Rotting Birdseed

[Ann60]

Hi - Does anyone else have a problem with rotting birdseed from their bird feeders? I feed pounds of sunflower HEARTS to my garden birds every week and am rewarded by viewing lots of beautiful goldfinches among other species. However they are very messy eaters and seem to drop as much if not more food than they eat. I have two garden seedtrays positioned below the 5 feeders to catch some of the waste food which I empty as often as possible but as the feeders are under a rose arch over soil and gravel I end up with rotting seeds which turn to slurry in wet weather and give off the most DISGUSTING smell imaginable. As the seeds start to sprout too it is not easy to get rid of them as I can't sweep them up from the soil. The rotting seeds are dangerous too as they become very slippery but it is the awful smell I complain about - the whole garden smells of it if I haven't cleaned it up for a few weeks - it is difficult to get rid of it in the wet winter months. Has anyone got any suggestions please as I love feeding the birds but hate this end result! Many thanks!

[stripee]

I feed some birds on the window ledge and the seeds get stuck to the window when it rains and are very hard to get off. With the bird hangers, when it's wet weather I don't fill them up and put a small amount in, as especially with peanuts they can go mouldy. Until the sun comes out again!

[Cotham Marble]

Adding some additional trays at different heights might encourage ground/platform feeders - such as Blackbirds to be more assiduous in their collection of fallen seed.

Alternatively through the winter months just pin down a plastic sheet and brush off at regular intervals.

CM

[John]

I have helped my cause a little by purchasing feeders that come equipped with large round trays attached at the base of the feeder. This has stopped most of the seed from dropping to the floor.

I have also purchased a relatively cheap power washer for my car and this has come in useful for blasting the area free of dropped seed.

John

[juliejam]

I find the feeders are ok..its the bird tables one has a roof but the other one is open so when we get heavy rain the seeds do get rather wet...if the birds dont eat them within a day or so i have to move them off either on to garden soil or put it on the compost...the birds dont touch it when it starts to go off the trick is not to put too much out in one go just incase it rains....and as mentioned it does give off a rather horrible smell..With the peanuts you have to keep an eye on them in the holders as ive heard that when they go mouldy they can be dangerous to the birds or even kill them...


Julie

[ChrisJB]

Originally Posted by John

I have helped my cause a little by purchasing feeders that come equipped with large round trays attached at the base of the feeder. This has stopped most of the seed from dropping to the floor.

John

I use these as well as I had a similar problem. I bit still makes it on to the floor, but it isn't half so bad.

Regards, Chris

[Ann60]

Hi - thanks for all your suggestions. The plastic sheeting sounds a good idea but will be a little difficult to peg it around the rose arch "legs" as I have roses and clematis growing there aswell. The blackbirds are crafty - they don't usually eat the sunflower hearts off the floor, they prefer the dried mealworms off the patio! I do feed often so the food is not left in the feeders - the ravenous hordes eat a whole feeder full a day! The suggestion about buying a feeder with a tray attached is no good for our garden - we have one like that and several pigeons land on it all the time to eat up all the food.
By the way does anyone know of a good way to scare off sparrowhawks - we have a particularly evil one who visits us regularly to eat our small birds!
Kind regards Ann

[paulchandler6]

No need to scare off Sparrowhawks, they are only doing what comes naturally.
If you try and scare that off you will scare all.
You are helping to feed all birds, even Sparrowhawks require food.

Paul

[Susie]

I dont get a chance (and can't afford!) to fill up my bird feeders as often as the birds empty them so, for the odd day now and then, some of them sit empty. The benefit of this is that the birds then eat the waste seed off the ground that the ground feeders have missed. I had 12 goldfinches on the front lawn the other day eating spilled niger - that was some sight!

So, perhaps if you don't fill up your feeders as often as you do the scavengers will tidy up the mess before it gets smelly.

[naturelover]

hi susie i do what you do and yes they do clean up off the ground.