Different sunflower seeds / and i take it the clear feeders are only for our benefit

DMF235-Belfast · #1 (**permalink**) 08-10-2010, 08:17 AM

UUUUrrrrggggggghhhhhhhhh, the little sods, basically the last 2 days I've tried some new seed, i'd been recommended a new place for the seed and the advertised price for their Black sunflower seed was quite good. got their and well they dont actually properly call it black sun flower seed its more black and white stripped and 2-3 times the size of teh stuff i'd get in homebase/PAH, so put a whack of it into one of the seed feeders on wednesday morning and watched the coal tits happily investigate it and take away some of the seed... so i thougt happy days... wed evening about and only an inch is used which surprised me.... yesterday evening ... some sodding thing appears to picked them all out and dropped them (not just the husks i checked) I take it they cant see that they are all the same seed in the feeder... so went back to the black stuff last night and i'll see how its doing later

Cotham Marble · #2 (**permalink**) 08-10-2010, 08:39 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DMF235-Belfast

UUUUrrrrggggggghhhhhhhhh, the little sods, basically the last 2 days I've tried some new seed, i'd been recommended a new place for the seed and the advertised price for their Black sunflower seed was quite good. got their and well they dont actually properly call it black sun flower seed its more black and white stripped and 2-3 times the size of teh stuff i'd get in homebase/PAH, so put a whack of it into one of the seed feeders on wednesday morning and watched the coal tits happily investigate it and take away some of the seed... so i thougt happy days... wed evening about and only an inch is used which surprised me.... yesterday evening ... some sodding thing appears to picked them all out and dropped them (not just the husks i checked) I take it they cant see that they are all the same seed in the feeder... so went back to the black stuff last night and i'll see how its doing later

The husked seed is far less popular than the 'fast food' de-husked seed. At this time there's still lots of food available in the hedge rows so anything that takes effort is going to be ivestigated and discarded, or just ignored.

The clear feeders are useful for small seed mixes that would simpy fall through the wire feeders.

CM

DMF235-Belfast · #3 (**permalink**) 08-10-2010, 08:51 AM

yeah but the other smaller black sunflower seed - which i imagine is still husked but smaller - never had this issue...granted I only had it loose on platforms... errggghhh if they empty that stuff onto the ground today i'll stangle them

Paul mabbott · #4 (**permalink**) 25-10-2010, 04:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DMF235-Belfast

.......... thing appears to picked them all out and dropped them (not just the husks i checked) I take it they cant see that they are all the same seed in the feeder... ......

No, different species of tits are fairly picky about the size of sunflower seed that they eat - indeed, they can't manipulate, de-husk seeds which are too large. Coal tits in particular will pick out and discard the larger seeds, you then see the great tits pecking around on the ground to find the discards!

Paul mabbott · #5 (**permalink**) 25-10-2010, 04:29 PM

Has anyone grown their own sunflower seeds specifically for bird food? Having bought some seed today I gave serious thought to the financial savings I could make from growing my own!
However, a quick calculation suggests that I'd need to fill the garden with them ....

Susie · #6 (**permalink**) 27-10-2010, 08:12 PM

My dad grows sunflowers and always leaves the heads in the garden for the birds to polish off. He doesn't bother putting the seeds into a feeder though.

One year he grew a record sunflower with an absolutely massive head, it was quite some sight to watch this being carried away (actually dragged, pushed, pull, with a great deal of effort) by a squirrel but very entertaining.

Cotham Marble · #7 (**permalink**) 28-10-2010, 08:37 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Paul mabbott

However, a quick calculation suggests that I'd need to fill the garden with them .

Probably in the region of 200 Sq metres to produce 50Kg of hulled seed - 300 Sq metres for 50Kg of de hulled. Some products are simply way more viable crops at large scale, this applies to almost all seeds and grains where harvesting and preparation can be fully mechanised.

CM