What to do with Sunflower Hearts?

[jaelen]

I bought some sunflower hearts last week from a pet food company online... 500grams, or so I thought.

Unfortunately, they seem to have made a mistake in the order, and sent me 3kg, this arrived just before the snow came down last week, and I thought how fortunate that I now had LOTS of sunflower hearts for all the birds in the garden. I filled up two feeders with them, scattered them on the path by the hedge, and put them in the tray on the feeding station.

They won't touch 'em.

I thought maybe the birds might prefer them crisper, (ok, I know but being a bit desperate I roasted a pan of the things last night... poor BF got excited when he smelled them and thought I was making biscuits.)

Tonight I went out to tip out the remnants of what was left in the tray... which this morning I'd filled with suet pellets, some crushed peanuts, a bit of crumbled stale bread, and some chopped up raisins, and of course a handful of the (now beautifully roasted) sunflower hearts.

Everything, absolutely everything had been picked clean- except that those hearts were ALL still there. Now, the starlings in my garden are nothing more than hoovers with feathers... if they won't eat them, I'm starting to suspect there must be something wrong.

Any ideas of what I can do with all these seeds now? I'm thinking of lugging it all to Alexandra Park and seeing if the Canadian Geese or the squirrels will eat them- they've got the constitution of an ox, so I don't reckon it's do them any harm.... but has anyone else had this problem?

[Kayleigh]

What birds do you get in your garden apart from starlings..
If I was you I would try a mix of the sunflower seeds, suet, mixed dried fruit, porridge oats, wild-bird seeds and half a bar of lard make bird cakes the blackbirds, starlings, sparrows and robins will love them.
But if the seeds are off (try smelling them and look for mould) the birds will not touch them and maybe the company sent you them to get rid of them as they are old stock and didn't sell well as they are expensive.

[Littlesparrow]

I haven't found the sunflower hearts being left but the Nigra seeds this year are not very popular and I think I may as well tip them out and see if they grow in a pot.

[billybirder]

I think they must be "off". I can't fill my feeders enough with them. Robins, starlings, blackbirds, sparrows collared doves, feral and wood pigeons, and tits - great, blue and long tailed - all make a bee line for them.

[PMG]

Your birds are maybe not yet used to sunflower seeds - maybe they need a bit of time to discover how good they are? We have a very big two-tier table at our caravan and we pile it up with sunflower every couple of weeks and it all goes - in fact if we are delayed from going there (and manys the time we have had to do a 'mercy run' just with food for the table) cos if we are delayed the table will be empty and the birds short of food! We've been feeding sunflower only now for much of the 17 years or so the table has been on the pitch.

Pauline

[ChrisJB]

Like Pauline says, give the birds time to get used to a new foodstuff. Without a doubt, in my garden they are the most favoured food I put out. Finches, robins, blackbirds, dunnocks, collared doves all eat them (like you, I find starlings not much). They also keep well. I don't feed through the summer and find any leftovers from the previous spring that I put out the following autumn are just as palatable, even though they seem a little softer.
I do scatter a few on the table and ground, but some kind of tube feeder I find best as it keeps the rain off.

Chris

[Jim Ford]

Originally Posted by billybirder

I think they must be "off".

That's why (as I've previously mentioned) I always use whole seeds. They come packaged in a waterproof and mould resistant jacket that protects them against deterioration for at least a year in all weathers.

Jim

[jaelen]

Originally Posted by Kayleigh

What birds do you get in your garden apart from starlings..

At the moment, we're getting quite a few tits of all kinds- blue, great, coal, and the occasional long-tailed; wrens, a resident robin, dunnock, parakeets, blackbirds, the two jays, (who of course have their own personal peanut/hazelnut supply ) and a reliable flock of sparrows.

I've been putting sunflower seeds in the shells out for ages- the tits especially seem to like those... and I only got (what was intended to be ) a small bag of the hearts for the cold weather that was predicted.

I've decided to conduct a scientific experiment today I've put out some of MY sunflower seeds, that I usually sprinkle on my muesli. If they turn up their little beaks at those, I'll know they're just being fussy and keep doling out small portions from the big bag until they become accustomed to them.

Unless, of course.... the sunflower seeds I've been eating are dodgy, too. Now there's a thought.

I will know by this evening the outcome of the experiment, when I check the seed tray. At the moment, raisins seem to be the preferred bird breakfast- good thing I'm going to the shops this morning.

[Dogghound]

Why dont you take the other food down and just put up the sunflower hearts so the birds have no other option, and see what happens.

[Kayleigh]

They can be really fussy for a few days I know if I change from one brand to another they all they do is sti and throw the seeds out of the feeders in disgust so give them some time they get used to one type of food.
The weather is warming up too and the birds in my garden are not eating all the food in the feeders they are leaving them so I will empty them now and give them a clean.