Feeder comparison

Tube vs Hopper Feeder

The tube vs hopper feeder question comes down to who you want to feed: a tube with short perches serves finches and chickadees and keeps out jays and grackles, while a large hopper feeds almost everything, doves and grackles included ¹.

Everything below about feeder design, foods, placement and cleaning is drawn from Project FeederWatch ¹² and All About Birds ³.

American goldfinch at a tube feeder — in the tube vs hopper feeder choice, short perches keep tubes to small birds — Photo: Robert Taylor from Stirling, ON, Canada, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

Tube feeder: small birds, dry seed

Feeders with short perches accommodate small birds such as finches but exclude larger birds such as grackles and jays ¹. Tube feeders keep seed fairly dry ¹, and with fine ports they can be dedicated to nyjer for goldfinches, siskins and redpolls ¹. The limits are capacity — a tube holds a few days' seed for a small flock — and the fact that cardinals, doves and jays cannot use the perches.

Hopper feeder: everything, with a roof

Large hoppers attract most species of feeder birds and will allow larger species, like doves and grackles, to feed ¹. Blue Jays prefer tray or hopper feeders on a post rather than hanging feeders ⁴, and Northern Cardinals, which particularly use sunflower seeds, need a ledge to stand on ⁵. The cost is that a hopper lets in the birds some people would rather not feed, and its open tray needs cleaning more often in wet weather ¹.

Tube vs hopper feeder: what is the difference and which to choose

Choose a tube if your goal is finches and chickadees, a clean sill and dry seed; choose a hopper if you want cardinals, jays and doves and can mount it on a baffled pole. Most yards end up with both, filled with black-oil sunflower — the preferred food for a wide variety of birds ¹.

Placement, squirrels and windows

Place feeders close to natural cover such as trees or shrubs, which offer birds refuge from predators, but not so close to strong branches that squirrels can jump across — a distance of about 10 feet is the usual guidance ¹. Windows are the other hazard: collisions kill perhaps a billion or more birds a year in North America, and older rules about safe feeder-to-window distances are no longer thought valid — if a window is near a feeder, treat the glass with markings spaced no more than 2 inches apart, external screens or cords, rather than worrying about the distance ³.

Squirrel baffles — barriers placed between squirrels and feeders — are usually the best defense. Squirrels can jump to feeders placed less than ten feet from a tree or building, so a pole-mounted feeder in the open with a baffle below it, or a tilting baffle at least 18 inches in diameter above a hanging feeder, is the arrangement that works ¹.

Keeping the feeder clean and the birds healthy

Clean seed and suet feeders regularly — every week or two, and more often during heavy use or wet weather — by scrubbing off debris and washing the parts thoroughly with warm water and dish soap ¹. Hummingbird feeders need cleaning far more often, every couple of days and ideally every time they are refilled; discard the solution and clean immediately at any sign of cloudy water or black mold ¹.

If a sick bird appears — House Finch eye disease shows as red, swollen, runny or crusty eyes, and avian pox as wart-like growths around the eye, bill, legs and feet — remove the feeders the bird is using for a couple of weeks and clean the feeders and the area thoroughly, so disease is not spread at the feeder ². Salmonellosis, caused by Salmonella bacteria, is a common cause of mortality in feeder birds and spreads the same way ².

Full guides for both feeders

Tube Feeder →Hopper Feeder →

More feeder guides

Platform Feeder →Suet Feeder →Hummingbird Feeder →Window Feeder →Peanut Feeder →Ground Feeder →Suet vs seed feeder →Black oil sunflower feeder →Squirrel proof bird feeder →No birds at the feeder? →

Frequently asked questions

Do cardinals use tube feeders?

Rarely — they need a perch or ledge, so a hopper or platform with sunflower seed serves them; tube perches are sized for finches and chickadees ¹⁵.

Which holds more seed, tube or hopper?

A hopper: it stores seed in a covered reservoir above the tray, while a tube holds only what fits in the cylinder ¹.

How often should I clean a bird feeder?

Every week or two for seed and suet feeders, more often in wet weather or heavy use; every couple of days for hummingbird feeders. Scrub, then wash with warm water and dish soap ¹.

How far should a feeder be from a window?

Distance rules are no longer considered valid; instead make any nearby window bird-safe with markings spaced no more than 2 inches apart, exterior screens, or hanging cords ³.