any of this will help - but here it is anyway.

1. Reassembling giant conqueror feeder, size 'small' as they call it. When reassembling, and after oiling the screws lightly:
a. First put the nuts and bolts in the ports, and lay the ports out ready to use. Have the posidrive/phillips screwdriver ready to hand.
b. Starting with the top pair of ports: (assuming you're right-handed - otherwise reverse polarity) pick up a nut port, and lay it over the end of your left middle finger, such that the nut rests on your finger-end, and the port rests on the nut.
c. Insert the port fully into its hole in the polycarb tube, keeping it resting on your finger as before. Its opposite port-hole will now be on top.
d. Pick up a screw-port, holding it such that the screw hangs down and can't fall out. Insert it down into its port-hole, so that the screw-end falls neatly into its opposite port. As you push the screw-port into its port-hole, you'll feel the screw pushing the nut down against your finger, but your finger will stop it falling out.
e. As you screw the ports together, you'll feel the screw pushing through the nut against your finger. Edge your finger off the screw-end and against the side of the nut, so that the nut can't fall out of its recess in the nut-port. This will stop it turning with the screw.
f. Tighten the screw gently, so as not to strain the polycarb tube, and to make it easier to take apart next time.
g. Repeat with lower ports, fitting the base in last. Doing it in this order makes it easier to get components out if you drop them inside the tube.

Getting the hanging wire back into the bail on these has been a pain - I've had to bang them back in with a hammer and the wires are getting bent as a result, and that jams the lid - but I'm hoping the new-design bail will be better. I wonder if they'll make new-style bail and wire replacements for the giant conquerors.

2. Cleaning. The big polycarb tubes are awkward to rinse out indoors. We've installed a great big ceramic kitchen sink, which is just big enough to rinse the smallest giant conqueror. I guess we'd need the garden hose to wash out the bigger ones if we had any.

I hope I made the above instructions clear enough. It really does work, and I haven't lost my temper when reassembling for ages. Honest. Let me know how you get on?

[Janet]

Thank you very much for the advice, it is kind of you to help. I shall pass the info on to the people involved in the discussion. I'm sure it will be a great help to them.
Thanks.:)

[storye_book]

hi janet. you're welcome. i hope it helps. meanwhile, they're right about the trays. they do get really disgusting after only two or three days when the feeder is in full use - and the holes do get clogged - even with nyjer. most birdfeeders are working people who shouldn't have to wash out their feeders more than once a week. a mesh-based tray is a good idea. i hope cj will design and market it soon. linda.