What's wrong with my feeder

[Janec]

This feeding station is outside our back door.
We have a flock of about 50 sparrows who liked to feed here. We put seed in the black mesh tray. Unfortunately they scattered the seed far and wide and we had a rat problem. We put up more feeders further down the garden and stopped putting seed in the black tray. The rats moved away but so have the sparrows.
At least 3 weeks ago now I built them the wooden tray on chains and put a half sized seed tray in the middle to put the seed in to stop it getting scattered. My idea was the wooden tray would catch any spillages.
The sparrows still come and sit in the hedge. They eat the peanuts but they will not touch the seed in this feeder or the fat cake in the black tray.
We've had pigeons, doves, a robin and the odd dunnock on the seed and one blackbird on the fat.
What's wrong with this feeder, (I know it's a bit bodged but should sparrows be that fussy?).

[Za]

Could it be that it moves to much with the wind for them to feel safe using it (not that they are likely to fall to the ground)?
Za

[Janec]

Thanks Za,
I must admit it does wobble it bit, especially with a big wood pigeon on it but it's been quite still for a few days.
I think they don't like the colour, I'll have to paint it green

[Kayleigh]

Can they see you?
If they see you they will wait in the trees till your not looking.
Is the feeder new so maybe they need more time to get used to it.
There could be lots of issues as to why they are not using it.

[jaelen]

I have a hanging table like that- and I've also found that a lot of the birds aren't keen on it... the starlings don't mind it, and the robins and blue tits will eat from it, but the sparrows not very much. I wonder if they just prefer something to perch on, rather than in when they eat?

I understand that you want to prevent spillage, because of the rat problem- is there any way you could combine a regular seed feeder over the table so that it catches whatever they drop?

I've cobbled this together in Photoshop to show what I mean... I realise you don't have as much chain-length as this table does, but there are shorter seed feeders (or small fat ball feeders, too) that might work.



PS. I thought I should say that's a Gardman hanging table.

[Shrike]

My sparrows and even the starlings are completely ignoring my fat feeder at the moment as well , no idea why though.

[Janec]

Thanks Kayleigh,
No they can't see us but to be honest they're not that scared of us and used to be on the old feeder whether we're there or not.
Jaelen,
Thanks for the suggestion and your hard work on photoshop. I did try something like this before I cobbled the current one together using a plastic hanging basket but due to the chain length the feeder was quite low in the basket. I'll try a feeder over the current tray and put some longer chains on it.
I'm wondering though if it's the chains putting them off for some reason although I can't think why. Are sparrows scared of shiny things? If a pigeon can get on it there must be space for the sparrows, ungrateful little beggers that they are

[Janec]

Shrike, one solitary male blackbird has taken some of our fat cake. We stocked up on half a dozen of these for the cold snap. I'll have to spy on the neighbours feeders, maybe they've got a better flavour

[Madmills]

The wind making it wobble/move won't bother them, i have a dozen or so feeders in my gardens and the wind moves them to frightening angles but the birds still cling onto them and feed as if nothing's happening - after all, when they're on branches they'll be moving so i don't think this is the problem.

Birds don't particularly like changes so i'd say just give it a week or two and they'll return to feed. The birds you're mentioning like flat surfaces to feed from so they'll be back when they're ready.

However, why not try a different style of feeder and see if you can encourage some of the finches and tits into the garden ?
For these birds you'll need feeders with 'perches/posts' that they sit/cling on because these aren't ground feeders so won't use the flat surface to feed from.
Buy sunflower hearts so that no husk is discarded (and because these are universally loved by these species) and you'll have a whole new set of birds to watch.

One more point though - DO always site feeders in or near trees and shrubs, you musn't have them as a stand alone item because when hawks come around (and they WILL where there are feeding stations) the smaller birds need cover to dart into.

[artdemole]

Try moving seed tray further down the pole.Lengthen Chains to distribute weight evenly.Birds coming and going may disturb others feeding at same level/height.Also alternative levels give better flight path to and from a feeder station.