Sunflower hearts a birds favourite?

[Bouncytigger]

I was just wondering what other WAB members thought was the most POPULAR SEED with their garden birds

I've been feeding my garden birds for about TWO YEARS now with a TABLE SEED mix from my local pet supplies which attracted HOUSE SPARROWS , COLLARED DOVES , WOOD PIGEONS, COAL TITS , GREAT TITS and BLUE TITS

then

In MAY of this year i decided to add a bag of SUNFLOWER HEARTS to the mix and after only TWO WEEKS i had GOLDFINCHES ,BULLFINCHES and CHAFFINCHES visiting on a regular basis when i had NEVER EVER seen these birds in the garden before so had to get my RSPB BIRDFEEDER book out in order to identify.

When my new feeders arrive this week TWO i will fill with SUNFLOWER HEARTS alone and the OTHER WITH NYGER

[tameblackbirds]

Greenfinches usually que up in my garden for them and when the coal tit was here he nipped in and out at any opportunity last year I purchased bird food from my local famous pet store it was called summer feed and had a strong smell of aniseed the birds couldn't get enough of it .. but not been available since

[Duke of York]

I have to agree it has got to be sunflower hearts for our garden birds, the finches and tits especially love it.

The goldfinch even prefer it to the nyger

[LynM]

Originally Posted by Duke of York

I have to agree it has got to be sunflower hearts for our garden birds, the finches and tits especially love it.

The goldfinch even prefer it to the nyger

Agree with all that. I've never bothered with nyger and I still get a good number of goldies coming in.

Also I find that they are going off the peanut granules that I put out. They used to be the most popular, but I've used far less over the last few months. Think that I may try grinding them up even further and adding to lard then plastering it on the tree trunks and branches!!

[Duke of York]

We used to leave peanuts out in a feeder but they don't seem to be very popular and end up going mouldy

The only other thing we could do with is a good ground mix for the dunnocks etc. We did used to get Alpha Museli which was really cheap and was never wasted but our local petshop cannot get it any more

The RSPB do one which is quite good but is only comes in smallish bags and is expensive so I'm on the lookout for a cheaper alternative

[Dae]

Definitely the favorite in our garden, our goldfinches also prefer these to the nyger seed which we also offer.

[gillwrig]

Yup the birdies in my garden love them as well - although they also love the RSPB insect bird cake

[witham]

we use so much assorted seed etc that we usually buy in bulk online from either the RSPB or Ark Wild Bird Food, we to are getting through far more sun flower hearts than last year so maybe the birds have 'fads' where they sometimes prefer one thing to another, we also offer the usual seasonal seed mix for the tables and ground feeders plus Robin and Blackbird mix, Niger, Peanuts, Fat Balls, both round and square, there again last year they gobbled the pink berry ones down but this year haven't touched the last one I put out but have demolished the insect one so again they perhaps have different demands depending on what they can get in the wild as our Hawthorn trees are covered in berries more than I can remember for a long time

[Bouncytigger]

some intersting thoughts on the PEANUT GRANULES from a few of you

My birds seem to have gone off them as well

Not even our NUTTY friends with the BUSHY TAILS will touch them

[Hedge Witch]

Could it be toxins and natural selection Some poorer quality peanuts can kill birds or reduce breeding success. Hence birds who do not care for their flavour will live longer and breed better. Their offspring might have the gene that makes peanuts distasteful. Bit like humans and Marmite, but a whole lot more sinister.

Mmm, bit complicated. Perhaps there is a better explanation.