HI Birders! two questions:

[tiddlywinks]

Since I'm not a birder but like to have them around, I said yes when my father asked if I wanted a whole bunch of bird feeders from his back yard that he doesn't want to mess with anymore.
Question one: What's a nice but cheap blend/brand for the feeders?

Question two: Placement. I just bought this house and moved in. It's on a 1/2 acre lot in a rural area, but there are houses on all the adjoining lots. I have a flat front yard and the back yard slopes down to a dry creek bed. I have a few scattered trees. I guess I'm concerned about bird poop.

[semillama]

1. here's some pointers:

Black oil sunflower seeds are your number one seeds, along with white millet, and niger (thistle) for the finches.

If you are buying a mix, unfortunately, the cheapest mixes have the least amount of the seeds birds actually want. There's a lot of useless filler seeds in many cheap mixes. Try to make sure that any mixes you buy have high percentages of millet and sunflower seeds.

For placement, you want your feeders near sources of cover for birds, so that when something spooks them, they have somewhere to hide. Hang your feeders from your trees and near any brushy areas.

Good luck!