Birdfeeders.

[wanderinstar]

Hi everyone, First post. I bought some birdfeeders at Christmas and filled them with a general birdfeed, peanuts, niger seed, sunflower hearts and some fat balls. There have been no birds at all until about 3 weeks ago. mind you there are a few cats in our street.
We started off getting sparrows and bluetits and then got a few starlings and a neighbour says he has seen a couple of chaffinches. It has taken a long time, to get them back feeding, but is well worth the wait.
One problm I am having is that the feeder with the common bird feed in gets emptied quite fast. Trouble is half of it ends up on the floor, there are some little black seeds that are about 1/4" long and sort of 3 cornered (if that makes sense). The birds don't like them at all. Is it possible to get a wild bird food that will all get eaten. No point in paying ror food that ends up on the floor.
What sort of birds eat sunflower hearts?
Ian.

[htcdude]

I just get the Wild Seed Mix from Wilkinsons. Throw that on the ground and the table and the Doves and Pigeons devour them. I have nyjer seed for the Goldfinch, and sunflower kernels which gets eaten by Sparrows, Goldfinch and Robin. Fatballs are a popular alternative favoured by the Starlings, Blue Tits, Robin and if you're lucky a GSWoodpecker. I've also put out fat in a coconut shell which the Magpie and Wren love. That's the experience I've had in my garden at least. All my food I buy from Wilkinsons.

Oh yeah also I put my feeders up last July and had nothing come until the start of this year. Patience is a virtue

Nige

[wanderinstar]

Do you not have the black seeds in your feedmix?

[htcdude]

Do you mean the sunflower seeds?

I can't remember off hand what's in it and what's not. I'll look when I get home.

Nige

[Pipa]

the bits that go on the ground will be picked up by blackbirds,jackdaws, sparrows etc,
we have wood pigeons, collared dove,jackdaw,blackbird,sparrows, tits that all eat the sunflower seeds from the ground (and some in feeders)

there is a ton of different seed you can buy, if you look on the bag it usually shows you the mix of contents inside just avoid the ones with the black sunflower seeds if your birds are not eating them at all

[artdemole]

Mixed seed at £1. a bag From lidl is all I use Well liked by many birds.Even the Squirrels.What is flicked onto lawn is eat by doves and any other bird that comes to the lawn.

[wanderinstar]

I dont know what the black seeds are. Whats the difference between black sunflower seeds and white sunflower hearts?

[kangarooz]

Originally Posted by wanderinstar

I dont know what the black seeds are. Whats the difference between black sunflower seeds and white sunflower hearts?

Well they will not eat the black shells, just throw them on the floor and eat the inside but they should normally eat most of the hearts leaving very little waste if any.

[wanderinstar]

Ahh, I see. Just cut one of the black seeds open, and guess whats inside. White sunflower hearts.
So if birds won't eat the black sunflower seeds, why on earth do the manufacturers put them in the mix?

[LRM]

Some birds will open the sunflower seeds and eat the kernels. check the ones on the ground and see if they are whole or if they have had the kernels removed. I find it varies, sometimes they don't seem to touch them and then something comes along and eats the lot whole. Other times I'm left with a heap of husks to clear up.

Possibly they are getting enough sunflower hearts that they don't bother cracking the whole sunflower seeds.

The black sunflower seeds are supposed to have more fat/oil content that the striped ones and so are dearer. The striped ones must be cheap at the moment because my luxury bird seed is full of striped sunflower seeds, and alot of it ends up on the ground.