Just started feeding wild birds

[trigan]

Hi everyone,

I am new to feeding wild birds and hope that you can give me your comments.

I moved to an area where I found to my surprise that Goldfinches are around all year round. So a month ago, I bought a stainless steel SEED feeder with 4 feeding holes and perches and filled it with niger seed and attached it to a wooden pole on my 6 meter squared concrete patio. I live next to a shopping precinct and despite the noise, one Goldfinch has started feeding on it. Meters away there is a green roof and flocks of Goldfinches, starlings, pigeons often rummage there.

I am trying to think of ways to attract more Goldfinches to feed but also more species like Bluetits Robins Pied Wagtails Chaffinches Greenfinches which I have spotted flying around.

Sainsburys Homebase do a nut feeder with a stainless steel mesh but I thought that if I bought this and filled it with sunflower hearts, the rain will get to it. This could make birds feeding on rotting sunflower seeds ill. What is puzzling me is how come people use mesh feeders. Surely the rain will make the nuts inside them rot away and subsequently make birds ill. The SEED feeder that I have is amazing at protecting the niger seed from getting wet due to rain.

I am thinking of crushing the sunflower hearts that I buy in a blender and using a SEED feeder so that it would be easy for Bluetits or Robins to peck at the fatty seed and the rain will not get to it. Can Robins and Pied wagtails be lured to eating the sunflower pulp from a seed feeder ?

I have heard how intelligent starlings are and for this reason I would like to have them come to feed.
I have a feeling that starlings will not feed from a seed feeder so I am also thinking of building a cage with a wooden roof using 2 inch x 2 inch galvanized wire or larger and then attaching this on shelf brackets on two wooden poles next to the niger seed feeder at the far end of my patio. I will place perches outside. This will allow the starlings and other small birds to enter but stop pigeons from doing so. What sort of food shall I leave inside there for the starlings and the pied wagtails ? My local supermarket sells sliced wholemeal loaves past their sellby date at cut prices. Will starlings or pied wagtails eat this if I dice it up ?
I will of course first leave this food on the wooden roof of the cage to let the birds see what food is on offer. When I see them entering the cage to feed, I will then stop leaving the food on the roof of the cage so that the rain will not get to it.

Thank you all for your comments.

[artdemole]

Try some fatballs with no netting on.You can buy a cage feeder for these,my starlings cannot get enough.Also for a variety of birds a suet block is very good.you can make your own or purchase them in many places.Now is a good time to be putting them on a table or feeding station.Have water for them to drink from.Fresh every day.

[Kleftiwallah]

I've not had any birds to speak of in my Wiltshire garden yet. Heard the tchik tchik tchik of the robins though. Cheers, Tony.

[bob.phillips]

Use normal plastic feeders with holes for sunflower hearts - no need to crush them. Tits and finches love them.

Black sunflower seeds are good too, but can be rather messy as the husks are usually left all over the ground.

Niger seeds are a bit hit and miss to me. They only attract goldfinches in my garden. Nothing else will touch them.

Try putting food on a wire tray to attract species such as robins, starlings, collared doves etc. They usually have trouble hanging on to feeders.

Regards,

Bob P.

[Simples]

A lot of people don't realise you must clean bird feeders regularly otherwise, as you say, there is a real risk of disease from contaminated food. Peanut feeders should be cleaned at every re-fill, seed feeders every few weeks, and move them around so there is no build-up of food and droppings on the ground below.

Small birds will happily take whole sunflower hearts, mashing them up will be very messy and increase the risk of disease, and reduce the oil content thus making them less nutritious.

The RSPB do a window feeder Please enable your cookies which I fill with sunflower hearts and it attracts a variety of birds. Fat balls (do NOT buy them with nets on - it is a disgrace that some companies still sell them this way) in a hanging feeder or just left on the ground will be welcomed by all sorts of birds.

If your pockets are deep, buy some mealworms. Dried ones should be re-hydrated with hot water. Blackbirds, thrushes, starlings and robins love them, and in spring sparrows and other parent birds will feed them to their young. But you will get through a lot!

[citychick]

Hi There

Welcome to the forum.
Sounds like you are urban like myself. It took years to attract birds to my garden but the results are very rewarding and you have an advantage that you have seen birds in your area already.

Firstly I would recommend as well as putting our Nijer seed you put out a classic seed feeder with HIGH ENERGY NO MESS seed mix.
CJ WildBird Foods - Hi-Energy No-Mess This is what I feed, which is mostly husk free sunflower seeds which are high in energy and a hit with most species of birds and also Goldfinches adore them.

A seed feeder like this for the above mentioned seed CJ WildBird Foods - Plastic Seed Feeders I have 2 seed feeders, one with 2 ports and one with 4 ports as they are a great success in my garden with the declining House Sparrow!

A feeder like this is ideal for fat balls (NETS REMOVED) CJ WildBird Foods - Fat Ball Feeding Ring which are a favourite of Starlings. You will often get them squabbling over fat balls!

Fat cakes are very popular with Starlings and also Blue Tits CJ WildBird Foods - Peanut Cake Tube Triple Packs and another hit with starlings in my garden are Suet pellets CJ WildBird Foods - Suet Pellets I offer these in a mesh peanut feeder, but does start to work out very expensive as they dont last a long time with Starlings frequenting to your garden!

Mealworms are a fantastic idea for the spring. I buy the Mini Mealworms as they are perfectly sized for fledglings and you can usually get these from Reptile stores or Pets at Home.

As previously mentioned you do need to remember to clean your feeders regularly.

Let us know how you get on

Hope this helps xxx

[trigan]

Originally Posted by artdemole

Try some fatballs with no netting on.You can buy a cage feeder for these,my starlings cannot get enough.Also for a variety of birds a suet block is very good.you can make your own or purchase them in many places.Now is a good time to be putting them on a table or feeding station.Have water for them to drink from.Fresh every day.

Thank you artdemole.
I do not quite understand what you mean by cage feeder. Can you give me a link that will show me what it looks like. Can it keep the rain off the fatballs ?
Sainsburys Homebase sell the following.
Premium Fat Snax Feeder with Fat Snax - 4 Pack from Homebase.co.uk

Will starlings and bluetits and robins feed from this feeder with 4 fat balls inside ?
I am just concerned that water will make the fat balls rot and then cause disease. Has anyone had a problem with rotting fat balls ?
Thank you.

[trigan]

Originally Posted by bob.phillips

Use normal plastic feeders with holes for sunflower hearts - no need to crush them. Tits and finches love them.

Bob P.

Thank you Bob P.
If I place sunflower hearts in a seed feeder with 4 feeding holes, will the bluetits that come simply pick one sunflower heart in their beak and then fly off with it to eat it elsewhere ?
This is what I suspect will happen which is why I was thinking of crushing the sunflower hearts in a blender in order to have the bluetits or robins stay on the feeder for as long as possible.

I would appreciate comments on this from everyone.

[trigan]

Thank you citychick and all other contributors for their posts. Much appreciate your comments.

[rossy]

dont worry about your fat balls rotting, as once they find them they will get through them pretty quick, only put 3 in to start with, also look at suet blocks as they love them, robins rarely go to feeders ,so you could do with a little table or tray,good luck, and welcome rossy. also put nuts on the tray, table.you dont need to crush the sunflower hearts they like them just the way they are,