What is the best type of bird feeder for Blue Jays & Cardinals?

My father loves feeding birds and has several bird feeders. We seem to attract enough of all types of birds, but the larger birds (Blue Jays %26amp; Cardinals) have a tough time feeding as compared to finches and other smaller ones. We provide a wide-variety mix of bird feed and black oil sunflowers.





Any suggestions would be appreciated.What is the best type of bird feeder for Blue Jays %26amp; Cardinals?
Blue jays are seldom attracted to seed, as their primary diet is bugs, but you might try a suet feeder to attract them. They can't use the tail-paddle type feeder that a woodpecker can use; you'll need to put the blocks next to something they can perch on. Cardinals, on the other hand, LOVE sunflower seed, and will come to just about any kind of feeder that has them. I prefer the hopper-type feeders simply because you can put lots of seed in them. Many blue jays like peanuts - it seems to depend on their mood; I managed to accustom one to me to the point that he would take them from my hand, although he'd never *quite* sit on my finger. Be sure not to feed peanuts during breeding season, however; adults can handle them with no problem, but they have a bad way of stuffing the babies' crops full with these, and the young blue jays have a VERY tough time digesting them.





Be sure to put water out for all the birds; while they won't all eat seed or suet, they all need water, and you might well be the only place in the neighborhood that has water avilable to them. If you can find a drip nozzle or sprayer, that will help attract them, as they will come to the sound of the running water. I even got the occasional hawk at my birdbath when I lived in Colorado!





Whatever kind of feeder you choose to use, be sure to keep it clean. Here in western Washington state, we're having a bit of a problem with birds dying of salmonella, so we are being encouraged to use the tube-type feeders for finches and similar small birds. Your feeders should be cleaned once a week with a solution of bleach and water so that there's less chance of disease transmission from sick birds to healthy ones.





Enjoy :-)What is the best type of bird feeder for Blue Jays %26amp; Cardinals?
You might try adding some suet feeders...Jays really like these.
I use tray bird feeders for larger birds.
Cardinals have short, thick necks - so they like to eat facing their food. Tube-type feeders don't allow them to do this. Platform or hopper style feeders are more comfortable. They like sunflower seeds, especially black oil, and they also like safflower.





Jays like suet, but go crazy for peanuts in the shell. Mine are skittish about coming too close to the house- they come better when the feeder is 20ft away from the house. They are not agile, so feeders that allow them to perch, rather than cling, work best.
I have a number of feeders positioned around the yard. Both the bluejays and the cardinals seem to prefer the ground feeder as opposed to the hanging feeder. They go crazy over black sunflower seeds (not the striped ones), and peanuts. The bluejays will take the peanuts in or out of the shells, but the cardinals will only take them if they are out of the shells.





In the spring and early summer, when they are feeding nestlings and fledglings, both the cardinals and the blue jays will take grapes. I have never seen them on our log-style suet feeders, but I do often see the blue jays underneath those feeders, gathering up anything the other birds have dropped.





And just the other day, one of the blue jays surprised me by going to the jelly feeder we have for the orioles, and flying off with a beakful of grape jelly!
emmm, wild bird seeds to harvest, or pelets, seed spray, cuttlebone, random seeds, etc.


It really depends, its up to you, what you wanna give it rfalmo