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Bird feeders and feed

Joco

Joco

pfm Member
Hello,
I live in a semi rural area close to the sea. The problem I’m having is that I want to attract small birds on to my feeder(s). I used to have a traditional Bird house style station but I am plagued by Magpies and especially Seagulls. The gulls were amazingly persistent and even after I’d blocked up the entrances on all 4 sides they’d launch themselves kamikaze style to force their necks in to get at the seeds.
I then changed to fat balls (quality) and had them hanging against the garage wall. Now its the Magpies which hang on to the wire holders and break up the Fb’s.
I’m loathe to go back to seeds due to the above. No squirrels here thank god.
Has anyone got any suggestions, as the commercial stuff I’ve seen appear outclassed by my marauders..
 
Not cheap but encase the feeder in mesh of around 50mm. Welded mesh would be simplest but the most expensive - allow at least 15cm gap between feeder/table and the wire cage. Not pretty but very effective.

Do not feed suet - the crows may be able to digest it but passerines cannot.

To be honest, my garden is heaving with all manner of birds and I never have and never would feed anything. There is a bird bath well away from any fence, shrub etc., so birds using it can see anything coming - great entertainment while providing drinking and bathing for countless birds.
Habitat counts for far, far, far, far more than easy food of any kind.
 
We've always had a problem with wood pigeons hogging the bird food, regardless whatever feeder I used. So I decided to make one that would exclude them but allow anything up to the size of the blackbirds access it but not so enclosed they wouldn't use it.
So I made this from stuff I found in the shed and garage, plus the guard of a redundant fan.
It worked well.



The upturned box to the left is a hedgehog feeder.
 
I should add, I stopped using it as the small birds used to throw out the seeds they didn't like and the pigeons "lurked" waiting for them to do it.

Now I use a garden saucer on the ground under the azaleas in the bed to the left. The fence is to stop the cats hiding in there and pouncing on the birds. The birds can get through the fence but the pigeons can't. They can't get in from the top as the azaleas are too tightly packed.

 
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None of the dodges would work here - foxes and/or maggies would spoil the party within a day or two.
 
something like this



https://www.birdfood.co.uk/guardian-with-4-port-seed-feeder

works for us with sunflower seeds. We actually cut some larger holes in the mesh. We have loads of tits this year on the rear feeder, and the mesh stops the pigeons and doves.

they love a bird bath - watching the starlings and blackbirds bathe is huge fun.

00000031a by uh_simon, on Flickr

This type of house is hopeless - we got rid ages ago

milly in the house by uh_simon, on Flickr

we stopped with fat, and crap trays years ago
 
Over the years we must have tried - and corvids/squirrels/cats destroyed - dozens of different feeders. Not cheap, but we use just two of the largest ‘Squirrelbuster’ feeders after discovering by accident that the spring tension can be altered in small increments.

Our current setup allows six small birds to feed at once, but more than one starling closes the feeding ports, so they give up. Can’t stop wood pigeons from hoovering up any dropped food, but some mixes are better than others for that.
 
FWIW, I bought some Niger thistle seed and dedicated feeder for the Goldfinches and other small garden birds we see a lot of here and it hasn’t had so much as a nibble. If anyone has any suggestions as to what to do with 5kg of Niger thistle seed, I’m all ears.
 
foxwelljsly said:
FWIW, I bought some Niger thistle seed and dedicated feeder for the Goldfinches and other small garden birds we see a lot of here and it hasn’t had so much as a nibble. If anyone has any suggestions as to what to do with 5kg of Niger thistle seed, I’m all ears.
Click to expand...

We did that! Kudos to whoever had a glut of Niger seed and started the rumour about goldfinches:cool:. Ours just hoover up sunflower seeds from whatever mix we put out.
 
foxwelljsly said:
FWIW, I bought some Niger thistle seed and dedicated feeder for the Goldfinches and other small garden birds we see a lot of here and it hasn’t had so much as a nibble. If anyone has any suggestions as to what to do with 5kg of Niger thistle seed, I’m all ears.
Click to expand...

We had that problem for a couple of years and it appears that the birds simply hadn’t discovered it. We left the full feeder out all year and suddenly they came in droves.
 
My theory is that if it flies, then it can help itself to whatever we put out, but, seagulls and rooks are destructive buggers. As above I have coated the more vulnerable feeders with 50mm mesh wire. The smaller birds like to perch there before popping in to feed and it's sparrowhawk proof to boot, but after that, nature is nature so...
FWIW I don't feed at all ay this time of year. I reckon the new hatched young need to learn to forage for themselves, and my garden has more free food than they can eat. I stop on midsummers day and start again on the first frost.
I agree about fat balls, but some are better than others, I use RSPB ones and they are much less fatty than some. Costly but ok for them I think.
 
Copperjacket said:
We had that problem for a couple of years and it appears that the birds simply hadn’t discovered it. We left the full feeder out all year and suddenly they came in droves.
Click to expand...
Similar here. Nothing for days and then loads of goldfinches appeared and devoured the lot
 
Rockmeister said:
My theory is that if it flies, then it can help itself to whatever we put out, but, seagulls and rooks are destructive buggers. As above I have coated the more vulnerable feeders with 50mm mesh wire. The smaller birds like to perch there before popping in to feed and it's sparrowhawk proof to boot, but after that, nature is nature so...
FWIW I don't feed at all ay this time of year. I reckon the new hatched young need to learn to forage for themselves, and my garden has more free food than they can eat. I stop on midsummers day and start again on the first frost.
I agree about fat balls, but some are better than others, I use RSPB ones and they are much less fatty than some. Costly but ok for them I think.
Click to expand...

It is a fact of life that the big birds will force themselves over the smaller ones but the smaller ones will still benefit with the spillage dropped on the ground etc.

So please continue and put out the feed throughout the year.
 
Thanks for the replies, I did read the summation of 3 studies about fat balls (no sniggering at the back) It seemed to me to be good for some and not so good for others, they were carried out in rural. locations and the author said what so many reports say - more study required.
I have to say the amount of small birds in the garden seems to go up slightly each year. TBF the residents spend most of the time eating elsewhere in the garden.
Thanks for the wire mesh suggestion, I’ll try to lash up something with a door and add a collector pot at the bottom for excess seeds etc.
I have 3 watering stations. It’s a pleasure to see the birds having a wash.
 
Normally I put out seed and suet balls from RSPB but have run out thanks to the young Starlings using the fat balls like multi vitamins, i.e. One a day!
so I bought some from Home Bargain which have more seed and nuts in them and we got two brand new visitors, first a juvenile wood pecker and then unfortunately for some young Long Tail Tit a male Sparrow Hawk.
 
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