Help! Goldfinches!

[whitling2k]

That sounds like a good idea - I'l try it. The little darlings just leave about 1/4 of the tall feeders worth of sunflower hearts on the floor - they drop it quicker than our doves and pigeons can hoover it up!

[Chrissie2]

I am having the same problem, which has never occurred before to such an extent. It seems as if the goldfinches are throwing out nearly all the sunflower hearts, which are in several feeders in the same area, together with niger seeds in their own feeders. Up until a few weeks ago, there was a small amount on the floor but, suddenly a huge amount is landing up on the floor and, as fast as I am replacing them, the feeder is empty again, whereas I would at least only have to do it alternate days. The wood pigeons and collared doves that feed on the leftovers can't keep up with the supply.

I had noticed that the latest seeds I have been buying are slightly darker in colour than before and wondered if they could have been coated in something and whether this had anything do to with them not liking them. The pet shop where I bought them is non-plussed and said they hadn't noticed any difference.

I should like to know if anyone is suddenly experiencing this and whether there is a general problem with the seeds themselves.

Thanks - Chris

[whitling2k]

Than sounds just like my problem! Sometimes they just throw each one out without even eating them...

Anyway, just for the benefit of anyone following this post - I've had a bit of a redesign of my feeding station - so I'll just have to see how it pans out in the long term.

I've dug out and discarded my slate, replacing it with wood bark, with the intention of digging it over and replacing it 2-3 times per year. To slow the rate at which they speed through the seeds and make them a bit more of a 'scarce' resource, I've closed 4 of the 6 feeding portals up. I've removed the dish below, in the hope that the most seeds that can fall on the floor will be still not too much for the ground feeders to hoover up!

Fingers crossed now...

Whitling2k

[Tringa]

I agree that using a single type of food may help - if the goldfinches like it. Sunflower hearts work very well, but I've come to the conclusion that even with something like sunflower hearts, there will still be mess - finches are just really messy feeders.

We have a nijer seed feeder. Before we had sunflower hearts the goldfinches would always go for the nijer, now the nijer gets ignored completely.

Dave

[Chrissie2]

Yesterday, I cleaned up all those they had dropped and started afresh with a new bag of sunflower hearts which I bought on Saturday and things are back to normal with only a small amount being thrown to the ground, thank goodness.

My guess is that the other pack, which was bought at a different outlet, was either old or coated with something they didn't like the taste of. So those of you who are experiencing a heavy loss of seeds, it might be worth trying another supplier if possible.

Dave, I have both the niger seed and the sunflower seed feeders quite close to each other and they flit from one to the other. The niger seeds take ages to go down though, as they are so small and those feeders are designed so they can only get small amounts out at a time - therefore they last far longer than the sunflower seeds.

Thanks to all for your input. Regards Chris