They are loving the peanuts but not liking the fat balls so much (I think it’s literally too cold)
(Eanna always makes me smile)….
One I heard a few years ago is crumb up some bread, and after your fry throw it on the pan, give a good stir around to soak up the oil + grease, and throw that out to them!
I cleaned out the freezer the other day. All the ends of bags of whatever along with stray burgers, fish fingers, got thrown into a bowl to defrost, threw that out onto the garden first thing, so our feathered friends had a feast!
Fat balls are not going down well for me, I think they are too hard. Dried worms are going ok. Robins unfortunately seem to be last to the party the bigger birds lunge at them. Has anyone figured out how to keep water from freezing over so quickly. I’m thinking of putting a tray on top of a hot water bottle.
I put out peanuts fuckem better than nothing
I can’t keep the Sunflower seeds topped up in the feeders. Loves them they do.
Mixed seed is going well.
Niger seeds haven’t been touched but only certain birds eat them.
Peanuts are doing OK and fat balls are lasting ages due to them being frozen.
I repurposed a big tall metal garden fixture, that was originally intended for climbing plants. I hung all my feeders inside it and enclosed it with 50mm chicken wire. Its working wonders at keeping the crows from damaging the feeders and gives the smaller birds a chance at food without having to fight off the bigger ones. Some blackbirds and starlings can still get in but it’s doing a great job at keeping the food from being decimated like other years from the bigger birds.
If I see a large gathering of hungry starlings, I just throw out a few handfuls on porridge oats directly onto the yard for them.
Try keep the water in direct sunlight and empty and fill it every morning before work helps to keep it from freezing.
I have a few pints of maggots in the bait fridge and I’ve been throwing out a few handfuls morning and evening. I also have a 20kg sack of hempseed that I give them the odd scattering every so often.
I have every bird within a 2 mile radius hanging around waiting for me to come outside.
Also don’t forget to put a bit of water out as well as any puddles are frozen solid.
I find black sunflower seeds (bulfinches, chaffinches, goldfinches, blue tits, great tits, coal tits are the main customers), peanuts (just all in the tit family eat these, really) and fat balls (dunnocks, robins like these especially, but visiting blackbirds like to snack on them every once in a while, if they can reach them) are the best.
I’ve given up on wild bird seed – I find only sparrows enjoy it, and we don’t have all that many where I’m living at the moment.
If there are apples or pears in the reduced-to-clear I’ll pick them up and scatter them for the blackbirds in the early morning. The fruit tend to be at their core by the night, and then the foxes take what’s left of the fruit then over the night.
[deleted]
I horsed out some unwanted muesli, gone in a flash.
My experience feeding the birds over the last weeks: If I want to feed the larger birds, ie let nature take her course, throw the food into the middle of the garden, they all come down, but the big ones beat out the little ones, magpies are super smart, picking up 3 or 4 pieces and then come back for more whilst also mugging the little ones on the way in and out, hilarious.
If I want to feed the little ones, finches, robbins, thrush, blackbird, wagtail, dunnock, then i put the food down beside the house on the other side of the glass door. Then i work on the laptop, so, me the glass, the birds and the food, the little ones don’t give a fig, they know no matter what I do, they’ll get away, the big ones, are scared, they won’t come near the house as they can’t take off quick enough. That’s the best way I’ve found to feed little birds without too much fuss.
I put out cut up apples and dry porridge oats every morning.
I put some under a bush where I know the Robins live too.
11 comments
They are loving the peanuts but not liking the fat balls so much (I think it’s literally too cold)
(Eanna always makes me smile)….
One I heard a few years ago is crumb up some bread, and after your fry throw it on the pan, give a good stir around to soak up the oil + grease, and throw that out to them!
I cleaned out the freezer the other day. All the ends of bags of whatever along with stray burgers, fish fingers, got thrown into a bowl to defrost, threw that out onto the garden first thing, so our feathered friends had a feast!
Fat balls are not going down well for me, I think they are too hard. Dried worms are going ok. Robins unfortunately seem to be last to the party the bigger birds lunge at them. Has anyone figured out how to keep water from freezing over so quickly. I’m thinking of putting a tray on top of a hot water bottle.
I put out peanuts fuckem better than nothing
I can’t keep the Sunflower seeds topped up in the feeders. Loves them they do.
Mixed seed is going well.
Niger seeds haven’t been touched but only certain birds eat them.
Peanuts are doing OK and fat balls are lasting ages due to them being frozen.
I repurposed a big tall metal garden fixture, that was originally intended for climbing plants. I hung all my feeders inside it and enclosed it with 50mm chicken wire. Its working wonders at keeping the crows from damaging the feeders and gives the smaller birds a chance at food without having to fight off the bigger ones. Some blackbirds and starlings can still get in but it’s doing a great job at keeping the food from being decimated like other years from the bigger birds.
If I see a large gathering of hungry starlings, I just throw out a few handfuls on porridge oats directly onto the yard for them.
Try keep the water in direct sunlight and empty and fill it every morning before work helps to keep it from freezing.
I have a few pints of maggots in the bait fridge and I’ve been throwing out a few handfuls morning and evening. I also have a 20kg sack of hempseed that I give them the odd scattering every so often.
I have every bird within a 2 mile radius hanging around waiting for me to come outside.
Also don’t forget to put a bit of water out as well as any puddles are frozen solid.
I find black sunflower seeds (bulfinches, chaffinches, goldfinches, blue tits, great tits, coal tits are the main customers), peanuts (just all in the tit family eat these, really) and fat balls (dunnocks, robins like these especially, but visiting blackbirds like to snack on them every once in a while, if they can reach them) are the best.
I’ve given up on wild bird seed – I find only sparrows enjoy it, and we don’t have all that many where I’m living at the moment.
If there are apples or pears in the reduced-to-clear I’ll pick them up and scatter them for the blackbirds in the early morning. The fruit tend to be at their core by the night, and then the foxes take what’s left of the fruit then over the night.
[deleted]
I horsed out some unwanted muesli, gone in a flash.
My experience feeding the birds over the last weeks: If I want to feed the larger birds, ie let nature take her course, throw the food into the middle of the garden, they all come down, but the big ones beat out the little ones, magpies are super smart, picking up 3 or 4 pieces and then come back for more whilst also mugging the little ones on the way in and out, hilarious.
If I want to feed the little ones, finches, robbins, thrush, blackbird, wagtail, dunnock, then i put the food down beside the house on the other side of the glass door. Then i work on the laptop, so, me the glass, the birds and the food, the little ones don’t give a fig, they know no matter what I do, they’ll get away, the big ones, are scared, they won’t come near the house as they can’t take off quick enough. That’s the best way I’ve found to feed little birds without too much fuss.
I put out cut up apples and dry porridge oats every morning.
I put some under a bush where I know the Robins live too.