Seasonal

When to Take Down Bird Feeders for Bears, by State

Every date on this page is wildlife agency advice, not law. Here is what 13 states and provinces tell you, side by side, with the year each agency said it.

In most of the Northeast, take bird feeders down by April 1 and keep them down until November or December. That is the advice from New Hampshire, Vermont, Maine, New York and New Jersey. A few states move the dates. Southern New Hampshire says March 15, Colorado says April 15, and Connecticut allows feeders only from mid-December to the end of February. The table below gives each agency's dates and the year it published them.

None of these dates is a law. Each one is advice from a state or provincial wildlife agency. The rules on feeding bears are a separate question, and they are covered in is it illegal to have bird feeders up in bear season. This page is the calendar.

What a feeder-down date is#

A feeder-down date is the day a wildlife agency asks you to take bird feeders down in spring. A feeder-up date is the day it says you can hang them again in late fall or winter. The months in between are bear season: the stretch when black bears are out of their dens and looking for food.

A den is where a bear spends the winter asleep. It can be a rock cave, a hole under a fallen tree, a hollow tree or a nest on the ground, says the Pennsylvania Game Commission. In New Hampshire, bears "typically enter dens between mid-October and late November and emerge from dens during late March or early April," says the state's bear FAQ.

So each date is a forecast of two events: bears waking up and bears bedding down. Weather moves both. Vermont Fish and Wildlife warns that some bears "delay entering their dens while even those that have denned may re-emerge to feed if there is a period of warm weather."

Feeders get singled out because of what is in them. A bear can lose "more than 30 percent of their body weight over their winter fast," says the Michigan DNR. Black oil sunflower and suet are dense calories. WildSafeBC puts a kilogram of sunflower seed at about 8,000 calories. That is about 20 times what a bear gets from grazing the same weight of wild clover. New Hampshire Fish and Game says bird feeders are "typically the direct cause of 20% of annual human-bear conflicts."

One yard, worked through#

Take a feeder in Concord, New Hampshire, which is south of the White Mountains. New Hampshire's March 2026 release gives two spring dates. Statewide, stop feeding birds by April 1. South of the White Mountains, "consider removing bird feeders by March 15 or at the onset of spring-like weather conditions, whichever comes first."

Suppose a thaw arrives in the first week of March. On the agency's wording, that thaw is the trigger, not March 15. The feeder comes down that week. The seed under it gets raked up and put in a secured trash can, as the release asks.

The feeder then stays down through summer and fall. The state's bear FAQ says feeders "should not be put up again until December 1 or later." It also says not to start before December 1 "or the onset of prolonged winter weather." Now suppose November ends mild and bare. The FAQ warns about exactly this. Bears with access to winter feeders "will sometimes remain active, visiting the feeder late into December." Waiting for lasting cold and snow fits the "or later" in the agency's wording.

Walked through, that Concord yard feeds birds from early or mid-December to early March. That is about three months. Hang the same feeder in Colorado and the state's dates give November 15 to April 15, which is five months. In Connecticut, in a town with no bear activity, the window is mid-December to the end of February. That is about two and a half months. In a Connecticut town with regular bear activity, there is no window at all.

Feeder dates by state and province#

"Down" is the latest date the agency gives for taking feeders in. "Back up" is the earliest date it gives for hanging them again. Every row assumes no bear has visited your yard. If one has, skip to what to do.

The widest windows on paper are Maine's and Colorado's, at about five months each. The narrowest is Connecticut's, at about two and a half. For what else changes by region, see the Northeast, Mountain West and Canada feeding guides.

Why the dates differ#

The April 1 group. Five states name April 1, which lines up with New Hampshire's den timing. Maine says its bears "are most active between April 1 and November 1."

The back-up dates. These spread wider than the spring ones. Maine's comes first, after November 1. Colorado's is November 15. New York's DEC asks people to feed birds only "from November 30 to April 1." New Hampshire, Vermont and New Jersey say December 1, and Connecticut says mid-December.

Earlier than April 1. Southern New Hampshire goes earlier "since conditions fluctuate throughout the state." Connecticut goes earliest. Its fact sheet says bears "are typically less active from mid-December through the end of February, so birdfeeders may be put out during that timeframe in areas with no bear activity."

Later than April 1. Colorado's release says, "Do not hang bird feeders from April 15 to Nov. 15." It gives no reason for those two dates, and we have not guessed at one.

Vermont's two versions. Vermont's 2020 release says to feed birds "only between December 1 and April 1." Its backyard feeder page says "December 1 through March 31." The same page adds a weather test. If it stays "wintery" for a long time, "with consistent snow on the ground and temperatures at or below freezing, you can keep your birdfeeder out." So in Vermont, snow and cold can stretch the date. A warm spell does not.

No date at all. Michigan, Wisconsin, Ontario and British Columbia tie the advice to bears, not to the calendar. Michigan's March 2025 bulletin ran under the headline "Michigan's 12,000 bears are waking up. It's time to pull the bird feeder." British Columbia says to "use bird feeders only in the winter when bears are hibernating and natural bird food is limited." Ontario's Bear Wise page gives no feeder dates. Minnesota sits in between. It says to remove feeders "when bears are active, typically late March to early November." Then it adds, "These dates vary with food availability."

Pennsylvania gives no window either. Its bear page says that if you feed birds in summer, "and if you're living in bear country, you shouldn't be," you "may want to bring all bird feeders, including hummingbird feeders, in at night."

Can you just bring the feeder in at night?#

Two answers circulate. New Jersey's leaflet says that if you feed birds, "do so during daylight hours only, between December 1 and April 1." It also says to hang the feeder at least 10 feet up on a wire and bring it in at night. Pennsylvania's summer line says the same about nights.

Vermont disagrees. "Bringing feeders in at night doesn't work, because bears will still feed on seed that is spilled on the ground." Wisconsin's 2023 release goes further. It says to remove feeders completely, even in the daytime, because bears are active during the day.

Vermont and Wisconsin have the stronger case for spring and summer. New Jersey's daylight rule sits inside its own December to April window, when bears are least active. Pennsylvania's line is a fallback for people who feed anyway. The seed on the ground is the real draw. That is why New Hampshire, Maine, New York and New Jersey all say to clean it up. If hulls pile up under your feeder in winter, see stopping seed mess under feeders.

Michigan suggests what to do with the gap. It says to consider "bird baths or nest boxes or planting native flowers and grasses." A bird bath and native plants draw birds all summer and give a bear nothing to eat.

If a bear has already found your feeder#

A bear in the yard overrides every date in the table. Connecticut says, "if a bear visits your feeders take them down immediately and do not put them back up." Where there is regular bear activity, it says to "avoid putting out birdfeeders at any time of year." Vermont says to remove feeders "if you see signs of bears," even inside its December to April window. New Hampshire's FAQ says, "Remove bird feeders immediately."

Nectar counts too. Colorado lists "a hummingbird feeder" alongside bird feeders and trash as food that teaches a bear to come back. WildSafeBC says bears drink the syrup from hummingbird feeders. If you hang nectar in spring, check the bear dates as well as the hummingbird arrival dates.

Ontario's Bear Wise page treats a bear that "pulls down a bird feeder" as a non-emergency. In most places we have checked, it is also not grounds to shoot a bear. That is covered in is it legal to shoot a bear on your property. For non-lethal steps beyond the feeder, see bird feeders and bears.

Where these dates stop applying#

Every date here is agency advice. A town bylaw or a state law can turn a date into a rule with a fine, and that is a different page. Start with the state bear-feeding laws and neighbors and local ordinances. The table covers black bears in 13 places. It does not cover the southern states, California, Oregon or Washington, or grizzly bears. We could not open Massachusetts' bear page, so it has no row.

Some sources are old. New Jersey's leaflet dates from 2007 and British Columbia's page from 2019. The Pennsylvania text we read comes from a 2022 copy of its page. Your local bears also go by weather and food, as Minnesota says outright. Check your agency's page each spring before you rely on last year's dates.

This page also does not cover what to feed once the window opens. That is winter bird feeding. The bird feeding calendar shows where the bear window falls in the rest of the year.