Best Choice Products 6-Hook Bird Feeding Station Kit w/4 Feeders

Facile à assembler et à mettre au sol!

I’ve bought several of these bird-feeding stations in the bronze color. They assemble easily, with no tools required. The hardest part is getting the bottom of the post and stabilizing legs all the way into the ground.

The multiple types of feeders (4 that hang and 2 that attach to the post) that are included provide flexibility in how and what types of bird food you provide. I was on the fence regarding “sturdiness” when deciding whether to rate it 4 or 5 out of 5 stars. The assembled station is fairly stable overall, but may wobble a bit. The pole assembles as 4 pieces that fasten together: 1) the bottom has a heavy, pointed center prong that’s an extension of the base of the pole; and 4 smaller blunt prongs that stabilize the station in the ground. Two of the four are affixed as part of the base, and you add two more that fasten with circular clamps and wing nuts. 2) the top segment is a fixed assembly that includes the top fancy bit and two of the large hook arms. 3) and 4) are two identical middle segments. There are also 2 shorter hook arms that attach to the pole with built-in circular clamps and wing nuts.

When trying to “plant” the base into the ground, take care not to bend or snap off any of the 4 protruding stabilizing “legs”. It doesn’t take much effort to bend or snap one off either partly or completely, which is why the “sturdiness” rating is only a 4 of 5 stars. I also don’t suggest pounding the base post with a sledge hammer, as that flares out the top of that segment such that the next segment will no longer fit over it, and you’ll have that issue to solve, perhaps with a metal rasp or file.

If your feeder is sufficiently stable, you can move the attachments (each of which slides onto a post segment and fastens with its built-in circular clamp and wing nut) higher than shown, to keep them out of the reach of leaping cats or other pets.

I’ve purchased several of the Best Choice Products 6-Hook Bird Feeding Stations on Amazon (in bronze, also available in black). A couple of notes regarding two of the attachments: a) the mesh “dish”, and b) the metal ring with its plastic dish insert that’s intended for water:

1. There’s a round metal ring into which is inserted a removable plastic dish intended for providing water. Over time, the shallow plastic bowl supplied with the feeding station tends to crack or chip. It will not hold up to freezing. My solution has been to purchase similar-looking hanging mesh baskets (heavy-duty coated screen attached to a metal ring), remove their chain hangers, and set one of these mesh feeders into the ring on the feeder station that’s intended for the plastic water dish (after removing the plastic dish). That mesh basket can be used as-is for bird seed, or with a dish for water. To provide water, either use a well-cleaned and odor-free emptied food container (yogurt, spinach dip, etc) or purchase a fairly shallow pet food/water dish that doesn’t exceed 7″ in diameter, and set it into the mesh basket that you’ve set into the empty circular ring on the feeding station. There are plastic or metal pet food bowls you can purchase that are between 6.5″ and 7″ in diameter having slanted sides (normally intended to keep the bowls from tipping over) that fit just right into the mesh basket feeder. Those can be used to hold water, are more durable than the original plastic dish, and are easily removed for cleaning.

2. The original mesh basket feeder that clamps onto the pole and fastens with a wing nut isn’t removable (once the station is fully assembled) without detaching a segment of the post, so means of emptying and cleaning them is limited. I purchase (separately) hanging mesh bird feeders, round and about or just under 7″ in diameter, and remove the chains provided for hanging them. Inserted into the original feeder station’s mesh feeder, the new one provides a means of lifting out most of the debris for cleaning. Since both mesh dishes are approximately 7″ in diameter with a very slight taper (verify the sizes for whatever you’re working with), it’s sort of like stacking cereal bowls, and the mesh grips to hold them fairly well. This allows removal of the inner mesh dish to dump out seed hulls or moldy seed, clean it up, and set it back into the original mesh feeder that comes with the feeder station, to refill it.

One of the questions someone asked is whether one of these bird feeder stations will hold a 5-pound hanging feeder. Some of the responses say “yes”; others say “no”. Initially, it seemed like a bad idea, but I have since hung a 5-pound feeder by balancing it with other feeders on the opposite side acting as a stabilizing counterweight. Or, if one of the stations is slightly listing toward one side, a heavier feeder on the opposite side can help to balance it.

These bird feeding stations are easy to assemble with no tools required, but take care when installing it into the ground. I’ve had four of them up for a few years, and just purchased two more. Overall, these are nice-looking feeder stations that work well.

I love this . It was easy to put together and has. Even great fir the birds.

Bought this nearly a year ago, and wanted to wait to give a review until I felt it could withstand the test of time.
Initial thought when I bought this was it was super easy to assemble and stick in the ground. However after a week I realized, at least with my yard, it was unable to stay up straight and the prongs would slide out of the ground. Nothing a few rocks (in my case) couldn’t fix.

So far this bad boy has stood through an entire summer and winter in Minnesota, haven’t seen any rusting and it holds the chubby Mourning Doves that frequent my yard with ease, and didn’t bow or bend any time the Squirrels have gotten their paws on it. I did end up switching out the feeders it came with as my yard gets far more traffic than those could handle, it is now situated with a large copper feeder, a squirrel proof feeder and a hummingbird feeder. Still holding up just fine, as long as I balance the weight properly. (When all feeders & baskets are full, it stands strong with a little over 5lbs of dry feed and pint of hummingbird nectar.)

My only real issue with it has been the fact that the little water dish is super easily dirtied do to being right under the other feeders, and has no way to stay in the hoop provided if it’s even slightly windy. I have opted to get a separate waterer for the birds and use that as another feeding tray since the weight of the feed keeps it in place much easier and I won’t have to worry about the feed falling from the other feeders into it anymore.

All in all I believe it was a great buy for my yard and has helped me not only feed my already large collection of birds I see on a regular but brought even more breeds of birds into the yard. Not to mention the rabbits that clean up the ground after the birds have gone crazy on the feeders.