feeding the birds

[jillybean]

hello swogsters ! Im trying to come up with a cheap way of feeding the birds and keeping it squirrel proof to boot, anyone got any good ideas please or am I doomed to take piles of cash to my local B&Q?

[woodbodger]

We have a local pet food supplier, dealing a lot in bulk food for horses and the like, who sell 25 kilo sacks of sunflower, Niger seeds and peanuts, it is much cheaper than B&Q still horribly expensive but probably 25% of what you pay when you buy it in small lots. In this cold weather I am filling two feeders with sunflower, 1 with 3 fat balls, 1 with Niger seed and 1 with peanuts every day!

It is a small amount to pay for the joy of seeing the Tits, chaffinches, Siskins, Goldfinches, Woodpeckers, Nuthatches and others queueing up in the trees

[tracy]

Yes, we bulk buy enormous sacks of seed too. Apparently the fat balls in the nets are dangerous as the little birds can get tangled in them.

we spent a fortune on a squirrel proof feeder and the squirrels got in. Cheaper one now, hanging a low way off a branch on a chain ( they eat through rope!)

Seems to be working!

[coppiceer]

I feed my birds on mixed corn in winter, they go mad for the stuff and at £6.50 for a 20kg bag it is economical.

I have given up attempting to squirrel- and crow-proof my feeders. I now have dozens of plastic drip trays scattered around on posts . I put out a handful of corn onto each at random times and trays. This gives everything a fighting chance of successful foraging. I have drilled small holes in the trays to allow water to escape and, being plastic, they are easy to keep hygienic.

I also wedge some fat-balls into cracks and crevices in thorny shrubs where only small birds can get. This is probably proof of utter craziness on my part as I get ripped to pieces doing it.

[woodbodger]

We gave up using the corn based mixes when we noticed the birds going through it spitting out the corn to get at the tastier (presumably) sunflower and other seeds, we did try a separate corn feeder but there were no takers. I did wonder about putting layers mash in a feeder?

[docsquid]

We also get our seed from a small farm where we also buy our chicken feed and bedding. It is much cheaper than B&Q and the birds seem to love it. The woodland birds eat the whole lot with great gusto, but the garden birds are more fussy, and I'll probably go back to using CJ Birdfood for them. I don't know if the calorie content of layer's mash is sufficient for wild birds, who need a high fat content in their diet (unlike chickens). Certainly I try and keep the chooks away from and wild bird seed that has spilt in the garden.

[tracy]

not quite the same topic, but here is a great article about mother birds and baby birds and feeding! Very interesting.

http://planetearth.nerc.ac.uk/features/story.aspx?id=883

[Darren]

if you want to make it squirrel proof just drive a pole into the ground and cover it with a down pipe.

[SimonFisher]

I can highly recommend the Squirrel Buster (now Squirrel Buster Plus) feeder. They're not cheap, but it does what is says on the tin! This YouTube video gives a good demonstration. They're not cheap ... but in my opinion worth it as a long term choice.

Other features it doesn't mention are the large seed holding capacity and the fact that the top seed holding compartment is well weather proofed. With all of the feed ports at the bottom, there's no problem with rain ingress resulting in spoiled feed. I've found compared to other types of feeders, these can go longer between dismantling and cleaning. I'd endorse what they say about ease of dismantling, cleaning, and them being very squirrel proof. We've had three of them in our garden for a few years now, after trying many other types, and there is no squirrel damage on any of them. Other types eventually get gnawed through by the squirrels.

In our garden, the Squirrel Buster feeders are also pigeon proof and to a large extent keep the ring-necked parakeets at bay.

As for the type of food you use and where to source it, some cheaper mixes will be of lower energy density than others and you might end up with more waste or stuff the birds don't want. I tend to use premium sunflower hearts as they're high energy and no waste. You certainly want to look at buying in bigger quantities and look at mail order. Garden centre prices are laughable!