Warning: I was wrong about keeping my feeders up all summer
For about 3 years I kept my feeders full from October through April and pulled them every May, because my old neighbor in Tulsa told me feeding in summer makes birds lazy and dependent. Last June I forgot to take one down, a cheap tube feeder by my kitchen window, and within 2 weeks I counted 4 different finches and a pair of chickadees hitting it every morning with their young. Then I read that most backyard birds only get a small slice of their food from feeders anyway, maybe 20 percent, and summer is when they need the easy calories for molting and feeding babies. So the lazy thing was me, not the birds. Now I run 3 feeders year round and just clean them every 2 weeks with a bleach mix when it's hot. Anyone else get told the same summer rule growing up? Curious what you feed in the heat.