Feeder Types

Peanut Feeders

Peanuts pull in woodpeckers, jays, titmice and nuthatches faster than almost anything else. They also spoil faster than any other feeder food, and the wrong mesh size turns a peanut feeder into a squirrel dispenser.

There are two feeders sold as peanut feeders and they have almost nothing in common. One is a fine steel mesh tube holding shelled kernels and halves, where a chickadee or nuthatch pecks fragments loose without ever removing a whole piece. The other is a coarse wire ring, spiral or wreath holding peanuts still in their shells, where a blue jay grabs a whole nut and flies off with it.

Which one you want depends entirely on which birds you are after, and the answer is often both.

Peanuts also carry a real handling requirement that seed does not. They spoil quickly, and moldy peanuts are not merely wasted food but a genuine hazard. This page covers the two designs, the mesh sizes that make each work, how much to put out, and what to do about the squirrels that will absolutely find them.

Shelled or in the shell#

Shelled peanuts reach far more species. In-shell peanuts are theater: watching a jay work through a pile, weigh each nut and choose is one of the more entertaining things a feeder produces. Most people who run both end up putting shelled peanuts in the working feeder and in-shell peanuts on a tray as an occasional treat.

Mesh gauge decides everything#

The single number that determines whether a peanut feeder works is the size of the opening.

About 1/4 inch (6 mm) for shelled peanuts. At this gauge, a titmouse or nuthatch can wedge its bill in and chip pieces away, but a whole half cannot fall through and a squirrel cannot pull one out cleanly. This is the standard for a reason.

Under about 3/16 inch (5 mm) is too fine. Birds work at it, get very little, and move on. It also traps peanut dust, which cakes when damp.

3/8 inch (10 mm) and up lets whole halves drop out. The visible result is a fast-emptying feeder and a pile of peanuts on the ground, which mostly feeds squirrels, chipmunks and rodents rather than birds.

Roughly 1 inch (25 mm) for in-shell peanuts, or a wire spiral where nuts stack in a helix.

Material matters as much as gauge. Welded or woven steel survives; plastic mesh does not. Peanuts are the food squirrels most want, and a squirrel will chew through plastic mesh in a matter of days, leaving a hole that dumps the entire load. If you buy one steel feeder in your yard, make it the peanut feeder.

Ring, wreath and spiral designs#

For in-shell nuts, three shapes dominate, and they behave differently.

The wire ring or basket. A circular cage of wide wire holding a loose pile. Simple, easy to fill, and easy for a jay to raid at speed. Because the nuts sit loose, a determined bird or squirrel can shake several out at once.

The spiral. A single length of stiff wire wound into a helix, with nuts threaded along it. Birds have to work each nut around the coil, which slows a jay down substantially and makes squirrel raids less efficient. Spirals also let you see exactly how much is left. They are slower to fill, which is the tradeoff.

The wreath. A ring frame, often used for seed and suet wreaths as much as peanuts. More decorative than functional, and the open construction sheds nuts in wind. If you like the form, the more useful version is a homemade seed and fat wreath, covered in DIY seed wreaths and ornaments.

A fourth option is simply a tray. In-shell peanuts scattered on a platform feeder are found faster than in any hanging device, because that is how jays expect to find food. The cost is total lack of exclusion.

Jays, caching, and why your feeder empties#

Blue jays (Cyanocitta cristata), Steller's jays and California scrub-jays are not eating everything they take. They are caching it, burying nuts around the neighborhood for later. A single jay can move an astonishing number of peanuts in a morning, and a family group will clear a full ring in one visit.

This is normal behavior, not a fault, and jays are genuinely useful yard birds: they are loud enough to announce hawks and cats before anything else notices. But if your peanut budget is disappearing, the answer is portion control rather than a different feeder.

• Put out a small measured amount, once or twice a day, rather than filling a large feeder.
• Offer in-shell peanuts at a set time, which jays learn quickly, and keep the mesh feeder running continuously for the small birds.
• Accept that a caged feeder will stop jays entirely, along with the woodpeckers you probably want. See caged and selective feeders.

More on managing them in how to attract blue jays.

Which small birds actually use peanut mesh#

Peanut mesh is one of the more selective feeders in a yard, and the list of regular users is short and good.

• Tufted titmice and chickadees, which take fragments and cache them in bark crevices.
• White-breasted and red-breasted nuthatches, which hang head-down and are perfectly suited to the design.
• Downy and red-bellied woodpeckers, which will work a mesh tube for long periods. Peanut mesh is second only to suet for woodpecker traffic; see how to attract woodpeckers.
• Carolina wrens, particularly in cold weather.
• European starlings, unfortunately, which can strip a mesh feeder. A cage surround is the fix, at the cost of the larger woodpeckers. Tactics are in keeping starlings off feeders.

Placement and squirrel reality#

Assume the squirrels will find it, because they will, usually within a day.

• Smooth steel pole with a baffle at least 4 feet (1.2 m) up, feeder at 5 feet (1.5 m), and 10 feet (3 m) of clear air to the nearest branch, fence, rail or roof edge. Sizing is in baffles: types, sizing and placement.
• Do not hang a peanut feeder from a tree branch. It is a squirrel feeder with a bird motif.
• Steel mesh, not plastic, as above.
• Rake the shells. In-shell peanut debris builds up fast and attracts ground foragers; a catch tray or a weekly rake keeps it manageable, as discussed in seed mess, hulls and dead grass.

If squirrels defeat everything you try, feeding them peanuts deliberately at a distant ground station is a legitimate strategy and often cheaper than the arms race. The full argument is in how to stop squirrels raiding feeders.

Turnover and cleaning#

Peanut feeders need more attention than seed feeders and get less.

1. Never top up. Empty what is left before adding fresh. Old peanut dust at the bottom of a mesh tube is where mold starts.
2. Fill part way. A half-full mesh feeder emptied in four days is safer than a full one emptied in twelve.
3. Wash every two weeks, more often in humid heat. Hot soapy water and a brush that reaches the mesh from inside, then a dilute disinfectant per safe disinfectants for feeders, then dry completely.
4. Inspect after rain. Wet peanuts do not recover. If the load is soaked, discard it and dry the feeder before refilling, following the reasoning in moldy, clumped or wet seed.

Setting one up this week#

• A steel mesh peanut tube, 1/4 inch (6 mm) openings, holding no more than about four days of consumption for your yard.
• Plain unsalted shelled peanuts, raw or dry roasted, bought fresh in a small quantity. Nothing salted, seasoned, honey roasted or candy coated; the reasons are in what not to feed birds.
• On a baffled steel pole, 5 feet (1.5 m) up, 10 feet (3 m) from anything climbable, within about 15 feet (4.5 m) of a tree.
• Optionally a spiral or ring of in-shell peanuts nearby, filled by hand once a day, for the jays.
• Emptied and washed every two weeks, and immediately after any soaking.

Run that alongside a suet feeder and you have covered the woodpecker and nuthatch end of the yard about as thoroughly as backyard feeding allows.