Autumnwatch have confirmed......

[Kleftiwallah]

What I suspected. That there are grains in some wildbird foods that the birds just don't eat. They said it was oats (I think). How do I obtain a mix that doesn't contain oats, or do I have to mix my own wold bird seed mix? Cheers, Tony.

[slimrbp]

Are you sure it was oats, one bird food site I use sell rolled oats on their own but they are for ground feeding birds?

Their mixes contain pinhead oatmeal, or you can just but straight seed. In our feeders we just use sunflower hearts and they are enjoyed by Tits, Robins, Finches, Parakeets, Squirrels...

[Brocakat]

I have fed my Garden Bird on Rolled Oats ( e.g. Scotts Porage Oats ) for years. But have no experience with the grains of oat themselves .

[healfdan]

In the stable yard I managed for many years the House sparrows thrived on the crushed oats fed to our horses. Horses often toss their feed from the feed bins while feeding and the sparrows saw to it that nothing went to waste. If oats are the least acceptable of the grains, perhaps it's because other seed eating birds do not have the same catholic taste as our dear old sparrows.

[Kleftiwallah]

As I said in my plea, I thought the grain was oats, perhaps I was incorrect. I gurgled for wild bird seed mix and am now totally flumoxed as to the choices. Recommendations needed.....Cheers, Tony.

[BillyPilgrim]

Originally Posted by Kleftiwallah

As I said in my plea, I thought the grain was oats, perhaps I was incorrect. I gurgled for wild bird seed mix and am now totally flumoxed as to the choices. Recommendations needed.....Cheers, Tony.

I think they said oats.

I use sunflower hearts and peanuts (bought seperately) and it's very rare that any get left behind! Both of these are also popular with Woodmice and Bank Voles.

[Richard Baber]

Chris Packham did indeed say oats. I used to buy seed blends, but always ended up with oats and wheat on the ground, ignored by all except rats, so I go for sunflower hearts these days. Everything from coal tit to wood pigeon takes them, though, sadly, we have no house sparrows here any more.

[Jonathan]

Not garden birds, but both woodpigeon and mallard prefer other grain to oats. Woodpigeon tend to prefer wheat over barley, with oats coming a distant third. Mallard (and wigeon in Scotland) regularly flight into stubbles in the evening to feed on spilt grain, though they tend to prefer barley over wheat, with oats again relegated to third place. However, I've seen both woodies and duck feeding on oat stubbles on the west coast of Scotland when I was a child, as oats were the only grain grown in some areas. Indeed, I've even seen black grouse feeding on stooked oats!

Cheers
Jonathan

[actionfinch]

like most people have said , you cant go wrong with sunflower hearts /seeds...the feathered friends cant get enough of them from my feeders...i have a seed mix..( not sure what it has in it its been there for a while) and not seen many birds go to it.

[Kayleigh]

They said the cheaper mixes contain a lot of oats and get thrown out, the dearer mixed dont so if you get the more expensive mix they should be OK..
I have found some mixes are eaten more ready than others.
I put black sunflower seeds in feeders in winter as the sunflower hearts and small seeds tend to clog the feeders in wet weather..