Featherland Paradise Creative Foraging Systems Seed Corral No Mess Pet Feeder, Keeps Cage Cleaner

I have two budgies. I was tired of watching my birds fight over the feeder, presumably because not enough space on the standard feeder that came with the cage, they would have to take turns most of the time and the female usually had first dibs over the male. I was also tired of the pellets ending up on the floor or outside the cage. So I got this "seed coral." I think this is ideal if you are feeding your budgies pellets. When the pellets end up on the near part from the main feeding trough, all you have to do is take out the feeder, tilt it, and get the uneaten pellets to mix back with the rest of the batch. However, this feeder is less than ideal for using seeds. Everyone knows the best way to get rid of empty seed husks is to blow across the feeder to blow away the empty husks into the trash. How are you supposed to do this without taking out the feeder every time? The feeder is an enclosed space so you can't blow on it to get rid of empty shells. But this is still good for budgies since you should be feeding them pellets as their main diet anyways.What about space? I was very pleased to see both my birds harmoniously sitting on the perch side by side in the feeder, eating the pellets. There was enough space and no one's personal space was being violated; hence no fighting (or less fighting, I hope). The item is pretty sturdy I think, and the hooks are just fine - it is slightly more work to dislodge the feeder from the cage compared to the standard feeder, but I think it is still an acceptable trade-off. It says it is dishwasher safe but I'm assuming it would be better to unscrew the perch from the feeder before sticking it in there. I had concerns about them pooping into the feeder while on the perch, but it looks like even when on the perch, their butts still stick out of the feeder enough to allow poop to go on the cage floor where it's supposed to. The feeder may also be placed inside the cage (I have it outside), but you would need a large cage with perches far enough away from the feeder so it doesn't get pooped on all the time.How do you get your birdies into the feeder? Mine were using the standard feeder for the past 5 months. They were at first reluctant. But I enticed them by putting a millet spray directly on top the feeder, in a place they can plainly see, but can't get to, so they would go INTO the cage, try to get at it from the bottom, and then, when unsuccessful, notice the pellets were right there and start eating. This strategy worked like a charm.update 6/7/16: One of my budgies apparently now likes to go into the trough and dig up the pellets like a chicken, while the other one hangs back on the perch and nibbles on some of the pellets that spill over. This behavior does cause some pellet loss, but overall still better compared to the old days with the standard feeder.

I was skeptical about buying this product at first. What pushed me to buy this was the versatile placement of the bird feeder. When I put these bird feeders in my 3 cockatiels were hesitant and cautious around it. After a couple of days, hunger got the best of them and they clumsily found their way to the food. Now, they're experts at maneuvering in and out of the bird feeder. I was pleasantly surprised at how seedless my floor was. Before, I was sweeping cupfuls of seeds off of the floor. Now, I don't sweep any seeds. What a difference this bird feeder has made. Maintaining the feeders was a little tricky at first. I kept the metal hooks in while I dumped out the old seeds. Not a good idea. The hooks fell in the old seeds and it was a hell of a time trying to find the seeds. Definitely remove the hooks before doing any maintenance on it. For in between clean ups, I'll take a damp paper towel and wipe off any droppings. For deep cleaning, I'll take a little bit of dish soap and clean the inside and outside of the bird feeder. In the instructions it says to remove the wooden rods. I don't. The integrity of the wood has not been compromised. I do wipe the area for the food dry before placing any seeds in it. I highly recommend this product to any one looking for a less messier floor! I bought 4 of these bird feeders. The price is reasonably fair when you compare it to other bird feeders that are similar in design. Don't go too cheap either, as the old saying goes, "you get what you pay for."

I had a different brand feeder like this, and I like this one better. It might sound silly, but the other one was a single box, and then had a separate piece of plastic glued in to make the wall for the food section. Because of the hard ninety degree angles, little bits of hull were always getting wedged under that little wall....so eventually there were pieces that I think were molding. The way this one is made, it's like the sheet of plastic was bent upwards to make a mountain to keep the seed in its section. First of all that means the angles aren't a hard ninety degrees, there's a little slope so food doesn't get stuck. Secondly, since it's one piece of plastic, there's no seam for hull pieces to get stuck under.As some folks have noted, it looks like this is made of two halves that are glued together, or held together by the glued in perch. It seems weird, and if I do try to separate the seam at the top, it does pull slightly apart, but I've never had any problem by it. I probably could put a drop or two of Krazy Glue on it, but I don't even care that much.The clips on the side do fall out easily, but since the reviews on here made me aware of that, I knew to pull them out before washing the feeder.All in all, a dramatic decrease in cage mess with using this so a definite thumbs up! The only reason I'm not giving five stars, is that the perch is pretty far back for birds as small as parakeets. I use Lafeber's pellets and put in a few each day, so the seed section is NEVER full and my birds need to reach down towards the bottom to eat. They often stand with one foot in the seed section and one on the dividing mountain in order to reach the food.

Unfortunately this is the first time I had bought from this company. The hooks for the feeder were NOT in the box. I was severely disappointed. But I will sat the construction of the box is sturdy like the last one.