I've always worried about the spillage attracting mice. Otherwise I would have one.
I have a rail fence I put grain and peanuts on for the scrub and pinyon jays, doves, sparrows, and whatever falls on the ground the quail will eat. ANd there's an area on the west side of the house with a wooden wishing well, an old juniper stump, and a wire fence. I do the same with the peanuts, stick them around, and just scatter the scratch I use (cheap stuff, not what I give the chickens in the Gulag)
There's probably some leftover at times that some mice might be attracted to, but they clean up most of it every day, even the handful I put in an actual feeder.
My secret........................I don't feed on Thurs and Sunday. They get to forage like real birds have to.
Have to watch it around here though, as sometimes it seems I'm chumming up hawks.
