Okay folks, time to put your thinking caps on. Now that the snow has fallen here on the edge of the prairies, the birds are emptying the feeders really quickly. I don't really have time during the week to feed them so I am looking for an idea for a feeder that can hold 10 or 15 lbs of seed at a time. We have 6 barn cats so I can't just put the seed out on a tray. The carnage would resemble something from a Freddy Kruger movie, but the cats would be happy. I have really strong horizontal steel pipe about 7 feet up that is part of a horse shelter that I hang the feeder from, so weight isn't an issue. The feeding holes for the birds need to be kind of small or the magpies, crows and ravens take over and scare off the small birds. We are mostly feeding chickadees, sparrows and finches.
If you have any good ideas I would love to hear them. Good ideas with pictures are even better.
Let's see what y'all can come up with.

 

Have you considered a deer feeder on a timer? just scatter a hand full at a time.
either that, or use the feeder timer to refill the bird feeder.

 

Get a 5 gallon bucket, cut small holes in the bottom of it, get a metal trash can lid and screw it/glue it to the bottom of the 5 gallon bucket, making a rim/tray. Fill with seed.

 

That idea with the bucket is awesome!

 

He asked for redneck, I gave it to him.

 

Mad - that might actually work. I just need to find a 40L / 10 gal pail with a lid.

 

Just use two 5 gallon buckets...

 

Geez you have to actually feed wild birds?

Here in SoCal I am trying to get rid of them.

 

bird feeders keep the tree rats around.
gamo keeps the tree rats in the freezer...

 

I know what you mean about the birds emptying it. I fill mine every other day and its empty in about 10 minutes.

I like Mad's idea.

 

LoL. My parents still eat em a couple of times a month (primarily starlings). They were kids in the 30's and were actually encouraged by the govt to eat em since they are not native birds.

Mom keeps em in the freezer thanks to Daisy.