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Feeding the birds.


samboy
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1 hour ago, Walker570 said:

Tried the fat balls and hung a tray underneath. The tray was full of waste vey quickly as they just picked out the odd seed never touched the fat.

Big difference in the quality you can get, I'm buying mine from mole Valley,  there really soft, and the bits fall onto the floor meaning other birds hoover up, although it's normally the pigeons. 

Screenshot_20220613-092021_Gallery.jpg.8d0126acfba5cf5b7ff48e047a9dbee9.jpg

1 hour ago, amateur said:

have never had any takers for nyger seed

I tried a few different feeders but I was recommended this style,  and they love it, but have a look about because the cost for the same item varies. 

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/313984725196?_trkparms=amclksrc%3DITM%26aid%3D111001%26algo%3DREC.SEED%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D20160908105057%26meid%3De2c1a3b0024e4f8e9dcdf4bd08f6669f%26pid%3D100675%26rk%3D1%26rkt%3D15%26sd%3D313984725196%26itm%3D313984725196%26pmt%3D1%26noa%3D1%26pg%3D2380057%26brand%3DJacobi+Jayne&_trksid=p2380057.c100675.m4236&_trkparms=pageci%3A6d5eb1ed-ecb9-11ec-81b5-b2789c4bf651|parentrq%3A67d125c41810a120be0f7096fff9d2fa|iid%3A1

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Hello, I unfortunately do not have a garden but my farmer friends do tend to spill the wheat and barley  grain when loading lorries so I sweep up and put around the farm for the wild birds, I try to keep a few bags of sweepings for winter time, 

55 minutes ago, samboy said:

Just been to Tesco's to buy a new bag of seed and it's gone up £1.25. They can poke it i will go elsewhere.

Hello, most of Tesco's price have gone up, 🤔

Edited by oldypigeonpopper
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7 minutes ago, oldypigeonpopper said:

Hello, I unfortunately do not have a garden but my farmer friends do tend to spill the wheat and barley  grain when loading lorries so I sweep up and put around the farm for the wild birds, I try to keep a few bags of sweepings for winter time

A while back I got a bag of "mixed wild bird food" that seemed to include a lot of wheat ........... which they rejected to get at the better stuff.  Not a good plan as the squirrels hoovered up the wheat grains.  Since then I have used mainly sunflower hearts - but I assume they come from Ukraine, so may become either unavailable or unaffordable.

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I feed wheat by hand around the tables in the wood and this pulls in the pheasants and various other stuff but I by the non wheat mix for the bird feeders which I then mix as said with sunflower seeds.  Waiting at the moment for the songbird mix as my supplier says there is a delay in shipment.  I buy from my local supplier a small family business as I like to help keep these local businesses relevant.

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Just now, DUNKS said:

Five very active local cats and a sparrow hawk have just about decimated my little birds. No blue tits nesting at all this year"

Our very active Scottish terrier dissuades cats from entering our garden (and chases off pigeons), so our bird table is full of bluetits, robins, blackbirds and (alas) parrokeets.

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2 hours ago, DUNKS said:

Five very active local cats and a sparrow hawk have just about decimated my little birds. No blue tits nesting at all this year"

Our garden is visited by at least 4 cats, I'd get another dog just to keep them out.

Sparrow hawk certainly comes through regularly but my feeders are all near to good cover so the birds can pop in and out.

Sunflower feeder was empty this morning ( I need better staff 😄) within a minute of me being back in the house there was a young Robin and a blue tit on the feeder 😁

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On 14/06/2022 at 17:56, Rim Fire said:

Wild birds dont need feeders this time of year

I tend to agree! The thing is lots of people feed garden birds for their own benifits/enjoyment rather than just for the birds.

That said I put out a small fistful of seed and nuts and some mealworms on top of a wall for a pair of fairly tame Robin's. They come and sit on the fence outside the kitchen window to gey my attention. They haven't eaten out of my hand as yet! I get a wide variety of birds come into the garden. The collared Dove's love the seeds as do the sparrows.

The feeder disease ''Trich'' seems to be very prevalent these days, so it is a bit of a dedicated hobby if it is to be done correctly, ie..cleaning and disinfecting the feeders regularly.

I'll put a bird table out in the winter time again.

Edited by SuperGoose75
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We have five bird boxes in the garden i dont feed the birds but this year we had a blue tit nesting in one next to  the lounge window in a lilac bush i used to sit out side and watch them poping in and out and it was a tight squeeze .She  seemed to just start incubating as we went on holiday for a week and i was surprised to learn blue tits only incubate for 15 days when we came back i could sit on the seat and watch them buzzing in and  out all day i think it was a second clutch because if the dogs where laying on the slabs under the nest there would be 3or four of them queuing up on the fence to go feed the chick . Them the other day it was all quiet so at  night i had a look in the box and there all gone shame i was looking foreward to seeing the fledglings being fed on the bushes on in  the garden but i saw a blue tit having a look in another nest box so heres hoping 

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Worth every penny. The woodpecker uses a split in the post next to the feeders to sort the peanuts but leaves bits in there and now the blue tits have discovered a free meal.

Yes we spend a fair chunk of money on feeding but well worthwhile when you see parties of young finches turn up which you have not seen for years.  They clear the tables down the wood in 48hrs but I leave it another 48hrs before replensihing because so many times we have had a couple of tree rats come in from over the road and search right inside the live catch cages, fatally.   I think I said £45 a month but thinking about it I believe nearer £80 , worth every penny.

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